Virgin rolls out mobile broadband

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 1 Oct 2008 at 08:39

Virgin Media has become the latest entrant into the burgeoning mobile broadband market.

The cable company will offer the service on an 18-month contract, with a free USB modem and a 3GB monthly download cap. Users who stray over the cap will be charged an extra £15 per GB.

Virgin Mobile is a virtual network, and actually runs its services on the T-Mobile network - which was the fastest mobile broadband provider in our recent test of all five UK networks.

Virgin Mobile promises headline speeds of up to 3.6Mb/sec. We found actual throughput on the T-Mobile network was closer to 2.1Mb/sec in London, although there's no guarantee that Virgin Mobile's service will achieve the same speeds.

Existing Virgin Media customers on the company's XL home broadband package will be given the first three months of mobile broadband service for free.

Customers can sign up from today on the Virgin Media website.