Virgin Media offers 5GB of free cloud storage

Nicole Kobie March 13, 2014

Virgin Media has unveiled its own cloud storage service for its broadband customers, doling out 5GB of free space.

Virgin Media offers 5GB of free cloud storage

The Virgin Media Cloud offers customers up to 500GB of storage space, but that costs £27 per month.

Each user can sign up for a free 5GB account, and Virgin Media is letting up to ten people on a single household broadband account sign up for their own cloud storage, so you don’t need to share that 5GB with the rest of your family.

The Virgin Media Cloud is provided by security firm F-Secure.

The cloud will let users share photos and other content, and it also syncs automatically, so it can be used to share music collections across devices or backup data, Virgin said. “As content syncs across all registered devices, users can take a photo on their smartphone while they’re out and view it on their laptop when they get home.”

If the free 5GB isn’t enough, you can upgrade at a cost – but be warned you won’t be able to step back down to the free version unless you close your account and re-register for a new one, Virgin said.

For more storage, Virgin charges:

– £4/month for 50GB

– £6/month for 100GB

– £14/month for 250GB

– £27/month for 500GB

For comparison, Dropbox offers 2GB free storage, though that can be bumped up by getting friends to sign up, while Microsoft’s OneDrive offers 7GB for free.

Both also offer upgrade prices. Dropbox is comparable, charging $10 (£6) per month for 100GB, $20 (£12)/month for 200GB, and $50 (£30)/month for 500GB. OneDrive is a shade cheaper, at £3 per month for 50GB and £5 per month for 100GB, but its maximum tops out at £8 per month for 200GB.

OneDrive was previously named SkyDrive, but Sky sued Microsoft over the name, saying the name was confusing users. That reclaimed brand could be needed if Sky follows suit and launches its own cloud service.