For those unfamiliar, Virgin Media has a potentially very wide reaching clause in their T&Cs (Section D, Part 1, Line h). I wrote about it here. I was quite surprised by how much noise this generated, journalists (who could be affected over this) have been discussing it on Twitter.

Virgin Media have replied a few times to the original post, and I asked them to clarify a few points. Their latest response is given below. They agree there’s confusion over this particular part of their T&Cs, and have sent it to the relevant teams for investigation. Jim says he’ll keep me updated on the progress, and in turn, I’ll post those updates here.

As before, we have no objections to people using Virgin Media broadband when working from home – e.g. connecting to their work VPN. But we ask people not to use our residential service as their main business connection as business use often requires dedicated connections and support. If we need to talk to someone about how they’re using their residential service for business purposes, we won’t disconnect them but simply focus on getting the customer the package that’s right for them.

The reason for this position is because business services such as the examples listed below usually need a higher level of support than we offer on our residential service;

  • Hosting a business grade file servers that can be accessed remotely
  • Hosting commercial websites
  • Hosting business grade email servers

However we know that people need to connect to their work systems while at home to stay in touch and feel that actions such as the following are not included in the term; Connect to a business network so they can work from home when needed using services such as VPN Connecting to their business email servers, that are hosted on a suitable business grade platform via a PC, Tablet or mobile device

[Note: I asked for repies with respect to the original use cases I had given.]

It’s difficult to apply these points to the specific cases supplied – as although each case presented is realistic – It’s not so much about the initial set up and everyday use but expectations of what support is available should service disruption occur. As we appreciate the confusion, we’ve shared the blog and email with our respective teams and are keen to review.

I’ll of course, keep you up to date with our progress.

Best,

Jim.