Virgin Media just confirmed some huge news about your broadband speeds

Millions of Virgin Media customers will soon get a huge upgrade to their broadband speeds. The company has just confirmed that it’s well on track to boost all of its network to the very latest gigabit speeds by the end of this year allowing users to download movies in less time than it takes to boil the kettle.

If you weren’t already aware, Virgin’s Gig1 technology is around 14 times faster than the current UK average with an HD blockbuster movie arriving on your TV in under 40 seconds.

Virgin already has 12.8 million customers connected to Gig1 but more homes should see this speedy technology arriving in the coming weeks.

Of course, it’s not free to upgrade to Gig1 with prices starting from around £60 per month but it could be worth considering if you have a busy house and are fed up with Netflix movies buffering or your weekly Zoom meeting grinding to a halt.

Along with pushing out Gig1 to more homes, Virgin has also revealed more news about even faster speeds.

The company has recently been testing quicker downloads using its current infrastructure.

This upgrade could allow users to whizz files to their homes at speeds in excess of 2.2Gbps.

At that rapid rate, it would take just 20 seconds to download a blockbuster film or three minutes for one of the latest Xbox or PS5 titles to arrive on consoles.

Virgin says that real-world 2.2Gbps trials are successfully taking place in Edinburgh and Birmingham using current DOCSIS 3.1 network technology, delivering speeds 43x faster than the UK average.

It’s unclear when consumers will begin seeing these much faster speeds but with tests underway it could be sooner rather than later.

Speaking about the news, Lutz Schüler, CEO of Virgin Media O2, said: “We are firing on all cylinders as a new company, just 150 days old. We have real commercial momentum with the launch of new converged bundles, sustained network rollout and subscriber gains across fixed and mobile. We remain firmly on-track to achieve our synergy target by mid-2026.

“We’ve driven a return to top line growth in Q3, while investing in connectivity, customer service and digital programmes for strong performance over the long term. With the core foundations already in place, we are fired up and focused on our mission to upgrade the UK.”