Customers with Sky Broadband might find their speeds crawling northward toward the end of the year. The broadcaster is paying Virgin Media's business arm £49 million ($74 million) for some of Richard Branson Liberty Global's deliciously fast fiber infrastructure. While there's no mention of BT, we wouldn't be surprised if this technological makeover was prompted by its corporate rival's recent assault on Sky's sporty golden goose.
Filed under: Networking, Internet, HD
Via: The Next Web
Annoyed that YouTube had reached Freesat boxes and not just TiVo? Worry not, for Sir Richard and his chums at Virgin Media are on their way with a basket of soothing balms. Your DVR's EPG will soon feature baked-in YouTube results along with regular TV listings, giving easier access to all of those shudder-inducing Harlem Shake videos without resorting to a smartphone. It's been positioned at Channel 198, and you can also access it via the Search and Browse menus on your box -- no matter the paint job.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Virgin Media
Today's the day that your cost-free tweeting about red signals comes to end, as Virgin Media begins charging for its WiFi service on the London Underground. If you're a Virgin, Vodafone or EE customer, then you just need to sign up to continue getting access as part of your mobile plan. For everyone else, avoiding getting your fingers sticky on that day's issue of Metro will cost you £2 a day, £5 per seven-day week or £15 a month. If you take up the latter option at any point in February, you'll be given an additional sweetener: three months for the price of one. The company has also announced that Hampstead, Tooting Broadway and Great Portland Street are among 11 more stations that are due to come online this week.
Virgin Media WiFi on London Underground - update more stations coming online
As you're probably aware, free WiFi on London Underground is coming to an end this month. But, from 29th January, millions of Virgin Media, Vodafone, EE, T-Mobile and Orange customers can stay connected at no extra cost thanks to wholesale agreements announced in November.
All Tube passengers will continue to have free access to Virgin Media's comprehensive WiFi portal, with up-to-the-minute Transport for London (TfL) travel updates and great London entertainment and news, alongside a choice of Virgin Media WiFi Passes to keep everyone connected:
Virgin Media WiFi Pass Cost
Daily
£2
Weekly
£5
Monthly
£15
And, throughout February, passengers taking up the monthly WiFi pass will enjoy three months access for the price of one!
Another 11 stations are coming online this week, including Hampstead, Tooting Broadway and Great Portland Street, joining the 92 London Underground stations already WiFi enabled. We continue to work with TfL to install more stations throughout London, with around 120 stations due to be connected by the end of March 2013.
Virgin Media's WiFi service on London Underground was launched ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games and made available to all Tube passengers for free throughout 2012. Virgin Media confirmed plans to wholesale the service in June 2012 and announced EE and Vodafone as wholesale partners in November 2012.
Tweeting about the obnoxious individuals you share a tube platform with was expected to be a one-time thing if you weren't a Virgin Media customer. The Branson-backed provider had said that, once the summer games had finished, it would make the service exclusive to its own broadband subscribers. Now, however, the company has reversed that decision, extending the free period through until the end of the year. The Telegraph is reporting that the turnaround is in part thanks to wholesale talks with other ISPs, who are keen to offer the service as part of their own packages. Given that we're unlikely to make it into the stratosphere or the bottom of the ocean any time soon, we'll settle for pretending we're a daring explorer of the Piccadilly line.
Continue reading Virgin Media extends free tube WiFi for all until 2013
Filed under: Wireless, Internet
Virgin Media extends free tube WiFi for all until 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 04:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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If you're one of Virgin Media's top-tier internet customers, you may soon see your service getting a little speedier. The Branson-backed company is boosting its top speed from 100Mbps to 120Mbps, thanks to a £110 million ($169 million) infrastructure investment. The majority of the network -- around 60 percent -- has yet to be supercharged, but you can use the coverage checker linked below to see if you're in-line for an early Christmas present from Sir Richard.
Continue reading Virgin Media begins pushing its UK broadband to 120Mbps, much to Usain's delight
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Networking, Internet, HD
Virgin Media begins pushing its UK broadband to 120Mbps, much to Usain's delight originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 07:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Soon after it's unveiling, the Intel-based RAZR i showed up in Clove's listings with a SIM-free price of £342, and now it looks as if a few more outlets are pushing pricing details to the world. Expected to storm the UK in October, the phone should ship to Virgin Media customers for around £23 per month on its Premiere Tariff, while T-Mobilers will be able to score one for £0 to £31 per month depending on the contract. All told, not too shabby for the world's first 2GHz Atom-backed Android phone, and if you're eager to push all of this iPhone 5 stuff aside, at least you know precisely how many quid to save up between now and next month.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
UK pricing begins to filter out for Motorola's Intel-powered RAZR i smartphone originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 12:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It was only in June that we saw Virgin Media shaking up its regular mobile plans for UK residents. The carrier is back for another round, this time to serve the SIM Only customers who thrive on unlocked phones. Four plans starting from £12 ($19) a month all provide unlimited data and text messaging for bring-your-own-phone subscribers, with voice as the only real separating factor: the thriftiest callers get 150 minutes per month, while higher £15, £17 and £25 ($24, $27 and $40) tiers ramp up to a respective 250, 1,200 and 2,500 minutes for chattier customers. The chief gotcha is a lack of bundled landline calling for all but the priciest plan, although existing Virgin Media subscribers can knock an extra £5 off of that rate. If you're the sort who can't bear the thought of a contract, Virgin now has you better covered.
Continue reading Virgin Media unveils quartet of new SIM Only plans for data-focused Brits
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Virgin Media unveils quartet of new SIM Only plans for data-focused Brits originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 15:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Stereotype-embracing ISP Plusnet has added a new tier of fibre-optic broadband, offering speeds up to 76Mb/s. The revamped Extra Fibre package now offers upload speeds of up to 19.5 Mb/s, with a 250GB monthly usage allowance, matching those offered by parent company BT. Of course, those of us who can't even get ADSL2 will just have to watch on, with jealousy in our eyes.
Continue reading Plusnet pushes its UK-fibre-optic broadband to 76Mb/s
Filed under: Internet
Plusnet pushes its UK-fibre-optic broadband to 76Mb/s originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Aug 2012 06:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The UK House of Lords' Communications Committee has suggested that all broadcast TV should be moved to the internet to free up wireless spectrum for cellphones. In its report, the panel found that whilst such a network would be cheaper and more efficient in the long run, it would also require extensive re-building of the country's archaic communications infrastructure. Given that the analog-to-digital switchover is currently in progress, it seems unlikely that a further transition will be timetabled -- especially since there are still concerns over the cost of bringing fiber-optic broadband to rural areas. Any change in the plan will need to be rubber-stamped by Government, but perhaps it'd be more amenable if they saw how good 8K video looks on one of those connections.
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, Internet
House of Lords wants UK TV to go fully online and leave airwaves clear for cellphones originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 02:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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