Virgin Media is now offering speeds of 500Mbits/sec as part of its new Vivid 500 and V.VIP bundle – but there’s a catch

 Virgin Media has taken the fight to its rivals with the launch of a new broadband tier offering speeds of a staggering 500Mbits/sec.

With its Vivid 500 tier, Virgin Media is offering download speeds of 500Mbits/sec with uploads of 35Mbits/sec, although it’s actually possible to achieve maximum speeds of 575Mbits/sec depending on your network and devices. This makes it the fastest, widely available broadband network in the UK, promising speeds said to be seven times faster than BT and Sky, based on average advertised speeds.

Other consumer networks are faster, such as Hyperoptic, which offers speeds in excess of 900Mbits/sec, but Hyperoptic is available in fewer locations than Virgin Media. You can check your availability with Hyperoptic here.

There is a catch to Virgin’s new tier, though. It’s only available if you sign up for a £99/mth V.VIP bundle. This means you have no choice but to pay extra for a mobile SIM and TV channels, even if you don’t need or want them.

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Virgin Media 500Mbits/sec: What is Vivid 500 and the V.VIP bundle?

For £99 a month on a 12-month contract, Virgin Media customers on the V.VIP bundle get the following:

• Vivid 500: Ultrafast broadband with average download speeds of 516Mbits/sec
• Hub 3 router
• Free Wi-Fi boosters
• An unlimited 4G SIM with unlimited data, minutes and texts
• Two Virgin TV V6 set-top boxes with a choice of more than 300 TV channels – including Sky Sports HD, Sky Cinema HD, BT Sport in 4K Ultra HD and Kids Pick, which includes 11 channels (paid for separately)
• Inclusive anytime landline, mobile, 0845 and 0870 calls
• Offline downloads on the Virgin TV app
• Access to the 4K UHD Virgin TV channel
• On-demand box sets

After the initial 12 months is up, you can cancel your contract. If you don’t cancel, the contract price rises to £139 a month.

Sign up for Virgin Media’s V.VIP bundle 

In addition to the launch of its V.VIP bundle, Virgin Media has also introduced “boosted” bundles. By adding a mobile SIM to any of its broadband packages, Virgin Media will boost your baseline broadband speed.

For example, broadband speeds offered in boosted bundles increase from 50Mbits/sec to 100Mbits/sec, 100Mbits/sec to 200Mbits/sec and from 200Mbits/sec to 350Mbits/sec. You can then up your mobile data allowance on a month-by-month basis, or reduce it if need be.

In regards to the TV part of the package, customers can pick and choose which channels they have under Virgin’s Personal Picks scheme, allowing them to create a personalised channel line-up each month.

If you choose the Player bundle, you can add up to four Entertainment Picks: Entertainment & Drama, Entertainment & Documentaries, Entertainment & Lifestyle and Entertainment & Sport Lite.

Each of these Picks include Sky One, Sky Witness, Gold HD and Comedy Central as standard, as well as ITV 2 HD, ITV 3 HD, ITV 4 HD, ITV Be HD, E4 HD, Dave HD, More 4HD and Film 4HD. The first Pick costs £10 a month, and subsequent Picks are £7 a month but can be added or removed on a rolling monthly basis.

Entertainment & Drama Pick: Adds W HD, Alibi HD, Universal, Fox HD, Syfy, TCM HD, Sky 2 and Movies 24

Entertainment & Documentaries Pick: Adds History HD, C&I HD, Discovery HD, Sky Arts, Animal Planet HD, Discovery History, Discovery Science, H2 HD, DMAX, Eden HD, National Geographic HD, Nat Geo Wild HD, Discovery Shed , Discovery Turbo, I.D and Love Nature HD

Entertainment & Lifestyle Pick: Adds TLC HD, E!, Good Food HD, Lifetime HD, Real lives, Comedy Central Extra, Discovery Home and Health, MTV HD, MTV Live HD, MTV Hits, MTV Base, MTV Music, MTV Rocks, MTV OMG, Club MTV, VH1, Box upfront, The Box, Box Hits, Kiss, Magic and Kerrang!

Entertainment & Sport Lite Pick: Adds Sky Sports News, Sky Sports Mix, Eurosport 1 HD and Eurosport 2 HD