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Virgin to bump 50Mbps plans up to 120Mbps

Cable broadband customers on its 50Mbps plan will get a free upgrade to 120Mbps, the ISP has been forced to reveal after mistakenly sending out announcement emails to the wrong subscribers
Written by Ben Woods, Contributor

Virgin Media customers on 50Mbps plans are in line to get 120Mbps at no extra charge, the company revealed after mistakenly sending upgrade emails to some of its cable broadband subscribers.

Virgin Media engineers

Virgin Media customers on 50Mbps plans are getting a boost to 120Mbps at no extra charge. Image credit: Virgin Media

Last week, the ISP announced it will increase headline speeds across all its packages, with the top-tier plan going from 100Mbps to 120Mbps, and other plans doubling in speed. On Monday, Virgin Media confirmed it had incorrectly sent an email to some customers across all its tariffs, saying they would be upgraded to 120Mbps once an infrastructure upgrade had been completed.

"Our first email, intended for our 100Mb customers, was accidentally sent to some customers on other tiers which may have led to some confusion. We're sorry for any misunderstanding and will be writing to customers again soon to clarify how the upgrade will affect them," a Virgin Media spokesman said.

"In the meantime, as part of our double-speed programme, we are delighted to confirm that 50Mb customers will actually be upgraded to 120Mb," he added. Previously, the company had said people on the 50Mbps plan would move to 100Mbps.

The price of the 120Mbps package will stay the same for current 50Mbps subscribers, while those on 100Mbps packages will see their cost drop to the 50Mbps level — £35 per month if taken without a Virgin phone line, or £25 with a phone line.

Some 50Mbps customers may initially see a speed increase to 100Mbps before the 120Mbps tier has been provisioned in their area, Virgin Media said. The upgrades are scheduled to begin rolling out in February and should to be completed by mid-2013, it added.

In September, BT introduced plans to "roughly double" the speed of its 40Mbps fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) service to around 80Mbps. In addition, it said it will use fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) technology to deliver speeds of up to 300Mbps to some customers during 2012, but did not say exactly when these services will be launched.


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