I received a letter today from Virgin Media informing me that, on top of relentless recent price increases, they are adding another £4.95 to my bill.
I've now left the property that has this service, so I won't be price gouged, but Virgin is doing itself no favours. Our forum, for one of the wealthiest streets in Britain, has been discussing how to leave Virgin, despite the fact that they are clearly the best internet option in the area.
Now, if you have four million subscribers, with a sunk infrastructure, this fiver amounts to a clear quarter of a billion pounds windfall! Liberty Global can easily chomp up ITVI and start bidding for sports rights with this kind of profits.
The key point here is what people are willing to pay for good, reliable broadband. The consensus in my former street is that Virgin deliver around 12Mbps at peak demand on a service they market as 120Mbps.
So, let me make a simple proposition, since the Internet is now essential in a world where banks, post offices, shops and pubs are disappearing from so many communities.
Stop these package prices and charge as other utilities do. How about metering the lowest bandwidth charged at £1 per Mbps on average per month. So, if you want and get 120Mbps then you will pay £120 and always get 120Mbps, but if you're in the village where I have a home in Wales, regularly getting 20Kbps, you will pay 2p per month until the price gougers invest more in the infrastructure.