Download next-gen games in under an hour with 152Mbit/s Virgin Media cable

Virgin Media has just announced that it will be raising the speed of its top-end cable broadband offering to a whopping 152Mbit/s in February 2014. The choice of that specific number is unlikely to be anything to do with technical limitations, however, but rather that it’s exactly double the current theoretical maximum offered by fibre-to-cabinet services from BT – and those who license that network under their own brand, such as Sky.

The increasing speeds will affect all those across the service, with everyone hopefully receiving at least a 20Mbit/s boost to their speeds. The boost should help counter increasing household internet use, with more and more devices and people using the internet simultaneously.

The difference between Virgin Media and more-traditional copper broadband services is even more stark when you consider that cable largely provides the exact speeds advertised, rather than rarely reaching the claimed speeds, as on ADSL services.

Virgin Media was also keen, and correct, to point out that its On Demand TV services through its TiVo box don’t use up bandwidth from your internet connection as the TiVo box has its own dedicated internet connection, separate to the one that comes through your router. With Netflix being added to the service in the near future, things are looking rosy for the company.

If you are happy to pay out for the top-end 152Mbit/s speed. Then you’ll be able to download an entire 4GB HD movie in just four minutes. Even next-gen console games, which can weigh in at around 50GB, will be pulled down in under an hour – something that Virgin Media is more than aware of given its recent announcement of PS4 and Virgin Media enter into gaming partnership, of which there are still no details.

For more on the TiVo box read our comprehensive Sky+HD vs Virgin Media TiVo.