Virgin sticks to the fast lane

Wednesday 23 June

Virgin has revealed that it plans to launch a new modem later this year capable of zapping data around at an incredible 400Mbps

When it comes to ridiculously fast broadband, cable provider Virgin Media always seems to be one step ahead of the game.

While the rest of us kick up a fuss about getting the UK up to 20Mbps across the board by the year 2020, Virgin is merrily flying along at speeds much faster than that. Not content with offering 50Mbps speeds now and planning to roll out a blistering 100Mbps service by the end of the year, Virgin has revealed that it plans to launch a new modem later this year capable of zapping data around at an incredible 400Mbps.

The likes of you and me aren’t likely to be seeing those kind of speeds anytime soon, however – the firm is currently trialling 200Mbps services which themselves are only expected to launch in 2012. But the thought is certainly worth getting excited about.

If you’re not one of the 12 million UK homes Virgin covers, however, all is by no means lost. BT itself has its own cunning plan to push the speed envelope using fibre cables – with the potential of speeds hitting the magical 1Gbps mark.

Of course, there’s little practical need for 1Gbps downloads – or probably even 200Mbps downloads – right now, but that doesn’t stop us from loving the idea.