Earlier this year, Virgin Media pledged to rapidly expand its cable broadband across the UK. Dubbed “Project Lightning,” its aim is to offer speedy 152Mbps internet to an extra 4 million homes over the next five years. The company kicked off the project in Manchester, and today it’s announcing the next city on its hit list: Nottingham.
Roughly £25 million of its promised £3 billion investment will go towards fitting out 50,000 homes and businesses in the area.
As a Virgin Media customer in Manchester, I can report that although speeds of up to 152Mbps are possible at off-peak times, the popularity of the Virgin Media offers have resulted in some Manchester customers suffering from ‘high utilisation’ – At peak times download speeds drop to as low as 2Mbps (thats a 98% drop in speed on my own package).
Virgin Media are of course trying to remedy this issue; but with a mixture of financial implications and local council approval being necessary, it could take some time – I have been quoted the end of September 2015 for a fix.
Customers who notice the drop in speed are being offered discounts on their line rental, but that doesnt make the evening’s painfully slow connection any better.
Source: [Engadget]
