VirginMedia to boost customers broadband speeds to mitigate 6.7% price increase

shoestring25 · 12/11/13 - 00:47

yep virgin are at it again another price increase they advertise the speed increase but not the price hike strange

CitySlicker · 12/11/13 - 02:14

shoestring25 wrote: »

yep virgin are at it again another price increase they advertise the speed increase but not the price hike strange

This is taking the mick. Price increase since last month, price increase in February - this is the third price increase that will take place in just over a year by the time it happens at the start of 2014.

Ofcom need to be looking into this. A hat-trick of increases in such a concentrated length of time is unacceptable by such a large service provider.

[Deleted User] · 12/11/13 - 02:32

152Mb from 120mb yipee why not just boost us up to 200mb ?.

BenMcr77 · 12/11/13 - 03:48

CitySlicker wrote: »

This is taking the mick. Price increase since last month, price increase in February - this is the third price increase that will take place in just over a year by the time it happens at the start of 2014.

Ofcom need to be looking into this. A hat-trick of increases in such a concentrated length of time is unacceptable by such a large service provider.

The price rises that have happened are for different sets of customers, and are for different products

Last month the prices changed for standalone broadband and Sky Sports - these price won't change again when others do in Feburary

acoolwelshbloke · 12/11/13 - 04:36

I wouldn't get too excited, they will no doubt be doing an area by area upgrade with a two year completion date! Although no doubt price increases will be implemented to all areas with immediate effect!

mossy2103 · 12/11/13 - 13:06

BenMcr77 wrote: »

Last month the prices changed for standalone broadband and Sky Sports - these price won't change again when others do in Feburary

Is that official then?

If so, it's very welcome news.

Marti S · 12/11/13 - 15:48

BenMcr77 wrote: »

The price rises that have happened are for different sets of customers, and are for different products

Last month the prices changed for standalone broadband and Sky Sports - these price won't change again when others do in Feburary

So since I have standalone broadband, which went up £2.50 last month, this wont go up again in February?

lamby · 12/11/13 - 15:57

So if your on 30mb, what will it go upto?

BenMcr77 · 12/11/13 - 16:39

Marti S wrote: »

So since I have standalone broadband, which went up £2.50 last month, this wont go up again in February?

No, it won't go up again in Feburary

BenMcr77 · 12/11/13 - 16:40

lamby wrote: »

So if your on 30mb, what will it go upto?

Go to www.virginmedia.com/speedupgrade, follow it through and it'll tell you

gashead · 12/11/13 - 16:46

How 'difficult' is it for VM to increase their speeds? What I mean is, is the necessary investment (I assume there must be some) required to increase speed remotely relative to the increased sub., or is it a case of VM simply wanting to extract more money out of its customers (what company doesn't?) and the increased speed is a trivial cost to them in comparison?

Is it good enough for VM to keep increasing speed as an excuse to increase cost? Surely at some point, ever faster speeds become irrelevant to the customer in practical terms and we (the collective customer base) would be happy to stay on the speed we have if it meant no further price rises?

BenMcr77 · 12/11/13 - 16:51

gashead wrote: »

How 'difficult' is it for VM to increase their speeds? What I mean is, is the necessary investment (I assume there must be some) required to increase speed remotely relative to the increased sub., or is it a case of VM simply wanting to extract more money out of its customers, and the increased speed is a trivial cost in comparison?

Yes investment in the network is required, either via new kit for some customers to get the new speeds, extra capacity to support the extra speeds, network improvements etc.

Is it good enough for VM to keep increasing speed as an excuse to increase cost? Surely at some point, ever faster speeds will become irrelevant to the customer (in practical terms, there's always bragging rights I suppose) and we (the collective customer base) would be happy to stay on the speed we have if it meant no further price rises?

Unfortunately you would get price increases whether the speeds changed or not.

gashead · 12/11/13 - 16:58

BenMcr77 wrote: »

Yes investment in the network is required, either via new kit for some customers to get the new speeds, extra capacity to support the extra speeds, network improvements etc.

I assumed some investment is necessary. What I was wondering, if you or anyone else is privvy to it, is how much of this 6.7% increase goes towards improving the speed? 3%? 1.5%? 0.01%?

ETA - it's largely rhetorical, I doubt anyone could quantify it. I just think the time will come when enough people think 'I don't care about faster speed, I'd just rather there were fewer hikes'. There must be a sweet spot between speed/ price.

mossy2103 · 12/11/13 - 17:59

I am just surprised that the last round of speed increase work did not result in far greater capacity being installed in order to cope with the likes of 152meg (thy must know and plan what ranges they would be likely to be offering in a few years time).

Surely all of the additional re-engineering work must cost a fair bit.

Or is it not as straightforward as that?

lamby · 12/11/13 - 18:13

"July and December 2014 you'll be able to upgrade to super speedy up to 50Mb broadband at no extra monthly cost. We'll email you when it's ready."

nomad2king · 12/11/13 - 18:33

I'm on BB L and my "loyalty bonus" for being a customer for 10 years is to be stuck on 20Mb and not the standard 30Mb for BB L.:mad: Won't I need a new modem or Superhub?

BenMcr77 · 12/11/13 - 19:06

nomad2king wrote: »

I'm on BB L and my "loyalty bonus" for being a customer for 10 years is to be stuck on 20Mb and not the standard 30Mb for BB L.:mad: Won't I need a new modem or Superhub?

Yes, you will, and if you go for the upgrade, you'll get one

gashead · 12/11/13 - 19:16

Now the VM price hike is the top read article on the BBC news website, I've just come across this nugget:
"New rules from Ofcom governing mid-contract price rises will come into effect from early 2014, forcing providers to give customers the opportunity to cancel their contract without financial penalty if they increase prices during their contract term."

Be interesting to see how this rule gets interpretted by the various media providers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24911042

nomad2king · 12/11/13 - 19:41

BenMcr77 wrote: »

Yes, you will, and if you go for the upgrade, you'll get one

What are my chances of 30Mb now and 50Mb later?

BenMcr77 · 12/11/13 - 19:47

gashead wrote: »

Now the VM price hike is the top read article on the BBC news website, I've just come across this nugget:
"New rules from Ofcom governing mid-contract price rises will come into effect from early 2014, forcing providers to give customers the opportunity to cancel their contract without financial penalty if they increase prices during their contract term."

Be interesting to see how this rule gets interpretted by the various media providers.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24911042

Well Virgin Media already do that, so no change for them

BenMcr77 · 12/11/13 - 19:49

nomad2king wrote: »

What are my chances of 30Mb now and 50Mb later?

I'm not sure it's available any more - to easily go from L 20 to L30. It was part of the previous upgrade programme, which has now mainly finished

gashead · 12/11/13 - 19:58

BenMcr77 wrote: »

Well Virgin Media already do that, so no change for them

Really? I was not aware of that, thanks. I've think I've spent so long having to just suck it up, I never thought to check if they allowed it voluntarily.

[Deleted User] · 12/11/13 - 20:30

Maybe they should try rolling out the original promised upload speed increase first.

I've been on 60Mb download for 18 months now, and my upload speed is still stuck on 3Mb.

[Deleted User] · 13/11/13 - 00:21

acoolwelshbloke wrote: »

I wouldn't get too excited, they will no doubt be doing an area by area upgrade with a two year completion date! Although no doubt price increases will be implemented to all areas with immediate effect!

like they did with me on the 10>30mb usain bolt upgrade. im seriously thinking about dropping virgin and living without the net. I have a local library that offers it free if im desperate

Been with them since the ntlworld days. I hear if you phone and cancel they bribe you to stay with better offers.

gds1972 · 13/11/13 - 01:00

BenMcr77 wrote: »

Yes, you will, and if you go for the upgrade, you'll get one

Probably subject to you agreeing to a new 12 month contract (unless of course you tell them you are leaving and get a deal).

I more hope they remove/relax the traffic management policy but I doubt that will happen.

BenMcr77 · 13/11/13 - 02:40

gds1972 wrote: »

I more hope they remove/relax the traffic management policy but I doubt that will happen.

It's already being reduced to no more than a 16% reduction, so I'd expect that to be the same on the new speeds

Hey there!

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VirginMedia to boost customers broadband speeds to mitigate 6.7% price increase

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