Gig2 from Virgin Media O2 is the first residential 2Gbps service from any major UK provider to go live for sale, with broadband speeds more than 28 times faster than the UK average. Customers will also be able to boost their upload speeds, providing them with symmetrical speeds.
Gig2 is available for £84 per month with the option to add symmetrical speeds for an extra £6 per month across all speed tiers.
The service, available across the nexfibre network, is approaching availability to 1 million homes in towns and cities across the UK, including Belfast, Cardiff, London and Glasgow. The operator’s says its latest broadband speed upgrade will “revolutionise” in-home connectivity and help to power future technologies from AI to immersive and cloud gaming.
Virgin Media Gig2
Gig2 is Virgin Media’s latest and fastest package delivering 2Gbps connections, twice as fast as its predecessor Gig1, which offers average download speeds of 1130Mbps.
Initially trialled last year, Gig2 is powered by the latest XGS-PON technology and will operate on a full fibre network courtesy of Virgin Media O2’s wholesale partnership with nexfibre – a fibre network joint venture.
With Gig2, customers can download video games, films, music and large files in seconds. Here are some expected download times:
| File type and size | Gig2 (2Gbps) | UK average (69.4Mbps) |
|---|---|---|
| Call of Duty Modern Warfare III (240GB – PS5) | 16 minutes | 7 hours 41 minutes |
| Oppenheimer (66GB – 4K/UHD) | 4 minutes 25 seconds | 2 hours 7 minutes |
| Traitors Season 2 (7.6GB – HD) | 30 seconds | 14 minute 36 seconds |
Those who sign up to Virgin Media’s Gig2 will receive Virgin Media's latest Hub 5x router, which supports the new XGS-PON technology. The Hub 5x is Virgin Media’s most energy efficient router to date, made from 100% recycled plastic, and will help to boost in-home WiFi performance by supporting WiFi 6 devices. The Hub 5x also comes with a 10Gbps port which will be able to support even faster speeds in the future.
Gig1 and Gig2 customers will also get Virgin Media’s WiFi guarantee, WiFi Max, for free. Wifi Max promises 30Mbps in in every room or £100 one-off credit back. For other speed tiers, Virgin Media’s WiFi guarantee can be added for £8 extra per month.
Symmetric speeds
Customers will also be able to boost their connectivity with a major upload speed add-on, providing them with symmetrical speeds so they can upload as fast as they can download. This upgrade will cost £6 per month and is available across all of Virgin Media’s speed tiers – from 50Mbps to 2Gbps – and marks Virgin Media becoming the first major UK broadband provider to offer this optional service.
However, just like Gig2, this is only available to those connecting via the nexfibre network.
nexfibre availability
The Gig2 and symmetrical speeds add-on is currently only available to those connected via the nexfibre network. This is around 1 million homes, which is pretty low compared to the 16 million premises covered by Virgin Media's other broadband services.
Belfast, Cardiff, London, Milton Keynes, Sheffield, Manchester, and Glasgow are some of the lucky areas. Of course Virgin Media is looking to improve this, with plans to connect 5 million homes by the end of 2026.
Virgin Media O2 has always been at the forefront of innovation to provide hyperfast and next-generation connectivity to homes in the UK, and Gig2 is our latest speed venture which will unlock endless opportunities for future technologies and the ever-changing digital needs of our customers.
Gig2 will operate across nexfibre’s XGS-PON, full fibre network which will support symmetrical download and upload speeds – a first for a major UK broadband provider as an optional add-on – and will enable users to send and receive data, files and much more at the blink of an eye. With our heritage in providing cutting-edge technology and hyperfast broadband speeds, which saw us complete the UK’s first national gigabit rollout programme, we are looking forward to taking Gig2 to more areas in the near future.
