…and so do your chums in Folkestone and Dover it seems. Virgin Media are currently trialling their super-fast 50Mbps broadband service in the three aforementioned locations. The webpage on the Virgin Media site dedicated to the trial - located at www.vmpilot.net – screams thus:
“Virgin Media are piloting an exciting, new technology. It’s 50 Mbps broadband and it’s already available to existing cable modem customers in Ashford, Kent. Now it’s available in Folkestone and Dover, too!”
Ashford and Folkestone have both entered what is being referred to as ‘Phase 2′ of the trial, with all Virgin Media customers in the area being able to sign up for speeds of up to 50Mbps for a huge £47 a month. Up until the 1st of this month, signing up for the service was free – it is not yet clear if customers who signed up for the trial before October will still have to pay; we presume that this is the case.
Dover has been running the trial since the start of October 2007, although no pricing details have been announced as yet.
With traffic shaping in place at peak times in place, its doubtful that Virgin will be charging £47 a month for the service, even though 50Mbps is way beyond anything currently on offer from rival ISPs.
Interestingly, some internet rumour millers have suggested that because Virgin are the cable monopoly in this country, it is possible that they may be subjected to BT Openreach style regulations and have to open up their networks to competitors. The big hitters in the Broadband Premiership have all stated that cable is the future of broadband and telephony services. The future is in Virgin’s hands, for the moment at least.
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