Virgin broadband how does it work

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Read our new report. Virgin Media and O2 have joined forces. Supercharging businesses across the UK. Find out more. With ultrafast, secure connections. Sky is best known as a pay-TV provider, although it also offers broadband, home phone and now mobile phone services. Like BT, Plusnet and TalkTalk, Sky's broadband service is supplied using the Openreach network, while its TV channels come via a satellite dish attached to your property. In contrast, Virgin Media specialises in broadband, although it also offers pay TV, home and mobile phone options.

Unlike Sky, Virgin's services are supplied through its own fibre-optic network, which offers faster broadband speeds but isn't as widely available. Both providers offer long contracts; typically 18 months.

Virgin Media also offers a rolling, day option for its broadband and phone deals. To help you compare the two providers and establish which would be best for you, we've pulled the key details into the table below.

Not yet a member? Join Which? Virgin Media's strength is its broadband service. Because it runs on fibre cables, it offers the fastest speeds available from mainstream providers — its TV and broadband deals have average speeds of 54Mbps, Mbps, Mbps, Mbps, Mbps or an eye-watering Mbps 1Gbps.

Virgin Media's packages also include unlimited downloads, and it no longer applies traffic management to downloads or uploads. You can sign up for a Virgin Media broadband deal without paying for a home phone service, although promotional deals mean that this doesn't always work out cheaper in the first year.

Sky offers the typical speeds seen from providers using the Openreach network. Its standard ADSL broadband has an average speed of 11Mbps, while its widely available fibre offering has an average speed of 59Mbps. Customers in some areas can access Sky's ultrafast broadband deals, which have average speeds of Mbps and Mbps. Like Virgin Media, Sky doesn't apply any traffic management, and its packages include unlimited data.

Virgin Media is miles ahead of the top speeds offered by the likes of BT and Sky. Its top-tier Ultimate Oomph Bundle which includes TV offers average speeds of an awesome Mbps and customers can now get Mbps or more with the Gig1 service. Any Virgin Media broadband deal of Mbps or more would adequately serve a busy household streaming multiple movies, gaming, doing some good old-fashioned surfing, and still have plenty left over. Other providers operating on the Openreach network everyone else , offer similar upload speeds.

Do upload speeds matter? With most tasks, no. Waiting for photos to upload or big emails to send can be pretty frustrating, however, so it all comes down to what you do with your connection most of the time.

Each broadband provider in the UK tends to have its own way of drawing in new customers. Below is a sample of the Virgin broadband deals currently on offer. All broadband customers get the same router, the Hub 3, with the exception of Gig1 customers who will receive the Hub 4. Customers wishing to upgrade to Gig1 will be issued with a new Hub 4 router free of charge. TV Help. Landline Help. Mobile Help. Moving Home. Help Getting Started. Self install broadband.

Track Your Order. Return or Recycle Equipment. Broadband is a high-speed way of connecting to the internet. If you have it in your home it allows you to connect web-enabled devices like phones, laptops and smart TVs to the internet to stream TV shows, make video calls and access websites. Broadband is a much faster method of connecting to the internet than the previous method, dial-up sometimes called narrowband and has largely replaced it in most major countries across the world.

Each type of broadband offers different speeds and varying reliability. It is generally considered that when it comes to broadband the faster it is, the better your experience. It connects your home to the internet using copper wires, the speed of which relies heavily on how far your home is from your telephone exchange. The further away from it your home is positioned, the slower your speeds will be.

And vice versa. A service provided by a cable network, which usually also connects phone and cable TV services. Cable networks use underground fibre optic and coaxial cabling to pump in superfast speeds of up to Mbps and no speed is lost depending on the geographical location of your home. Having a fast, reliable broadband connection to your home is becoming more and more essential to modern living. The faster your connection is the more you will enjoy the online things you love the most.

Even a basic broadband connection should allow you to check your email application for new mails and search the web. If you want to surf the internet faster or attach big files to your emails you should probably consider a better broadband package. If you are sharing a work document or conducting a meeting online, then you will want a fast broadband connection to avoid any irritating lagging or buffering.

The faster your broadband connection the quicker you can upload files. The steadier your broadband, the smoother your video calls will be. With video, DVD and games rental largely a thing of the past, most of us stream or download our entertainment direct from the internet. The faster your broadband connection, the quicker you can download full films or games.