Virgin Media offers its fastest broadband speeds to date

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The updated broadband speeds are being offered to customers who already have the company's VIVID 300 package, who will be automatically transferred to the ultrafast VIVID 350 package at no extra cost.

The move comes as Virgin Media continues to claim its place as the UK's fastest broadband provider through ongoing expansion plans that will bring ultrafast speeds to millions more homes.

At the front of the pack

Anthony Vollmer, Executive Director for Connectivity at Virgin Media, said of the announcement: "We've always been proud of our network's speed and for good reason. Our lines bring blazingly fast download speeds which are leagues ahead of those our customers could find elsewhere. We have been the speed leader since 2007: We intend to remain at the front of the pack."

It's true that Virgin Media has traditionally led the way in meeting demand for ultrafast home broadband speeds (which is defined as 100Mb or more), with speeds that have increased fifteen-fold since the company was founded in 2007.

Seeing as the average UK home broadband speed is 44Mb it's plain to see that Virgin is dedicated to bringing the fastest speeds on the market to UK homes.

The benefits for users are noticeable - at speeds of 350Mb users can download an entire standard HD film in just five minutes and download a 25GB console game in 10 minutes, compared to a lengthy hour and a half using the average 44Mb download speeds.

The VIVID 350 package, which replaces VIVID 300, is available for £41 per month for an initial 12-month contract, with a further £20 activation fee. The cost rises to £48 per month for an additional 12-month contract.

Virgin expansion

Although the Government recently reached its target of 95% coverage for superfast broadband in UK homes, this is only defined as speeds of 24Mb or faster, considerably less than the ultrafast speeds on offer from Virgin through its VIVID 350 package.

The Government has recently been encouraging internet service providers (ISPs) to step up their game and expand ultrafast broadband speeds to more homes and businesses, such as its recent funding announcement for full-fibre networks, which take fibre cables straight to premises.

Of the well-known ISPs, Virgin Media has really taken the initiative and is pushing ahead with its Project Lightning, which aims to connect four million properties to full-fibre networks by 2020 and hopes to eventually reach 17 million premises.

Virgin Media's recent expansion plans have seen the company gain ground on its rivals in the home broadband market, pushing ahead of BT Openreach, which has been working on its G.fast broadband technology.

An alternative to full-fibre, BT's G.fast technology allows speeds up to 330Mb and has been successfully trialled and rolled out across thousands of homes across the UK over the past couple of years, with a million premises expected to be reached by the end of this fiscal year (end of March 2018) and ten million premises by 2020.

Although both BT and Virgin are pushing ahead with connecting more homes to ultrafast broadband, Virgin Media's latest announcement means its speeds are currently faster than those on offer from BT.

More important is the fact that BT's ultrafast 330Mb broadband from its G.fast technology is not at this time common across the UK, whereas Virgin's VIVID 350 package is widely available.

To compare the services on offer from both BT and Virgin Media further check out our comparative guide here or to compare high-speed internet plans more generally visit our guide to the UK's fastest broadband services.

Alternatively to take a look at Virgin Media's broadband services in more detail go here.