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Comcast is ready to compete with the latest broadband technology from Verizon

Scheduled to begin making appearances this year in the broadband internet industry is Comcast's latest ante-up from their current top tier 8Mbps download to 16Mbps-down and 1MBps-upload transfer speeds.

DSL Reports states the doubled speeds are an answer to Verizon's new FiOS service which is being rolled out in certain markets across the United States. Along with this news comes news of updates to DOCSIS 2.0 which will pave the way for the bandwidth increases.  Early last month, Comcast's CEO, Brian Roberts, took a swing at Verizon saying "I think it does not show any economic promise", talking about the FiOS service according to CNNMoney.com.

The first market to see these upgrades was Reston, Virginia and areas such as Sarasota, FL, Ft. Wayne, IN, and Howard County, MD, are on their way to higher-speed broadband bliss while those consumers where Qwest roams will need to wait.

Current pricing for Verizon's FiOS service at 15Mbps down and 2Mbps up is about $44.95 for participating markets while Comcast is said to be offering their 16Mbps down, 1Mbps up services for $52.95 -- which is the discounted price if you subscriber to their cable TV service as well.

Most users won't see any noticeable difference between Verizon's 15Mbps service and Comcast's 16Mbps offering, however, many will reap the benefits of Verizon's 2Mbps upload speeds compared to Comcast's 1Mbps upload. Ultimately, Verizon's FiOS may come out on top if the pricing structure remains the same between the two alternatives.

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So???
By Cuw on 3/24/2006 4:34:23 PM , Rating: 1
For those of us in the New York area we can get the nice optimum online boost package which is 30Mbps/2Mbps. Thats faster than comcast and verizon. Hell its only $44 a month too so its cheaper along with being faster.




RE: So???
By AnotherGuy on 3/24/2006 4:45:18 PM , Rating: 1
30Mbs? r u crazy? or did u mean 3.0Mbs ?
I live in NY too but fkn staten island has only Time Warner Cable whoch dont think offers 30Mbs


RE: So???
By sheltem on 3/25/2006 3:18:43 PM , Rating: 2
Verzion has FIOS on Staten Island now. I currently have the 5/2 package.


RE: So???
By FoxFour on 3/24/2006 4:47:56 PM , Rating: 2
Do you actually see that kind of speed for real? Or is it just another "up to" deal where you're mostly at 15Mb, and maybe once a month when the moon is full and it's 4am you creep up to 29Mb for a few seconds?


RE: So???
By s1203372b on 3/24/2006 6:10:24 PM , Rating: 3
It's for real. Here's a screenshot of me pullling a file off my 15/2 FIOS connection. The upload is really more like 1.5, but the down is actually usually more than 15.

http://img57.imageshack.us/my.php? image=bandwidthf...

Remove the "%20" spaces the bot puts in to see the image.


RE: So???
By Googer on 3/24/2006 11:22:20 PM , Rating: 2
Try using pics.bbzzdd.com instead.


RE: So???
By Googer on 3/24/2006 11:24:23 PM , Rating: 2
RE: So???
By Googer on 3/24/2006 11:25:34 PM , Rating: 2
RE: So???
By KristopherKubicki (blog) on 3/25/2006 1:25:06 PM , Rating: 2
You have to copy and paste the URL into your browser and remove teh %20. We do that to stop phishing, bots, etc.

Kristopher


RE: So???
By Cuw on 3/24/2006 10:32:53 PM , Rating: 2
Well im at college right now so I cant test it right now. There are relatively few users on the Fiber so its extremely fast, i think i was hitting around 30Mpbs when i was at home though.


RE: So???
By Devil Bunny on 3/24/2006 4:55:25 PM , Rating: 2
So, here in parts of Utah, we can get a 1Gb/s down and up for around 40$ a month. Its your own dedicated fiber line, so you get all the bandwidth to your self, yeah its pretty nice.


RE: So???
By TheLiberalTruth on 3/24/2006 5:58:01 PM , Rating: 4
Must be the benefit for putting up with the mormons, eh? ROFL.


RE: So???
By ninjit on 3/24/2006 6:45:43 PM , Rating: 2
What company provides that fiber connection?
That's pretty generous bandwidth


RE: So???
By JackBurton on 3/24/2006 7:20:05 PM , Rating: 2
We get FIOS packages of 15Mbps/3Mbps or 30Mbps/5Mbps here in TX. You gotta love the 3 and 5Mbps upload speed. Comcast ain't touching that.:)


big deal
By sprockkets on 3/24/2006 4:31:15 PM , Rating: 1
Web sites load the same whether you have 1mb as opposed to 15mb.

Nice to have 2mb upload, but what is it used for, filesharing?




RE: big deal
By FoxFour on 3/24/2006 4:44:41 PM , Rating: 3
Depending on latency, a 2Mbps pipe makes quite a difference towards running a game server on your home connection...

I'd sure take it over the extra 1Mb down.



RE: big deal
By bunnyfubbles on 3/24/2006 5:42:15 PM , Rating: 3
I completely agree, there's no way I'd pass up 15/2 for 16/1.

quote:
Nice to have 2mb upload, but what is it used for, filesharing?
Sure why not? I produce some of my own video clips of various things and love uploading them either directly to friends or to a file server so that my friends can get to them even faster on their own time. I'm currently stuck @ roughly 350Kbps upload, and would LOVE to have 2000Kbps. Heck, my cable service started out at 1.5Mbps down and 350Kbps up, since then only the down has been upgraded to 6Mbps down. Having and upload faster than what I was perfectly content with as a downstream speed back in the early days of cable would just be so nice.


RE: big deal
By TheLiberalTruth on 3/24/2006 5:53:34 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
I'd sure take it over the extra 1Mb down.


Me too. Also, check out the difference in price! Rediculous. Also, with the cable internet in my area as an example, I wouldn't want to risk getting it and then end up getting 1/3 (or less) of the advertised speed, plus terrible latency. Verizon has always done right by me. I'll never give another dollar to Adelphia.


RE: big deal
By lennylim on 3/24/2006 7:12:54 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Web sites load the same whether you have 1mb as opposed to 15mb.

Doesn't that depend on the web site? Some sites have more bandwidth than others. And some sites load the same speed whether you're on dial-up or broadband.

More bandwidth allows you to do more things at the same time over the same connection as well.

quote:
Nice to have 2mb upload, but what is it used for, filesharing?

Uploading photos to online printers, photo sharing sites, transferring files to office, sending large attachments, online backup services, etc.

If you don't need the additional bandwidth, you're definitely not one of the target customers, and you shouldn't bother paying whatever extra they're charging for it. Those who do will be glad to have it. And it is a big deal for the U.S., which has been behind many countries in high speed offerings.


RE: big deal
By yzhu92 on 4/15/2006 3:58:51 AM , Rating: 2
In New Zealand, the fastest DSL you can get is 3.5Mbps with 128kbps upload, or 512kbps upload if you spend US$50 or over. Exchanges are crammed full with around 150 users sharing a connection (100Mbps, I think).

Cable is 10Mbps with 2Mbps upload but costs US$70 or over.

And all the plans have data caps, of usually 10GB, if you want more then you have to pay more, which is US$6.20 per 5GB.


Don't count your chickens.....
By The Boston Dangler on 3/24/2006 7:18:28 PM , Rating: 3
Here in Massachusetts, telecom companies enter service agreements with individual towns. The contracts Verizon has stuck stipulate that after a couple years, they have the option of pulling out and shutting down the fiber, if they fail to achieve X amount of subscribers.

Currently, Verizon is severely low-balling the price of FIOS, just to get people signed up. The price will rise dramatically in the near future, just to approach the break-even point.

It's a given that the vast majority of internet customers are not hardcore enthusiasts, like us. Most people have absolutely nothing to gain from increased internet capacity, no matter who the ISP is. It will be difficult to persuade the average person to subscribe to a more expensive service, when they don't really have anything to gain.

Short-term scenario: Early adopters may be left in the lurch.

Long-term scenario: Everything will be fiber and/or wireless. I'm talking 10 years minimum, 15 is possible.

I've been working for a major telecom company for 8 years. Although I'm in Engineering, I work with the municipalities' people all the time. Not speaking for anyone but myself.




RE: Don't count your chickens.....
By ninjit on 3/24/2006 7:42:22 PM , Rating: 2
Somebody above mentioned Fiber projects in Utah, which I just spent the last 45 mins reading up about.

The idea is that smaller towns/municipalites now consider telecommunications as vital to their basic infrastructure as water and power, both for atracting new business and residents, and for providing better services to their exisiting population.

So they're putting up the capital to run fiber all over town, then leasing bandwidth to companies to provide extra-services, like phone, television, on-demand movies, and of-course internet.

I think the relationship works similar to DSL - your physical line is with the phone company, but your ISP can be anyone who operates in the area.

I like the model behind this idea, and agree that telecommunications are becoming more and more important.
- Heck I was in a little town way down the coast of Baja for 2 weeks, several hours from the nearest real road, where I didn't expect to see a phone let alone internet, but the local school (that has 20 students) had a solar-powered satelite internet system that the goverment funded, but they don't have running water!

Yes, I agree that companies really do need a profit-motive to lay down all this expensive fiber - and that's exactly why these municipalites are jumping in to actually provide the service.

So don't relegate fiber to the far future just yet. Here is a good wikipedia article that lists many cities that are doing the same thing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTTH< /a>

And even if Verizon pulls out due to lack of profitability, the cities its in may buy out the infrastructure from them after seeing how well (or not) these other