Jealous of Comcast customers with their 105Mbps cable hook ups or those lucky residents of the Kansas cities relishing in Google’s 1Gbps service ? Well add Londonites to the list of people who drive you to indulging in a single of the seven deadly sins. Virgin Media has finally started testing its DOCSIS2-powered 1.5Gbps network within the heart of merry ol’ England. Right away it’s being enjoyed by a collection of test sites around Old Street that still get a 150Mbps upload connection. Virgin claims it is the fastest broadband on earth, that could be true in case you are not counting lab experiments . The outstanding news is that it’s in response to the identical tech already delivering 100Mbps to residents around the country so, if the trial goes well, it will be trivial to deliver these mind numbing speeds to the remainder of its customers. PR after the break.
Virgin Media, the UK’s leading broadband provider, is successfully delivering internet accelerates to 240 times faster than the national average to triallists in London. Using Virgin Media’s unique cable network, broadband speeds of as much as 1.5Gb are being enjoyed around Old Street, a place referred to as ‘Silicon Roundabout’, including by members at TechHub, a community and workspace for technology entrepreneurs.
The 1.5Gb download and 150Mb upload trial uses the similar infrastructure and technology as Virgin Media uses to supply residential customers with speeds of as much as 100Mb, already being rolled out to over 1/2 all UK homes. The 1.5Gb trial is the world’s fastest cable connection and greater than 240 times faster than the national average broadband1.
Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media, said: “As individuals are simultaneously connecting more gadgets to the web and doing more online than ever before, we would have liked to explore what our unique fibre optic network is able to. At speeds of as much as 1.5Gb, Virgin Media is delivering a number of the fastest broadband on earth and, owing to our ongoing investment, we’re capable of anticipate and paved the way in meeting growing demand for bandwidth as future services and applications come online.”
Virgin Media is celebrating the success of its 1.5Gb trial with an event at TechHub today. TechHub members can be showcasing their products, exploring how you can benefit from technology, now and sooner or later, and guests should be given the opportunity to take a look at out the world’s fastest cable connection for themselves.
Communications Minister Ed Vaizey attended the development and said: “It’s fantastic to peer the fastest internet speeds on the planet over cable being trialled here inside the UK.
“This exciting development may also help attract new companies and entrepreneurs to the world, bringing new jobs and growth to this section of the capital.
“Last year the Prime Minister set out our ambition for London’s East End to become a worldwide-leading technology city to rival Silicon Valley. Developments like Virgin Media’s can help make this ambition a reality.”
Elizabeth Varley, co-founder and CEO at TechHub, said: “TechHub members are having great fun with the super speeds and are anticipating checking out new ideas and applications. Superfast broadband is important to continued innovation around the UK and Virgin Media’s 1.5Gb trial is a superb opportunity to explore the longer term potential.”
TechHub members are tech entrepreneurs and startup teams, producing interactive applications, software and other products exploring innovative uses of content and technology to develop new businesses and concepts.
Other businesses enjoying Virgin Media’s 1.5Gb trial include BespokeBanter.com, an internet media outfit, and soproductions.tv, a video production company.
These superfast speeds are possible due to the £13 billion of non-public investment made by Virgin Media which means every cable house is connected to a state-of-the-art fibre optic network by a high-grade coaxial line.
Because the pace of technological change increases, Virgin Media’s future-proofed infrastructure means consumers would be best placed to access future interactive entertainment and public services, consisting of remote healthcare and online education, as they’re developed.
The DOCSIS2 technology used throughout Virgin Media’s network provides a future-proofed platform with theoretically near infinite capacity. Virgin Media is ready to bond multiple downstream and upstream channels together for use whilst by a single subscriber to deliver faster speeds. DOCSIS 3.0, the present standard used throughout Virgin Media’s network, also incorporates support for Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6).
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