Originally Posted by Horizon

The upgrade is most welcome, I agree. But I do argue with the "we're getting it for nothing" point.

The last time I looked, I pay a lot of money to VM each month and by VM's own admission, a lot of that is pure profit to them. Aka telephone line rental, which is in fact a connectivity charge. You're paying just for the "privilege" of being connected to their network, they don't do anything for that dosh.

Once VM have the relevant kit in place (which of course does cost them) then whether they're pumping 20mb, 50mb or 100mb down the same pipe is neither here or there. It does not cost VM anymore or less what speed is sent with STM in place.

After network upgrades, usually for broadband, the only real costs for VM lie on their tv side where they do need to pay for things like fixing faulty stbs, agreeing with broadcasters over carriage rights etc and of course staffing costs.

VM are not upgrading the broadband speeds out of the goodness of their hearts. It's a cold business decision based on what they can afford to do, wish to do and what their competitors are likely to do. The marketing opportunity that the Olympics brings should not be underestimated.

VM may say they are not launching anything over 120mb this year, although that's not what they've told the City... But I bet they will launch 200mb+ (might even be 1gb) in one location and you'll hear about it everywhere come Olympics time.