Virgin Media Broadband review: every page on the subject

The one large provider running its own cable network, with the upload trade-off that comes with it.

Virgin Media is the one large UK provider running its own cable network instead of reselling somebody else's. That is why it gets reviewed on its own terms: availability is decided by whether the street was cabled, not by which retailer you choose, and the download and upload figures behave differently from a fibre-to-the-premises line.

The upload trade-off is the part comparison tables tend to bury. On a cable line the download headline is high and the upload is a fraction of it: invisible while streaming, very visible on a video call or the first cloud backup. The provider page leads with the contract structure and what to check; the fibre page explains what "fibre" actually covers on each network, which is where the confusion usually starts.

The provider index sets Virgin against the retailers on Openreach and CityFibre. None of the three pages carries prices or speeds.

The pages in this collection

• Virgin Media Broadband
• Fibre Broadband in the UK
• UK Broadband Providers

Wider groupings are listed under sections, and the full list of subjects covers everything gathered this way.