While Verizon here in the United States is playing around with somewhat unrealistic 10Gbps Internet connections they’ll never be able (or willing) to offer to consumers at a reasonable price, Virgin Media in the UK announced that in December their going to begin offering 100Mbps download speeds (with a very respectable 10Mbps upstream) for £35 (roughly $55 USD) per month with a bundle, and £45 ($71 USD) for standalone service.
Virgin claims this is 20x as fast as the average British household. Further more, they intend to expand the service with faster speeds later on. They claim their infrastructure can support up to 400Mbps in the near future. According to Virgin:
… research has shown the service will truly come into its own when more than one person in a household is using the service at the same time. Following trials of 100Mb and 200Mb speeds, the company found internet usage increased exponentially …
Duh.
Virgin is also throwing in an energy efficient modem and wireless-N router to the package. They estimate the service will be available to 13 million homes at launch, with more on the way as they expand the reach of their network.
Meanwhile, after I post this using my AT&T U-Verse connection in the states, which is about a 10th as fast as what Virgin is offering, and about twice as expensive, I’m going to be looking up flights to the UK around the end of this year. Hope my wife is ready to move.