PHILADELPHIA, June 12, 2008 - Comcast (Nasdaq:
CMCSK,
CMCSA), the nation's leading provider of entertainment, information and communications, today announced it is increasing upstream speeds nationally for its Performance and Performance Plus residential high-speed Internet customers at no additional cost. Comcast will nearly triple the upload speed of its 6 Mbps / 384 Kbps Performance tier to 6 Mbps / 1 Mbps and more than double the upload speed of its 8 Mbps / 768 Kbps Performance Plus tier to 8 Mbps / 2 Mbps.
"As the Internet and its functionality evolves, so will our services and offerings," said Mitch Bowling, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Comcast High-Speed Internet, Comcast Cable. "We've made a number of complimentary speed increases over the last few years and we focused this latest increase on upstream speeds so our customers can take even better advantage of the ever-expanding amount of interactive applications the Internet has to offer."
Along with increased upstream speeds, Comcast customers can enjoy faster download speeds with Comcast's PowerBoost technology, also at no additional cost. With PowerBoost technology, Comcast customers can get up to 12 Mbps downloads on the Performance tier and up to 16 Mbps downloads on the Performance Plus tier for files such as videos, games, music and digital photos.
Increasing upstream speeds is one of several speed enhancements Comcast has implemented in 2008. Earlier this year, Comcast announced it would be evolving from broadband to wideband with the deployment of DOCSIS 3.0 (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications) technology, which sets a new standard for delivering high-speed Internet service across fiber-optic cable networks. Comcast recently launched its first DOCSIS 3.0 market in the Twin Cities, offering residents and businesses one of the fastest broadband services available in the U.S. today: with up to 50 Mbps download speed and 5 Mbps uploads. Comcast expects to deliver even faster speeds of up to 100 Mbps to its customers over the next two years with the capability of delivering higher speeds of 160 Mbps or more in the future.
**Editors Note: In Central PA areas with FiOS competition, even higher speeds than these can already be found, with download speeds of up to 16 Mbps down / 2 Mbps up (known as the
"Blast!" speed tier). DOCSIS 3.0 is supposed to be available available in this area by the end of 2008.
