Virgin Media offering fastest download speeds

Major internet service provider Virgin Media has been revealed to be the fastest of the ten biggest suppliers in the UK, according to figures from Broadband.co.uk.

Virgin offers an average connection speed of 6.73 megabits per second (Mbps), with Be/O2 and Orange taking second and third places respectively.

Fast broadband connections can enable users to download media content from the internet at a faster rate and also to use VoIP solutions more effectively, but the figures also reveal that average nationwide connection speeds have dropped slightly since the end of last year.

Edd Dawson, editor of Broadband.co.uk, said: "The drop may be small at around 0.1Mbps, but it's still a concern for the majority of broadband users as the drop would have been even steeper if it wasn't for the exceptional performance put in by Virgin Media."

Virgin is seeing strong competition from BT in terms of investment in next-generation broadband networks, with Virgin having launched a 50Mbps service and BT spending £1.5 billion on a fibre roll-out.