Eight households in a small village in Cambridgeshire are currently enjoying broadband speeds topping out at an astonishing 8Gbps. Yes, that’s eight gigabits per second.
Virgin Media has announced successful trials of hyperfast multi-gigabit home broadband, which is 216 times faster than the UK average speeds.
That means the homes involved in the trial can download a 5GB HD movie in five seconds or a 99GB video game in two minutes. That’s compared to the average time of 15 minutes and 5 hours respectively, going on those standard speeds.
The tests have been independently verified by SamKnows, Ofcom’s official speed test partner, and have been delivered through the existing fibre-to-the-premises connection and does not require a dedicated line.
Virgin says it is expanding the trial to 50 homes in the village of Papworth, with those lucky folks able to trial the UK’s fastest home broadband speeds.
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The village is where Virgin Media first tested its 1Gbps home broadband connectivity way back in 2014. That gigabit Gigabit capable network now passes 14 million premises in the UK.
In a press release, Richard Sinclair, Executive Director of Connectivity at Virgin Media, said: “Whether it’s streaming UHD movies on Netflix, playing the latest games online or video conferencing, faster internet connections have changed our lives immeasurably over the past decade. As speed leaders, Virgin Media is not going to stand still; this trial is about looking ahead to the next decade and beyond.
“With the volume of our customers’ internet usage almost doubling every year, trials like this will ensure we have the capability to meet the demand of data-hungry services in the future – be that over cable or full fibre.”
Anyone else considering a move to Papworth? How long do you think it’ll be until 8Gbps speeds are available UK wide? Let us know @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
