Broadband Reports rounds up recent announcements of faster speeds offered by cable and DSL providers. Canadian providers, like Rogers, Cogeco, and Shaw, have been offering cable speeds of 4,5 and even 10Mbps, and were the first to initiate this speed push.

• RCN recently announced that the company will be offering its users a new 7Mbps tier dubbed “MegaModem Mach 7” by the end of August; the company giving users in our RCN Forum the opportunity to beta the new service. Despite a current journey through bankruptcy protection, the company is also deploying VoIP services.

  

• Time Warner Cable officially announced they would begin offering 6Mbps speeds starting this month. The tier costs users between $65-$85 per month, depending on bundles.

• Comcast quickly issued a press release announcing a 4Mbps tier. The 4Mbps tier should be available in all Comcast markets by September.

• Cox will offer their base package customers speeds of 4Mbp, while delivering 5Mbps (and 768kbps upstream) speeds to their premiere customers. The $40 preferred tier (if bundled) now offers speeds of 4Mbps/512kbps. The company’s “premiere” tier offers speeds of 5Mbps/768kbps, for $55 if bundled. The company also announced their “value” tier, with symmetrical 256kbps speeds, is now available for $25 - regardless of whether customers bundle or not.

Broadband Report’s speed test archive have the latest comparisons.

Meanwhile, DSL providers are not sitting still.

Broadband Report’s SBC forum says the company’s DSL Express customers will see upstream increases to 384kbps, while DSL Pro customers should see upstream increases up to 512kbps. “Later this fall” is the only time-line given for the upstream upgrades.

South Korea is the broadband champion of the world with 48 million people and 70% broadband penetration. Most pay less than $30 monthly for an 8 megabit-per-second DSL connection. Over 90 percent live within four kilometers (2.5 miles) of a broadband-enabled local telephone exchange. Wireless access, which allows subscribers to access numerous public Wi-Fi networks, costs an extra $8.50 a month.

Posted by Sam Churchill on Wednesday, August 11th, 2004 at 1:12 am.