The Virgin Media fibre optic network and, therefore, fibre optic broadband, telephone and TV services, is available to between 50% and 60% of households in the U.K. The advantages of fibre optic cable over conventional copper wire include higher capacity – which in turn, allows data to be transferred at higher speeds – lower signal loss per unit distance, and immunity to interference.

The speed and reliability of Virgin Media fibre optic broadband has been recognised by Internet enthusiasts up and down the country – including those who operate their own website or small business – and, with Virgin Media announcing plans to expand the network coverage to a further 500,000 homes and businesses in the next few years, its popularity looks only set to increase.

Virgin Media Fibre Optic Broadband Pros & Cons

The most obvious benefit of Virgin Media fibre optic broadband is its download speed. Download speeds of up to 10Mbps ("Megabits per second"), 20Mbps or even an eye-watering 50Mbps are possible, depending on which of Virgin Media's so-called "L", "XL" or "XXL" fibre optic broadband packages you choose. 1Mbps is the equivalent of 1,000,000 binary digits, or "bits" per second, or 125,000 bytes per second.

This means that, even at the slowest download speed on offer, a typical 5MB music file can be downloaded in just 40 seconds. This compares very favourably indeed with competing ADSL ("Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line") broadband services which, with an average download speed of 4Mbps, would take 2½ times as long to download the same file.


Not only that, but the fibre optic network, remember, operates entirely independently of the telephone network. This in turn means that you can receive Virgin Media fibre optic broadband without a BT telephone line, and without BT line rental. The construction of fibre optic cable means that light is continuously reflected from mirror-lined walls into the core of the cable, so the light wave can travel long distances without any degradation of the signal.

This is in contrast to the copper wire used by ADSL broadband services, in which the quality of the signal drops off quickly as the distance from a telephone exchange increases.

Of course, there are still certain aspects of the Internet which may be beyond your control, or beyond the control of an ISP ("Internet Service Provider") such as Virgin Media, but nevertheless have an impact on the speed of your broadband Internet connection. The Internet is, after all, a network of networks, not all of which are necessarily properly maintained, free from congestion, or available 100% of the time.

Individual websites too, can be troublesome, if they are not designed to cope with the broadband speeds now available. On the whole however, Virgin Media aims to provide a fibre optic broadband service that is not only fast but reliable and secure. Internet security features, such as antivirus, firewall and pop-up blocker software, are included with each of the Virgin Media fibre optic broadband packages.