Product Reviews Net » Virgin Media http://www.product-reviews.net Information on the latest gadgets, technology, news and product reviews Sun, 27 May 2012 11:45:01 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Virgin Media to trial 4G may bid for spectrum http://www.product-reviews.net/2012/01/25/virgin-media-to-trial-4g-may-bid-for-spectrum/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=virgin-media-to-trial-4g-may-bid-for-spectrum http://www.product-reviews.net/2012/01/25/virgin-media-to-trial-4g-may-bid-for-spectrum/#comments Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:14:32 +0000 Gary Johnson http://www.product-reviews.net/?p=147919 Consumers in the UK continue to wait for a 4G service to become available in the country. Ofcom is expected to begin auctioning off licenses later this year to the major carriers. One of the smaller carriers Virgin Media is to trial 4G and may even bid for available spectrum once the auction kicks off.

The company has recently been trialing 4G coverage at its flagship store in London’s Oxford Street, ahead of any possible bid. Many would have thought that the bidding would just be between Everything Everywhere, O2, Three, and Vodafone, but as TechRadar are reporting a decision has yet to be finalized.

A spokesperson from the company commented about Ofcom wanting new participants for the market and was “an encouraging sign”. It is thought that Ofcom are looking to make available the type of spectrum that Virgin would be looking to use available for auction.

The carrier connected a small cell onto the London store’s broadband connection and tested it via a 4G dongle. Virgin are now looking to expand the trials further to other consumers, and has before tested services in the Kent town of Ashford so it could happen here again.

Virgin Mobile’s coverage as come from piggy backing the T-Mobile network, which has now expanded to Orange as well after the two carriers merged and created Everything Everywhere. Other carriers have been testing 4G connections before Virgin such as Everything Everywhere and O2 ahead of the auctions.

It has been reported before that many mobile users in the country still struggle to get a reliable 3G connection in some regions. The 4G auction expected to raise billions for the British Government just as a similar auction did for 3G spectrum. Are you looking forward to a 4G service?

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]]> http://www.product-reviews.net/2012/01/25/virgin-media-to-trial-4g-may-bid-for-spectrum/feed/ 0 Virgin Media broadband speeds to get supercharged http://www.product-reviews.net/2012/01/11/virgin-media-broadband-speeds-to-get-supercharged/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=virgin-media-broadband-speeds-to-get-supercharged http://www.product-reviews.net/2012/01/11/virgin-media-broadband-speeds-to-get-supercharged/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:15:26 +0000 Gary Johnson http://www.product-reviews.net/?p=147293 Many consumers will be happy with their broadband speeds and the service that they receive. But some will always want a faster and a slicker service from their provider. Today we have some good news for some as Virgin Media broadband speeds are to get supercharged.

The company has announced that they are to invest over £100 million on a program that will see most of its four million customers get more than double broadband speeds. A report on The Guardian states that Virgin Media has tested speeds of up to 1.5 GB a second in a trial of tech businesses.

This took place at the Silicon Roundabout in London, and the company will spend £110 million during an eighteen month upgrade plan. Customers who subscribe to its 10Mb service, which is 74 percent of its subscribers will get speeds of 20Mb.

Others that are on the 20Mb plan will get their broadband speed tripled to 60Mb, while customers on the 30Mb will also receive 60Mb. Customers who are on plans between 50Mb to 100Mb will see their speeds rise to between 100Mb and 120Mb.

Customers on Virgins top tier speed of 120Mb will be on the quickest service offered in the UK, and will allow them to download a HD movie in around five minutes. Neil Berkett of Virgin Media said that “having a fast, reliable broadband service should not be a luxury”.

The company is planning on funding the upgrades from the sale of its stake in UKTV, which was sold to US TV company Scripps. Are you a customer of Virgin Media?

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]]> http://www.product-reviews.net/2012/01/11/virgin-media-broadband-speeds-to-get-supercharged/feed/ 0 Ofcom report reveals Virgin Media disappointment, Sky satisfaction http://www.product-reviews.net/2011/11/25/ofcom-report-reveals-virgin-media-disappointment-sky-satisfaction/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ofcom-report-reveals-virgin-media-disappointment-sky-satisfaction http://www.product-reviews.net/2011/11/25/ofcom-report-reveals-virgin-media-disappointment-sky-satisfaction/#comments Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:57:54 +0000 Chris Maugham http://www.product-reviews.net/?p=145695 The latest customer satisfaction reports from Ofcom are now available and they have revealed disappointment amongst dissatisfied Virgin Media customers. The media giants found themselves in last place in two categories and not much better off in a third according to the communications watchdog’s findings.

The categories which Virgin Media found themselves disappointing in were both Pay TV and landlines. They were also found reported to be one of the worst in the fixed broadband category but this time they were in second to last place as opposed to TalkTalk who were bottom of the pile. All three of these categories are crucial for the service they are offering so for them to be found so unsatisfactory by customers is a worrying situation for the company.

The results came from 3,000 customers that were interviewed by Ofcom. Virgin Media broadband customers amongst the interviewees gave the company just a 57% rating in terms of satisfaction, the same as BT and only 2% more than bottom of the pack TalkTalk. Sky came out on top with a 64% rating of satisfaction from their customers for their broadband.

The regulator published their findings this morning which also indicated Sky customer satisfaction with their TV services and surprisingly their landline, with a 70% and 74% rating respectively. According to The Register the regulators also said that Sky customers were ‘particularly pleased that advisors took their questions or issues seriously’ offering compensation or payments as a gesture of goodwill while attempting to resolve issues.

They also explained that despite TalkTalk’s low ratings, dissatisfaction with their complaints handling service fell by 22% and other ratings have improved since February. Do these results offer an accurate representation of your feelings towards these services? Are you surprised by any of the results?

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]]> http://www.product-reviews.net/2011/11/25/ofcom-report-reveals-virgin-media-disappointment-sky-satisfaction/feed/ 1 TiVo Virgin Media update begins rollout new features added http://www.product-reviews.net/2011/11/18/tivo-virgin-media-update-begins-rollout-new-features-added/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tivo-virgin-media-update-begins-rollout-new-features-added http://www.product-reviews.net/2011/11/18/tivo-virgin-media-update-begins-rollout-new-features-added/#comments Fri, 18 Nov 2011 08:54:24 +0000 Gary Johnson http://www.product-reviews.net/?p=145329 The TiVo Virgin Media update begins to rollout across the UK to customers with new features added, with the automatic update beginning last night and continuing over the next week. There will be some clever new features added to the set top boxes for customers of the service.

According to Cnet users will now be able to search the BBC iPlayer, and also with the new TiVo iPad app type more easily and record programs. Once the update has landed on your TiVo box searching the BBC iPlayer will be easier as well as catch-up On Demand menus.

Users will be able to record an entire series with one click from the guide, discovery bar, and program information via the Express Series Link. Recordings will now start one minute before a program is set to begin, and won’t stop until four minutes after the program is finished.

There are new parental controls that cleverly lock programs after the watershed; this will stop children from entering the PIN and watching content that isn’t suitable. Using the remote to type has got easier thanks to multi-tap text entry, which will let users to search TiVo by typing the same way as on a mobile phone.

Now there will be more red button interactive services from the likes of the BBC, ITV, and Sky Sports among others. There have been improvements to the YouTube and Music On Demand apps, with YouTube now available in HD.

Updates will take place at 2 a.m. each day this week between now and November 24th, but you won’t know when it is to happen you will just need to leave the box on standby overnight. It can take up to an hour to download and it’s best not to use the box while it’s updating.

Has your TiVo box updated yet?

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]]> http://www.product-reviews.net/2011/11/18/tivo-virgin-media-update-begins-rollout-new-features-added/feed/ 0 Virgin Media users to get Spotify via mobile and broadband http://www.product-reviews.net/2011/10/31/virgin-media-users-to-get-spotify-via-mobile-and-broadband/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=virgin-media-users-to-get-spotify-via-mobile-and-broadband http://www.product-reviews.net/2011/10/31/virgin-media-users-to-get-spotify-via-mobile-and-broadband/#comments Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:46:12 +0000 Gary Johnson http://www.product-reviews.net/?p=144072 The music streaming service Spotify recently expanded to the US market after being available for quite a while in Europe. Now it has been announced that Virgin Media users are to get Spotify via mobile and broadband.

Customers who are new or agree to a new contract taking the 30Mb, 59Mb, or 100Mb service will get Spotify Premium for no charge for the first six months, and according to What Hi-Fi this is a saving of almost £60. This will allow customers to get access to Spotify’s massive music library, and also get a range of exclusive content via a new VM Music tab found in the Spotify app.

Broadband customers agreeing to a new monthly Virgin Mobile contract will get a free Spotify Premium subscription for their handset for three months, which is a saving of £30. Users will also not have to pay any data charges when streaming or downloading tracks via Spotify to their handset.

The company also plans to offer a Spotify service for its TiVo video on demand set top box, which will allow customers to get Spotify content through their TV or home cinema equipment.

Customers of Virgin Media that are new to Spotify or already have Spotify accounts will also be able to get offers of a three or six month extension to their existing subscription for free. Once the free period is over customers can continue to subscribe to Spotify Premium via Virgin, or their accounts will go back to the ad-supported free Spotify service.

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]]> http://www.product-reviews.net/2011/10/31/virgin-media-users-to-get-spotify-via-mobile-and-broadband/feed/ 0 Almost 250,000 high-speed broadband lines now in the UK http://www.product-reviews.net/2011/04/14/almost-250000-high-speed-broadband-lines-now-in-the-uk/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=almost-250000-high-speed-broadband-lines-now-in-the-uk http://www.product-reviews.net/2011/04/14/almost-250000-high-speed-broadband-lines-now-in-the-uk/#comments Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:19:31 +0000 Marlon Votta http://www.product-reviews.net/?p=127935 Broadband access continues to grow with the news that almost 250,000 high-speed lines have so far been installed in the UK. High-speed broadband is currently only available to one percent the United Kingdom, but a plan is in place to make the UK one of the main high-speed broadband users.

As the quarter of a million mark is about to be made in high-speed lines this coming month, we have information that there’s about 236,000 lines currently in use. Analysts Point Topic feel that by the end of the month there will be about 250,000 lines distributing a speed of 25Mbps or more, as noted in a report by Chris Smith on TechRadar.com.

With BT and Virgin Media heading the charge, other internet service providers are using 4,000 lines, where Virgin Media have 86,000 and BT has 136,000 broadband lines, with over 75,000 new broadband lines installed since the start of the year. This might be good news but don’t get carried away, as this is step forward but it is also only a drop in the ocean.

Point Topic’s views are of high expectations looking at the forecast with recent upgrades since the beginning of UK broadband, with Point Topic saying “We went on from about one per cent to reach over 13 million broadband lines within five years. Now we have over 19 million.”

Do you feel this will give UK users a broader horizon?

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]]> http://www.product-reviews.net/2011/04/14/almost-250000-high-speed-broadband-lines-now-in-the-uk/feed/ 0 Virgin Media 100Mb Broadband Pre-register: Check Your Eligibility http://www.product-reviews.net/2010/10/27/virgin-media-100mb-broadband-pre-register-check-your-eligibility/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=virgin-media-100mb-broadband-pre-register-check-your-eligibility http://www.product-reviews.net/2010/10/27/virgin-media-100mb-broadband-pre-register-check-your-eligibility/#comments Wed, 27 Oct 2010 14:26:34 +0000 Peter Chubb http://www.product-reviews.net/?p=112035 The UK is one country that is lacking with its broadband speeds, with just one company currently offering a fiber optic service. Virgin Media has taken the lead when it comes to broadband speeds – with BT trying to play catch-up. BT has now started to roll-out their new super-fast broadband service, but Virgin has beaten them once again by starting pre-registrations of their new 100MB broadband.

The average speed in the UK is currently 5.2MB, thats almost 20 faster – although there are those who struggle to achieve 1MB. According to Pocket-lint, upload speeds will also be increased to 10MB, that also 20 times faster as well.

Virgin has also been at the forefront of broadband in the UK – although under a different name – so it was inevitable that they were the ones to offer this much faster service.

Some areas will be upgraded to the 100MB broadband speeds in December; you can check your eligibility here. Virgin Media expects the service to be available in all parts of the UK in 2010 – the ball is now in BT’s court.

Will you consider swapping to Virgin Media if available in your area?

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