09-12-2003, 01:32 PM
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#2 (permalink)
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Please touch this.
Owner/Admin
Location: Manhattan
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PLEASE DONT JUST POST A LINK
Quote:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable operator, on Monday said it planned to double the downloading capability of its high-speed Internet service by the end of this year to distinguish its product from competitors.
"Our job No. 1 is increasing speed -- increasing from 1.5 megabits (per second) downstream to 3 megabits (per second) downstream," said Steve Burke, president of Comcast's cable division, at a Morgan Stanley media conference in Boston.
Burke's comments mark the first time the Philadelphia-based company has placed a time frame on the plans.
Comcast has been quietly testing such a service in several of its markets, including Pittsburgh, Knoxville, and Atlanta since June.
"We're doing that probably for the whole company by later this year," Burke said.
The service nearly halves the time it takes to download web pages, video and audio, a Comcast spokeswoman said. But uploading, or the ability to send data, will remain the same at 256 kilobits per second.
Indeed Comcast is not the only company that offers higher than average speeds. Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE:CVC - news) users are reporting download speeds of up to 4.3 megabits per second, according to a Broadbandreports.com, which tracks the industry. Comcast users reported speeds of about 1.6 megabits per second.
Comcast's anticipated speed bump from 1.5 to 3 megabits will cut the download time for a typical 5 megabyte music file to 17 seconds, from 30 seconds, said Joe Laszlo, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research.
Comcast is hoping to lure more new and existing subscribers to its high-speed Internet service by ramping up speeds. As part of the these plans, it is also building a Web site that offers video games, video clips and eventually, the ability to communicate via video with other members.
The cable industry is aiming to fend of competitive pressures from telephone companies, which have slashed prices on its high speed products this spring.
Burke reaffirmed the company's forecasts of over 5 million cable modem (news - web sites) customers by the end of this year. At the end of the second quarter, Comcast had 4.4 million broadband customers.
Comcast shares gained 56 cents to close at $30.59 on Nasdaq.
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