Cable giant Virgin Media UK has announced some much needed improvements to its existing Virgin.net ADSL (Virgin National) broadband services, which are typically offered to customers who reside outside of the operators cable coverage (e.g. BT consumers). Faster download speeds of up to 20Mbps ( ADSL2+ ), voice line rental and a pledge to "avoid unachievable speed claims" are the primary changes.

Previously customers needed to pick an 'up to' 8Mbps ADSL package and only had the option of 'upgrading' to 16Mbps, yet the new changes mean that everybody will get "the fastest broadband we can give you over your ADSL line", which is up to a maximum of 20Mbps. Customers on the move will also be able to take advantage of a special Mobile Broadband offer from just £5 per month for 1GB.

The improvements are designed to coincide with VM's new National Broadband Best Speed Promise. The promise guarantees to banish unrealistic marketing speed claims and seeks to give customers honest and transparent information about the technical capabilities of their broadband connection at point of sale.



In addition non-cable customers will also now be able to swap their voice line rental from BT to Virgin Media. As well as simplifying customers’ bills, Virgin hopes this will enable them to take advantage of significant savings on bundled broadband and phone services.

So what are the new packages actually like? Well unsurprisingly Virgin Media has chosen to keep them simple with the usual 'M', 'L' and 'XL' branding (add '+Phone M' when taken with line rental). Details are as follows:

Broadband M
•£15 per month
•10GB monthly downloads
•Download speeds of up to 20Mbps
•Free wireless kit/modem
•5GB of online storage
•25 free photo prints each month

Broadband L
•£19 per month
•40GB monthly downloads
•Download speeds of up to 20Mbps
•Free wireless kit/modem
•10GB of online storage
•50 free photo prints each month

Broadband XL
•£25 per month
•Unlimited monthly downloads
•Download speeds of up to 20Mbps
•Free wireless kit/modem
•Unlimited online storage
•100 free photo prints each month

The usual 12 month contract applies to all options, as does a £30 connection fee, email and the free PCguard (anti-virus, firewall & pop-up blocker) security suit. It's also noted that the prices above are for those covered by Virgin Media's unbundled ( LLU ) network, suggesting that people only covered by BT might pay more; oddly no pricing difference is stated.

Prices for packages bundled with line rental and unlimited weekend UK landline calls are as follows: M = £21 per month (£16 per month for the first 3 months), L = £25 per month (£20 per month for the first 3 months) and XL = £31 per month (£26 per month for the first 3 months). Some sort of Fair Usage (FUP) / Traffic Management policy does still exist (Details Here), although P2P users seem to be the primary target.

The Virgin National platform has in the past appeared to suffer from a lack of development and capacity, with many historical complaints about poor support and service stemming from this side of the operators products. Virgin Media will need to show that it can improve more than just its headline Virgin.net speeds before others are willing to take the risk.