It looks like BT’s announcement has sparked a war of Fibre Optics with Virgin Media!
BT’s new fibre optic-based brand of broadband – the Infinity service - boasts speeds of as much as 40Mbps, and will give clients upload speeds of as much as 10Mbps, BT claims. By 2011, four million users will have access to it. The basic Infinity service will cost £19.99 pm on an 18-month contract, but only users on a £24.99 pm contract will have 10Mbps uploading.
BT Infinity Broadband
Virgin Media has refuted BT’s claims that the Infinity service is superior to theirs, especially on upload speeds and price. The XXL service from Virgin Media offers 50Mbps speeds, and it claims that, while both operators use copper wire for the final stretch to the client’s house, its DOCSIS 3.0 coaxial cable technology is 25% quicker than BT’s VDSL2 copper wire technology.
BT pointed out that the Infinity Option 1 service is £7.47 pm less than Virgin Media’s XXL broadband. Virgin Media responded that BT’s Infinity service is inferior value because of BT’s 20GB download cap. It also claims that BT’s compulsory phone line costs £11.54 pm extra, while Virgin Media charges only £11 pm, making the price difference just £2.47. The war of words seems set to continue until the final showdown in December.
View More Information on BT Infinity here and to find out if you are eligible.