Comcast plans to roll out 160 megabits per second service to Americans this year
Vito Pilieci
Sun
Sanyo’s Xacti E1 ( above), the world’s first waterproof camcorder and digital still camera, is shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday. The Xacti E1, which has a- six megapixel still camera, won the 2008 CES best innovation award for digital imaging.
A WowWee Rovio WiFi robot at the Las Vegas show is described as a WiFi- enabled webcam on wheels that can be controlled from anywhere by any device with a web browser. You can stream audio and video from the Rovio and send it back to its dock to be recharged at anytime.
LAS VEGAS – Imagine being able to download a movie in four minutes. That’s what’s possible with new technology unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday — technology that makes so-called high-speed Internet 10 times faster than today.
Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable company, plans to roll out the new service to Americans this year that will hit top speeds of 160 megabits per second.
The company’s chief executive Brian Roberts was on stage with Ryan Seacrest, the host of TV’s American Idol, who was asked to help demonstrate recent upgrades to Comcast’s high-speed Internet network.
The upgrades use a technology called DOCsis 3.0. Today’s high-speed connections are capable of providing connection speeds of around 10 megabits per second. With the improvements, Comcast will be providing customers with speeds in excess of 100 megabits per second when the service launches this summer.
“People of my generation want it all and we want it all now,” said Seacrest.
Using the service, he then downloaded a high-definition copy of the movie Batman Begins in less than four minutes. To tackle the same feat with a dial-up connection would take more than a week. With today’s high-speed Internet networks, it would take about six hours.
Comcast did not announce pricing for the new high-speed Internet services. Its cable Internet technologies are similar to those used by Rogers Cable in Canada.
Demand for faster and easier-to-use Internet service has been growing in the U.S. and in Canada.
“Consumers will continue to use up band width as a much as possible,” said Tony Olvet, of technology research and analysis group IDC Canada.
The faster speed also could improve home security services and computer gaming applications, he said.
Realizing the dangers and opportunities emerging online services offer to consumers, Roberts has been one of the most vocal proponents of the need for high-speed Internet services in every home.
With new offerings such as Joost and Hulu providing people with high-quality TV content online for free, cable companies have been forced to examine how to keep their customer base in the ever-changing digital world.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
