Broadband Quotes from Virgin Media Confuse Elberton Business

A business operating out of Redhill Farm Business Park in Elberton (South Gloucestershire) has been left confused after they were suddenly told by Virgin Media that it would cost £19,849.19 to upgrade their old 0.8Mbps ADSL broadband line to a faster service, which is up sharply from the original quote of £3,500.

According to the Bristol Post, Virgin Media initially quoted £3,500 to do the work in February 2015 and a month later this had increased to £4,000. The quote prompted Home Leisure Direct, which describes itself as being the “UK’s premier Games Room Specialist“, to apply for a £3,000 BDUK Broadband Connection Voucher grant to help cover the installation costs.

Several other businesses also operate from the Redhill Farm Business Park and are believed to suffer from the same connectivity woes, which is not surprising since the park is roughly 6km away from the local telephone exchange at Thornbury (that puts it right at the very furthest reaches of BT’s ancient ADSL technology).

Unfortunately the upgrade plan was later scuppered after Virgin Media conducted a site survey and then hiked the quote to almost £20,000 owning to the apparent lack of a “circuit driver” in the area, which is despite BT appearing to have at least some nearby infrastructure.

A Virgin Media Spokesperson told ISPreview.co.uk:

“We apologise to Home Leisure Direct and understand their frustration. From time to time we have to lease lines from other internet providers to supply broadband to businesses. In this instance, we were working with BT to provide connectivity and they significantly increased their quote which unfortunately would have been passed onto the customer.”

A BT spokesperson said that they were “looking into the details surrounding this circuit” and normally provide “circuits to many Communication Providers on an equal basis.” In fairness the original quote does appear quite low for running new connectivity into an area that has previously been fairly isolated.

On the other hand it’s always immensely disappointing to see that in 2015 some homes and businesses are still stuck with access to a sub-2Mbps fixed line broadband connection. The Government are working to close these gaps, but for some it will still be several more years before a solution finally arrives.