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Chronicle Live
National
Dave Snelling & Sonia Sharma

Virgin Media warning customers to switch off their routers to get free upgrade

Virgin Media customers can get a free upgrade this week - but they need to switch off their routers for a reboot first.

The firm has announced that it is releasing an upgrade that will bring much faster upload speeds to its users. That change is being rolled out now but the boost won’t be applied until a full system reset has been performed.

Once the Virgin router is switched off and on again, those with M500 or Gig1 plans will then see their speeds increase without paying anything extra for the privilege. Virgin has confirmed that its M500 service has now been increased from 36Mbps to 52Mbps, with the average upload speed for Gig 1 services rising from 52Mbps to 104Mbps – six times faster than the UK’s average.

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The upgrade will help those who upload files, send endless emails with attachments and post videos to sites such as YouTube perform things at a quicker rate, reports The Mirror. If you have either an M500 or Gig1 package here’s what you need to do now.

Customers who are eligible for the increase simply need to reboot their Hub by switching it off, waiting 5-10 seconds and switching it on again, or restarting it via the Virgin Media Connect app. Once completed, customers can also check their new upload speeds by running a speed test on the Connect app.

It’s worth remembering that a full reboot can take around 5 minutes so only attempt it when nobody needs to use the web.

Gareth Turpin, chief commercial officer at Virgin Media O2, said: "As demand for fast and reliable connectivity continues to soar, we’re boosting upload speeds for millions of our broadband customers at no extra cost. In the last year, we’ve seen record upstream demand on our fixed network as a result of more people regularly working from home, using video calling apps and new advances in gaming, so now more than ever we’re laser focused on offering our customers a service that supports them now and in the future."

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