The city of Sunderland in Tyne and Wear is the next to benefit from Virgin Media’s rollout of their cable ultrafast broadband and TV network, which currently covers half of the city and will now be extended to a further 7,000 premises. Separately VM has also updated their Virgin TV Go app with a download feature.
As usual the local roll-out will form part of the operator’s wider £3bn Project Lightning network expansion, which aims to reach around 3-4 million additional UK premises by the end of 2019 or 2020 using a mix of FTTP and Hybrid Fibre Coax technology (the original aspiration for 4 million premises passed is currently looking a bit shaky – here).
The expansion in Sunderland will focus on the areas of Shiney Row, Penshaw and Silksworth. At present it’s anticipated that the local civil engineering work, which is already underway, should complete by the end of 2019.
As usual the operator will harness narrow trenching techniques and aim to post information leaflets to premises which might be affected “at least a week before work starts on their street“. A number of local information sharing events have also been setup, with the first due to take place on Monday 20th August 6-8pm at Penshaw Community Centre (DH4 7PD).
Graeme Miller, Sunderland City Council Leader, said:
“We’re delighted that Virgin Media is continuing to invest in the city. This is fantastic news for Sunderland and will provide a major boost to residents and businesses. This investment fits perfectly with our ambitions to establish the city as a digital pioneer and we are working closely with Virgin Media, who are a major employer in the region, to ensure disruption to residents is kept to a minimum and the process is as smooth as possible.”
Separately the cable provider has today also announced an update of the Virgin TV Go app (available for iOS and Android), which adds a new download feature. As a result Virgin’s Full House and VIP customers can now download their favourite programmes to compatible phones and tablets. Customers can download shows over WiFi, 4G or 3G in the UK or countries in the EU (any programme downloaded prior to leaving the UK or EU can be watched anywhere else in the world offline).
Ultrafast Speeds on the way to another area and the Virgin TV Go news is another bonus. Enjoy Sunderland 🙂
I notice that virgin media has put the price up for cable broadband stand alone with 350/20 are now costing £50 per month (before was £48)
Yes. Price increase season. Everyone is using the Internet more. Upgrading networks to carry the traffic costs money.
Incidentally there’s also no 200Mb product on the pages right now. Either a mistake or the product has been withdrawn in favour of 350Mb, which would make sense.
Good Spot Carl, maybe its missing or been removed due to the offer where you can add TV to a package. If you select the Broadband and Phone Option there is an “Add TV for better value Player bundle” if you click on that and then click on “Personalise your bundle” you get the option back to add 200Mb. (instead of the default 50Mb on that deal and you can remove the TV and phone options it adds automatically if you wish). Doing that results in being able to buy 200Mb on a 12 month contract for £42.
It is also still available on the 30 day contracts pages (obviously for more money due to the shorter contract) so i assume the offer mentioned above has something to do with it currently not being on the 12 month pages, be it room on the page, trying to remove it, promote 350Mb more or some other reason.
CarlT, 200Mb is still there if you select a 30 day rolling contract. It’s also included with some of their bundles (Full House TV + Sky Sports or Movies) plus you still have the option to ‘change your order’ before checkout and select 200Mb (or any other speed on offer).
^^^ Yep removing or adding things before the the final checkout pages is another way to get the option back. Good observation there.
How about the whole of Bournemouth? I had to cancel my contract because Virgin doesn’t service my new flat even though I moved just up town still in Bournemouth. Charged £138 to come out of contract early! Not my fault but of course still have to pay unless I want a county court judgement. Cheers Virgin.
You cancel contract, you pay, as to your flat choices that is your decision.