Virgin.net was an Internet service provider

Internet service provider

An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...

 (ISP) operating in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. It launched in November 1996. Once a joint venture between NTL

NTL

NTL Incorporated, was a U.S.-listed British company, that became the first "quadruple-play" media-company in the UK, bringing together television, Internet, mobile phone and fixed-line telephone services. While NTL has its headquarters in New York City, the company's activities focus heavily on...

 and the Virgin Group

Virgin Group

Virgin Group Limited is a British branded venture capital conglomerate organisation founded by business tycoon Richard Branson. The core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by Companies House, who class it as a holding...

, the ISP became wholly owned by NTL in 2004.

It sold a range of ADSL broadband packages through BT

BT Group

BT Group plc is a global telecommunications services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the largest telecommunications services companies in the world and has operations in more than 170 countries. Through its BT Global Services division it is a major supplier of...

 landline

Landline

A landline was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves...

s to those living outside areas served by NTL's cable television

Cable television

Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

 network. Virgin.net broadband customers could receive up to 8 Mbit/s downstream and 400 kbit/s upstream, with usage-allowances depending on which package the user takes. Virgin.net also offered bundled phone-services via Carrier Preselect

Carrier Preselect

Carrier preselect is a term relating to the telecommunications industry. It is the process whereby a telephone subscriber whose telephone line is maintained by one company, usually a former monopoly provider , can choose to have some of their calls automatically routed across a different telephone...

 (CPS) to broadband subscribers. Subscription-based and subscription-free dial-up Internet access was also available.

Like most ISPs Virgin.net had a Web portal

Web portal

A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....

 covering topics such as music, movies, travel, technology and motoring.

On 8 February 2007, the company was incorporated into the newly established Virgin Media

Virgin Media

Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...

.