Comcast Rolls Out Extreme Broadband..But Who Can Afford It?

If you roll it out, with they buy it?

As consumers cut back on unnecessary expenditures, I can't help but think that Comcast's extremely expensive broadband service will receive a lukewarm reception.

Comcast to Roll Out Extreme 50 Mbps

Comcast, the nation’s leading provider of entertainment, information and communications products and services, today announced it is making the leap from broadband to wideband with the launch of next-generation DOCSIS 3.0 in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

* Extreme 50, offering up to 50 Mbps of downstream speed and up to 10 Mbps of upstream speed at $139.95/month.*
* Ultra, offering up to 22 Mbps of downstream speed and up to 5 Mbps of upstream speed at $62.95/month.*


To see what broadband speeds you're really getting (as opposed to what they advertise) do a free test at www.speedtest.net

Consumers Want Broadband Over HDTV

This should give Google's White Space Initiative even more weight.

White Space offers "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to provide ubiquitous wireless broadband access to all Americans".

From ArsTechnica

Broadband services and speeds are ranked higher than any other "new" service when it comes to their importance to consumers.

New survey results from Pike & Fischer Broadband Advisory Services show that while HDTV and digital phone service were important to some consumers, high-speed data came out ahead of the rest.

-almost 40 percent of Pike & Fischer's survey respondents gave high-speed data the highest rating. Comparatively, only about 25 percent ranked HDTV as high, and digital phone service was at the bottom of the list, with under 10 percent ranking it a five.

A recent report by Akamai pointed out that countries like South Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong all have relatively high percentages of broadband connections over 5Mbps (64, 48, and 35 percent, respectively), while only 20 percent of US connections fall into that category.

When it comes to just "fast" connectivity (over 2Mbps), the US ranked at number 24 in the list—South Korea once again came out on top, followed by Belgium and Switzerland.

The average download speed in the US was a mere 1.9Mbps.

Pike & Fischer points out the fairly obvious (to us geeks, anyway): without high broadband speeds, millions of other features being offered to us by cable companies and telcos will have a harder time getting off the ground.

Do You Really Have Broadband?

From ARSTechnica Broadband isn't broadband unless it's 2Mbps

Saying that the FCC "has not kept pace with the times or the technology," Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) opened a hearing today into the FCC's methods for measuring broadband availability in the US.

The Broadband Census of America Act, currently in draft form, asks the FCC to increase its broadband threshold speed from 200Kbps to 2Mbps.

The most contentious of these was whether the government should mandate a definition for "high-speed Internet."

Larry Cohen, president of the Communication Workers of America, said that the US is "stuck with a twentieth century Internet" and that he would support increasing the "broadband" definition to 2Mbps

Right now, that definition includes any connection over 200Kbps, which Markey wants to boost more than 10 times. 2Mbps is faster than many current DSL links, so part of the reasoning behind this change appears to have a public relations focus—telecommunications companies will want to boost their offerings to over 2Mbps in order to avoid the stigma of not providing "true" broadband.