Comcast's 150 Mbps Modem is Good for U.S. Broadband

At the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) annual conference in Vegas Wednesday, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said his company plans to roll out a new cable modem that delivers 150 megabits per second (Mbps) of bandwidth. That's about 25 times the speed that today's cable modems can do.

The new Comcast modem is based on a new technology standard called DOCSIS 3.0, which allows the cable companies to wring more bandwidth from their existing copper wire-based networks. Comcast now sells Internet access to about 12 million or 25 percent of U.S. households.

The actual debut of the Comcast mega-modem, as it turns out, could be up to two years off. So Roberts' announcement Wednesday was more symbolic than anything else.

But in a good way: Comcast is sending a message that it intends to compete with Verizon's FiOS service at every step to woo customers with the fastest broadband in the land. Comcast and Verizon compete to sell bundles of Internet access, TV, telephone and wireless services in many of the largest markets in the eastern U.S.

Verizon delivers more than 100 Mbps of bandwidth to customers connected to its $23 billion fiber optic FiOS network. However, in most FiOS markets, the top speed Verizon sells is 30 Mbps. In some markets where broadband competition is especially strong--like New York and New Jersey--a 50 Mbps service tier is available at the same price as the 30 Mbps tier sold elsewhere. FiOS-connected households number about 348,000 in 16 states.

While Verizon does have the fancier (fiber-optic) network, it's still pushing for better speeds. Verizon is now in the process of converting the network to a new and faster flavor of optical networking equipment.

Never mind how Wall Street feels about it, a broadband arms race between cable and telco ISPs is a good thing for you and me. The U.S. recently slipped from 12th to 15th among developed countries in broadband penetration, according to a recent study. Analysts say the cable and telephone companies now own about 92 percent of the broadband access networks in the U.S. Is the cable and telco broadband duopoly too cozy to push the reach and the quality (speed) of service in the U.S.?

It wouldn?t hurt for satellite and wireless broadband providers to seriously step up competition with cable and telephone companies for new broadband customers, again by offering faster feeds and better prices.

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