Through work, I received a copy of a news release from the local cable company. That cable company is headed to bankruptcy but until then business as usual. (kinda like the Illinois governor...just keeps going even though doomed).
My question is...do residential customers really need internet to be that fast? (60MB is download speed..but even upload will be 5MB). I haven't heard a cost on this yet but should soon (behind the scenes I am hearing $130 bundled/$140 standalone)....it is faster than telco Verizon's 50MB service... I guess if you are trying to live stream HD video at 6-10MB/sec you would need it..but us mere mortals dont...
anyone remember back in the late 80s or early 90s when we got on to the local BB or Compuserve or Prodigy server at 300 baud (dial up now is 56,000)..no world wide anything....and thought that was just the greatest thing?
Snakes ()
******************************copy of text of news release*************************************************
Charter Launches Fastest Residential Internet Service
St. Louis the first to experience 60 Mbps speed,
20 Mbps coming soon nationwide
St. Louis , Missouri , January 29, 2009 – Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) today announced the launch of 60 Mbps Internet service, the fastest residential service available from any multiple system cable and telecom provider. The initial deployment of Charter High-Speed Internet Ultra60 is in the St. Louis metropolitan area, with additional markets to follow. Nationwide, the Company will soon boost Charter High- Speed® Internet Max from 16 Mbps to 20 Mbps.
“Not only are we delivering the fastest speed today, but our infrastructure has the capacity to support even higher speeds as demand and usage grow,” said Ted Schremp, Charter’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Charter’s ability to provide increasingly greater bandwidth is critical to our customers’ use and enjoyment of the Internet and delivers greater value. It also highlights our growing superiority over DSL service.”
Charter High-Speed Internet Ultra60 not only enables a customer to download a 4 gigabyte movie approximately 40 times faster than with DSL, but also enables users to multitask more effectively. Users can access multiple stream sources simultaneously to download music, watch a movie trailer, catch up on e-mail or surf the Internet on one screen. With 20 Mbps speed, a 2.5 minute movie trailer downloads in just 4 seconds. It takes several minutes with dial-up and DSL.
“Speed and reliability are what consumers value most, and we offer the fastest and most reliable 1 speed,” said Marwan Fawaz, Charter’s Chief Technology Officer. “In addition to select Ultra60 deployments, we’re increasing our 16 Mbps service to 20 Mbps nationwide so our customers can take greater advantage of rapidly growing interactive applications available on the Internet and to help telecommuting workers become even more productive.” The upgrade to 20 Mbps will be automatic for Charter High-Speed Internet Max customers at no additional cost.
As with all Charter high-speed services, Charter High-Speed Internet Ultra60 is ultra safe with Charter Security Suite™ for PC protection, which has the fastest response to new virus threats and best virus detection, at no additional cost. Charter offers additional value-added enhancements including wireless home networking.
Charter is using DOCSIS 3.0 technology for Charter High-Speed Internet Ultra60 launches, which also serves as the foundation to offer even faster connections in the future.