As Broadband Reports first revealed, Comcast is officially launching its next-generation, DOCSIS 3.0 wideband modem service in parts of New England, as well as areas of Philadelphia and New Jersey in addition to parts of Minneapolis/St. Paul, where the faster broadband option has been in testing mode since earlier this year. The operator is offering two new tiers of service in these markets: Extreme 50, which promises up to 50 Mbps of downstream speed and up to 10 Mbps of upstream speed, priced at $139.95/month for existing video customers and Ultra, which promises up to 22 Mbps of downstream speed and up to 5 Mbps of upstream speed at $62.95/month for existing video customers. Small business customers in the DOCSIS 3.0 markets can buy a Deluxe that offers 50 Mbps / 10 Mbps along with a suite of office services for $189.95/month.
To illustrate the value of the Extreme 50 tier, Comcast says that a customer can download a 6 GB high-def movie in sixteen minutes, a 2 GB standard-def movie in five minutes and a standard-def TV show in only seconds. Comcast says it plans to continue to roll out wideband across its footprint with a goal of reaching more than 10 major markets and passing nearly 10 million homes and businesses in the next several months.
Comcast is also implementing speed boosts for all existing broadband subscribers. "Performance" tier customers will see their speeds double to 12 Mbps/downstream and 2 Mbps/upstream, while "Performance Plus" customers will see download speeds double to 16 Mbps. (Some Broadband Reports' users in New England say they are already enjoying these speed boosts.)
With this launch of the long-awaited wideband services, Comcast is stepping up to the competitive threat that Verizon, with its fast FiOS service, has posed over the past two years.
Not only will the wideband option satisfy some speed junkies who have turned to or could turn to the faster FiOS service (although at $62.95/month Comcast's lowest-priced wideband service is slightly more expensive than FiOS), but by requiring video subscriptions in order to buy wideband service at the lowest prices, the operator can mitigate, at least to some degree, the ongoing loss of video customers in those markets where Verizon also offers FiOS TV service.
To find out when Comcast's wideband will be available in your market, check out this easy (finally) pre-qualification tool.
Cynthia Brumfield at 1:08 PM|Comments(0)
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