Virgin Media O2 Business UK Prep 1Gbps Broadband Package UPDATE2
Small business customers of broadband ISP Virgin Media Business (VMO2) may be pleased to note that their long wait for the operator to finally launch a 1Gbps (Voom Fibre) package may be about to end. The provider has just started inviting existing subscribers on their slower tiers to take a new gigabit plan.
Residential customers of Virgin Media’s service on their DOCSIS 3.1 powered Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) and full fibre FTTP network have had access to a 1Gbps (1130Mbps down / 52Mbps up) package since 2019, although admittedly the early availability was quite limited. By comparison, customers on their equivalent packages for small businesses are still stuck with a top speed of 500Mbps (50Mbps up).
Nevertheless, back in February 2022 we speculated that VMB’s launch of a new Hitron Chita (cable gateway – pictured top) router could also herald the long-overdue arrival of a new 1Gbps package for business customers (here), which is because their previous Hitron CGNV4 device was fairly old and didn’t support the DOCSIS 3.1 standard.
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The good news is that new and existing customers of VMB’s Voom Fibre packages have now started to receive invites for a new “1Gb business broadband” (Voom Gig1) package (Credits to Dan for the image). The pre-registration promotion, which is open until 6th June 2022, offers a “free installation” (usually £50) on a 24-month term.
Sadly, we aren’t told any other details, but it seems reasonable to assume that the package will go live next month. We hope to have more details soon.
UPDATE 11:04am
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VMO2 has declined to comment on this.
UPDATE 4:08pm
Separately, VMO2B has today also launched their new ‘Get More Fund‘, which is available to new or existing customers that extend their contracts to take both internet connection (broadband or leased lines) and mobile products. Such subscribers will now be able to put 10% of the value of their new plan towards a range of hardware options for their teams, from Smartphones to laptops and printers.
The ‘Get More Fund’ – open to all organisations with 10 to 249 employees across the UK – also provides a package of other new benefits for customers, including:
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➤ A free digital review, which will see Virgin Media O2 Business experts audit individual businesses’ connectivity needs and provide tailored recommendations to set them up for the future of remote working
➤ Dedicated account management, with one single point of contact across all connectivity solutions to save time and unnecessary admin, and provide always-on help and advice
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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Taking a 2 year contract on something with a 50Mbps upload seems a risk these days with the pace of FTTP builds that are happening.
Yup… I’m on 500/50 with them (vm business) and ultimately its more upload I need, not download – so unless they’re offering 1000/100 I won’t be tying myself back into a 2 year contract – an even better prospect would be coming to offer 1 gig symmetric with new fiber to replace the coax 😀 butI haven’t seen pigs fly across my office window yet.
Just had my invite.
Would you believe we had to find (run our own cables, shhs..) for both VM and OR (BT) just to get FTTC and VM Coax in a town center and it’s going to be at least 2 years before we get OR FTTP, so I will be signing up for this, if nothing else maybe this will finally fix the issue with the CGNV4 and static IP addresses.
Do we have monthly price costs yet?
For the small business users / WFHers on their Limited companies out there I’m sharing my tip having given Virgin Gig1 (residential) the boot for its abysmal reliability and spent the last 18 months constantly running round because it’s stopped working / going slow again.
Virgin Gig 1 – Residential costs £62 / month – this cannot be expensed against Ltd company expenses – Download 1Gbps / Upload 52Mbps
I replaced this with two services as follows:
1. A BT Business ADSL line – £25 a month ex VAT for 24 months with £135 cashback via Topcashback.co.uk. All of our slow speed / high data devices at home now connect to that
2. A 3 unlimited sim / external router. That gives unlimited data and the typical speeds are 600-700Mbps down / 130Mbps upload but with the small risk that the service could go down for an hour or two when they do work on the mast. The cost is £13.33 ex VAT / month for 12 months with £65 cashback via top cashback
Both services are connected to an ASUS XT8 router with failover – so if the primary connection on 3 is unavailable it switches to BT ADSL within around 20 seconds.
All of the “slow” non essential / high data volume devices are directly connected to the BT Hub. Everything else connects to the ASUS hub and is always protected by failover.
The cost to me after it’s gone through the books on my Ltd company is around £25 a month – so significantly less than Virgin Gig1 Resi or Business – but with redundancy against my connection going down and having to scrabble round to find somewhere else to work.
Which 3 router have you connected to the ASUS XT8?
Why can’t VM Resi be expensed to business?
Quick answers to the questions from Lee and Anon:
Which 3 router have you connected to the ASUS XT8?
A zyxel NR7101 so it can be mounted externally. The cost – around £550 bought outright, can also be expensed. I expense a 3 sim as a top up for moblile internet access and use it in the external router. If the 3 consumer 5G service is used it can’t be expensed because that would be provided on a “home” broadband product rather than on a business contract with a Ltd company as the account holder.
Why can’t VM Resi be expensed to business?
– For services delivered to domestic premises the HMRC rule book specifically precludes the expensing of these as a valid business expense – because there’s likely to be secondary use e.g. as home broadband. Anything that’s billed on a business contract with the Ltd company paying the invoice is ok.
@Small Business
I’d been meaning to sort out my company paying my VM bill, I phoned them just now and got them to edit the billing address.
So, instead of:
Fred Smith
1 Anystreet
Sometown
AB12 3CD
It would be
Fred Smith
Some Awesome Company Ltd
1 Anystreet
Sometown
AB12 3CD
I’ve also changed the DD account to the business. They will provide VAT invoices on request. Seems to meet all the requirements for me. (This is a VM Residential account)
What’s the upload speed on this? Plus it’s a shame that the business router doesn’t support sfp+ or anything faster than a gig rj45 as you can’t get the full speed over that type of connection if you wanted to plug it into your own equipment
50 Mbps
Openreach/Virgin need to sort out their upload speeds or altnets will slowly carve them a new one.
Openreach can upgrade their PON technology relatively easily whenever upload (or download) speeds become a significant issue.
Virgin’s problem is the rate at which Openreach is rolling out FTTP and eroding VM’s fastest-national-network premium. 2028 is still a long way away.
Altnets are a minor irritation in comparison to that.