Virgin Media claims to have doubled the speed of its mobile broadband service to “up to 7.2Mbits/sec”.
The new speed will be available on a variety of contracts starting from £8 per month, with a high-speed modem costing £35 for those on rolling monthly contracts and £10 for those prepared to sign up for 18 months.
Virgin doesn’t actually run its own mobile network – it piggybacks on T-Mobile’s network. Curiously, T-Mobile is still advertising its maximum speed as 3.6Mbits/sec.
Users are highly unlikely to see anything like 7.2Mbits/sec, of course. A report published last month claimed that the average mobile broadband speed was only 0.87Mbits/sec, with only a tiny fraction of people seeing real speeds in excess of even 3Mbits/sec.
A Virgin spokesperson refused to disclose what average speed users could expect on the improved network, claiming there were “too many factors involved” to provide an accurate figure.
However, the company’s press release boasts that “the speedy nature of the new dongle means it’s ideal for quick browsing, downloading and even keeping up with your favourite shows via BBC iPlayer or YouTube (with less buffering and stuttering)”.
Virgin admits that some mobile cell towers won’t support the 7.2Mbits/sec speeds, although it doesn’t reveal what percentage of the country can expect to receive the higher speeds.
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