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Virgin Media and BT release huge broadband upgrade but which is really best? – Express.co.uk


If you’re broadband isn’t up to scratch then good news could be coming soon. Both BT and Virgin Media are releasing major updates to their services which will see homes able to access downloads at much more rapid rate. Virgin started rolling out its Gig1 service last year and BT has also just begun offering customers downloads at 1Gbps – that’s fast enough to get a full HD movie downloaded in well under a minute.

For those that fancy upgrading here’s a guide to which is best.

BT IS A LITTLE BT CHEAPER

Trying to find full pricing isn’t easy as BT and Virgin only reveal exact full costs to those who are able to access these speeds.

However, a bit of digging around reveals what you’ll pay and it seems BT is a little cheaper than Virgin when it comes to superfast speeds.

According to ISPreview, BT is offering its Full Fibre 1000 for £59.99 per month for the first 24 months with things the rising to £67.99 per month.

Checking Virgin’s latest pricing reveals that they start things from £62 per month so for the first two years of your contract BT is around £2 cheaper.

1GB ISN’T AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BUT WHO IS ROLLING IT OUT THE QUICKEST?

We’re sure that both BT and Virgin will brag that they are getting these new speeds to customers the fastest.

At launch, BT is offering its Full Fibre 100 in areas including Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Leeds, London and Manchester.

However, the telecoms firm says it will be available in hundreds of cities, towns and villages across the UK giving BT the biggest Full Fibre network reach of any provider in the UK.

Beyond this, BT has an ambition to reach around half of homes in the UK by the end of 2025.

Meanwhile Virgin has already launched Gig1 in Southampton, Reading, Greater Manchester and across the West Midland.

Connections in London are coming soon, the ISP has promised.

Virgin Media COO Jeff Dodds said: “This year we’ll bring the service to even more cities as we rollout gigabit broadband across our entire network at a speed and scale unmatched by anyone else. Whatever the future holds, we’re connecting our customers to what’s next.”

We’ll have to wait and see who really keeps their promise on this rollout.

DO YOU REALLY NEED IT?

1Gbps might sound like something everyone will want but do you really need it?

That’s an interesting question and there’s no doubt that, in the future, these speeds will be a necessity of any house.

The hypersonic fibre broadband service offers blistering dowloads with a full HD movie taking under a minute to download.

A PlayStation 4 game from the digital store – like Red Dead Redemption 2 (99GB) – will take 4 hours and 20 minutes on the average UK broadband connection. That drops to 14 minutes when connected to 1Gbps speeds.

That’s all very impressive but services such as Netflix only require a speed of 25Mbps to stream 4K Ultra HD content.

So, it’ll take a small army regiment streaming The Haunting Of Hill House in your living room to get close to maxing out that Gig1 allowance.

Of course, if you’re house is full of connected gadgets and you kids are streaming games all day long whist you’re downloding 4K movies this will be a welcomed addition.

If that’s not your home then anything around 100Mbps should do just fine.



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