Virgin Media has announced it will begin offering
broadband speeds of up to 100 megabits per second by the end of the year. The service will be offered to consumers and will be ‘very close to advertised headline speeds’. Able to achieve even faster speeds of up to 200Mbps in some areas,
Virgin cite the use of its cable, rather than the more widespread ADSL technology which competitors use, as the reason for being able to offer such high speeds.
With most services currently ranging from 10Mbps to 50Mbps,
laptop and
desktop PC users can download a music album in as little as 75 seconds. However,
Virgin Media claim their service will allow users to download an album in just 5 seconds as a result of the faster
internet .
Despite Virgin Media’s chief executive, Neil Berkett, labelling the service as the ultimate broadband experience,
BT have been dismissive of Virgin Media, claiming they are already playing catch-up as some BT customers already receive speeds of 100Mbps.
The extra fast
home broadband speeds follow speculation about the impact that
3G and
4G networks will have on
WiFi networks. Some analysts believe the rise of
netbooks and ultra-portable
notebook PCs will render WiFi outdated.