Although we
just heard that Comcast's
DOCSIS 3.0 rollout was on track for 2009, folks in the Twin Cities region now have exclusive bragging rights for an undisclosed window of time. Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota have become the first markets to have access to an all new "extreme" broadband (or
wideband, as it were) connection, which promises 50Mbps down / 5Mbps up. As expected, the carrier isn't being modest about the launch, claiming that users can suck down a 4GB HD movie "in about ten minutes," compared to "more than six hours" on a 1.5Mbps DSL connection. The newfound speed won't come cheap -- for residential users, look to lay down $149.95 per month for the privilege. Even if you aren't springing for the good stuff, current customers in the area will have their existing broadband connections hastened gratis, with 6Mbps / 384Kbps users moving up to 1Mbps uploads and 8Mbps / 768Kbps users seeing 2Mbps uploads. Kudos, Twin Cities -- you just made most of America sick with envy.
[Image courtesy of
TheRedWoodMotel]
posted Apr 3rd 2008 7:10AM
150 bucks for 50mbps?
that's really expensive in comparison to what Virgin Media here in the UK are going to be charging (around 40 quid which is 80 bucks)
yeah that's expensive in US too..
I pay $55/mo for my Optimum online with boost connection here in NJ. I get 30Mbps down and 5Mbps upload.
And if you are a new customer and opt for all three services with them (cable, phone and internet)... this same connection will only cost you $40/mo for the first year..
pal :)
It's especially expensive when you consider the symmetrical 100Mbps connections available in Tokyo for less than $30 a month. DSL is already capable of 250Mbps downstream, and here I am sitting on 1.5Mbps. It's crazy how much the ISPs can soak us for a product that's far less than what they are capable of offering.
By the time I get this speedy goodness for myself here in the UK the human race would have been wiped out by the termite people.
A guy in a tinfoil hat wearing nothing but a wooden barrel told me outside of Mc Donalds this morning.
Virgin Media are rolling out a DOCSIS 3.0 based 50Mbps later on this year. They've been running trials for what seems like forever. (They've also been trialling 100Mbps)
They'd have probably done it sooner, but they have the small problem of operating with £6Billion of debt.
Want fast internet?
Consider moving to Asia
e.g. Hong Kong
(which you can get 100mb/s up AND down Fiber Optic connection for just US$30)
If you find a job there and live 7 years in a row, citizen you are.
Japan has even faster internet, but it’s difficult to move in.
I used to be with virgin media. their customer service was beyond terrible. I wish BT would hurry up and get their act together....
Ray,
It's easy to move to if you're a student and/or actually have a technical background...
If you're a liberal arts major...well, your only role would be to try to teach them English.
I'm in Japan (in the sticks) and have a 100Mbit up/down Fibre line. I pay about $50 a month though so that seems expensive!
And by the time I can get any high-speed at all the sun will have burned out.
@$%#!!
'Ryan'
"If you find a job there and live 7 years in a row, citizen you are."
citizen you are??? What are you, Yoda?
TORRENT!
I mean.. literally!
Indeed, DOCSIS 3.0 is already in use by Virgin Media.
TORRENT!
I mean.. literally!
Torrents are an exception, they only get 56k download speeds.
yes, but my bit torrent downloads still will not surpass 300k. I will not spend an extra $100 a month for comcast's greed. (It doesn't yet show that it is available when I type in my mpls address on their website)
solution = private trackers
Woo hoo! I live in St. Paul, finally I can be proud of something...
Hey, we do have that mall. And, um, other malls... and cows...
Cows, we have cows? My wife's parents farm has cows... but they are in Wisconsin.
The Twin Cities is one of the largest IT markets in the country and we have a ton of major companies that call them self home in Minnesota. We also usually have the strongest economy and lowest unemployment rate.
Yeah... we really don't have that much as far as tourism goes. Though the MoA does have more people go through it in a year than Disney World, I think that is insane, especially since I don't think the MoA is anything really that special.
Same here! Except I have the privilege of getting Charter instead... /grumbles
I'd like to see that tested. When you're paying 150 bucks (150 bucks!!!!!!) for your connection it had better live up to expectations. Do COMCAST use traffic shaping? Can you use that speed anywhere outside their network?
BTW, there's an ISP in Portugal who's offering 60mbps dl/5mbps ul over optic fiber (plus phone and tv). I haven't tested it, but it costs €50 - even with the dollar depreciating, it's still a LONG way from USD 150.
As a note, it seems that the Sandvine traffic shaping has already been turned off in St. Paul and the upload cap on 8m connections has already been lifted. Not that I would use that nasty BitTorrent protocol for anything.
"do comcast use traffic shaping?" did you just ask that? Have you been living under a rock?
The Twin Cities seemed to be one of Time Warner's primary test bed, glad to see that Comcast is keeping up with that tradition!
Testing the upload right now at work, the limit has been raised. That is nice, 40 KB just didn't cut it.
I was so thrilled here in Mpls until I saw the price. That just about matches my current internet+HD cable bill from Comcast. I think they're pricing it so they don't take a hit when I get the Docsis and turn of the HD Cable. Greedy monopolist bastards.
meh you'll be lucky to get that speed from any source. I've got boost from optonline which is 30mbps down 5mbps up which I hardly ever get anything near. Only site ive ever pinned the needle were when testing the speed at broadbandreports or nzone or ati website. you can only download video drivers so often though :)
If you want to max it out, I would try downloading some demos off of Steam, they seemed to be maxing out my connection pretty well, although TBH I'm using a standard cable connection run through my city. I got about 500k down at its highest point, faster than I have ever gotten anywhere else.
Use something like FreeDownloadManager for http downloads. Ive been able to max out or come close to my 15mbit download from multiple sites because it opens up multiple connections for the download.
Sites that would normally give me 500KB/s - 600KB/s jump to 1700KB/s - 1800KB/s with it.
Also a good news server would probably come close to maxing out your connection as well.
Twin Cities, huh? I wonder if that love will spread up to Fargo, ND?
wth, I thought I was the only one from ND that read engadget. Third least populated state ftw
It won't come to St. Cloud, so me thinks no in ND.
It's unfortunate for both of us :(
Yeah, the internet here at SCSU isn't that fast.
Luckily, I come home to a 50Mbps connection.
Isn't a 4GB HD movie an oxymoron (or a short?)
I would assume this would be encoded in something other than MPEG-2. 4 GB would get you about an hour if it was in H.264. However, more likely, the guy giving the quote meant a standard def DVD (4.7 GB) and wants to sound advanced, so he called it a HD movie.
The important part about this is not the 4GB movie, it's them comparing apples to oranges. "We're faster than DSL." OK, how much faster are you than FiOS, or even U-Verse?
4gb would be a small. Most NTSC anamorphic movies on DVD are between 5 and 6gb when decrypted from DVD. Examples: Bad Boys 2 5gb / Transformers 6.6gb / X-Men 2 - 6gb.
Is this so called 50Mbps subject to Comcast's craptacular routing like we get here on the east cost? I'm supposed to be getting 6Mbps, but since just about all Comcast traffic goes through about 12 hops before hitting a border router out to the internet, I rarely get half of that after numerous calls and visits from their technicians.
I'll take a 5Mbps fiber link to my back yard any day.
Big woop. I get 20 down 5 up with FIOS all for $45/mo.
I am with you Jake. FIOS is the better price for internet. Comcrap needs to get their act in gear on price and customer service or Verizon will be taking their market share.
While Comcast may need to get their ass in gear, so does Verizon, they need to get their FIOS to more people... i.e. ME!
FIOS is a hoax. They've rolled it out to, what, 12 people?
Living in the Twin Cities, it is unfortunate that Verizon isn't available :(
try downloading 30gb a day and see what comcast would do!
they didnt like what i was doing and called to threaten me. either pay more money than what was already highway robbery OR they would terminate my service. i switched over to Verizon and happily ever after...
15 down 2 up with Cablevision's optimum online in NY,NJ,CT for $45/month. Verizon Fios has limited deployment but there is no 20 down offering for $45. There's a 30 down for $160. Check their website:
http://www22.verizon.com/content/consumerfios/packages+and+prices/packages+and+prices.htm
In some townships where Verizon wanted to compete with Cablevision here in NJ they offered special pricing. It's not on their website, I know. Like I said, I get 20down/5up.
Actually, for an extra $15/month ($65/month total), those of us lucky enough to be in Cablevision area can get Optimum's Boost service, which provides 30Mbps down and 5Mbps up, and opens port 25 and 80 for running mail and web servers (yes, they allow it). Rarely do I see over 15Mbps down, but it does happen on particularly fast downloads, and 8Mbps down is common for Torrents that are well seeded.
Yeah, and they will try and stuff all of the traffic through 2 gateway points effectively throttling entire neighborhoods or cities.
Comcast's "theoretical" upload/downloads speeds have always been a joke, speeds that you only get when you are the only person in your "segment" but as soon as your neighbors get it, the speed is lost.
Not to mention the slowdown as they sniff every packet to determine if they are going to "shape" your traffic or not.
Envious? Not of Comcast users, not at any speed.
i have absolutely no problems at all maxing out my connection, any time, day or night... the problem comes from where you're sourcing data. all of the places i'm grabbing data from are directly peered with comcast.
I can't even get cable where I live yet :-(
Hmm, well this is my internet speed:
http://www.speedtest.net/result/209254948.png
I'm paying CDN $35/month
54.95 a month in Vegas with Cox Communications
It's supposed to be 10mb/1mb, however it always connects so much faster. i have no idea why.
I still can only get dialup
Minneapolis represent! now, if only they'd get that citywide wireless up and running everywhere, we'd be set...
not that I'm even considering such an expensive service, but it would be nice if they would mention if you would get a static IP address and all ports open.
Freaking A...... I live in the twin cites but Charter is my only option for cable right now. I would be all for $150 if the speeds stayed consistent.... Charter get your act together........................................................
I don't mean to brag, but I get 100/100 mbit over fiber for SEK 225 (Googles says USD $37) here in my apartment in Sweden. Granted, I live outside our capital, but still. I really wish your ISPs would invest in better cabling through the states, to get your speeds up. Also, why the hell is it so expensive?
Fight on, bruthaz!
its all changing my freind, i work for them and cust serv is getting better and i have had the pleasure of trailing the 100mb for a couple of month although im back on 50mb trials at the moment, but let me tell you 100mb over torrent seriously amazing, you never get 10MB downloads but you can get around 5-7MB and a 4GB file is done in 10-20 mins!
Darn, and I just bought a cable modem.
Anyone know what specifics(specs) a Docsis 2.0 - 3.0 upgrade requires? It seems more than likely this question may be asked by more than just private citizens.
I remember that 1.1 - 2.0 was a headache and a half trying to get it pushed from Charter's tech support. I think I had to reach past tier 2.
TIA
5MB upload isn't really worth having a static IP imo.
But you're so right about the options, I really want to be limited by my budget. Scalable services for similarly scaled costs. I'm not asking for deals, I'm asking for the obvious progression that is (seems to be) being held back for reasons of greed. This is exactly why the US is falling behind.
Comcast fucking blows.
In Kiev, Ukraine my local torrents go up to 2.5 Mbytes per second over DOCSIS 2.0. $1 per 1Gb.
Knowing Comcast, if you download more than a few HD movies per month, they'll give you a rude call, say that you're downloading an "unreasonable amount" without telling you how much is too much.
If you counter by saying that all you're doing is using your new internet connection at well below it's full bandwidth capacity, they'll say that no reasonable would be downloading as much as you, and you're making trouble for their other users.
They'll then threaten to blacklist you for 12 months if you don't reduce your downloads to a level that they'll refuse to tell you.
5Mbps up for $150/month is ridiculous.
What Comcast really needs to do in Minneapolis is lower their prices - their normal cable internet service is $60/month. You can order 6Mbps wireless from the city for $30/month. That's some tough competition.
i switched from comcast here in mpls cause of the gouging prices and the shitty customer service and i dont care how many mbps they get i will NEVER go back to them. $149.95?? come on. Ill wait for minneap to get blanketed in wifi.
Hells yeah! I live in Brooklyn Park- a northern Mpls suburb. It's a 7 year old development with fresh fiber optic lines and such. I have tested download speeds as high at 12 Mbps for the last year consistently! That's with regular broadband too. As much as I HATE giving Comcast my money every month, sometimes I love em. :)
Nice pic. Isn't that the Apple Adjustable Keyboard? The one that splits in the middle?
Umm... 6 mbps with comcast in minneapolis is 42.95 plus a modem... so 45...
If you don't have cable tv or phone, its 55...
I have Verizon Fios here is Dallas, TX. I pay about $65/month for a 15down/15up plan. This still beats the SOCKS off what they are touting here. Verizon also offers a 30down/5up plan for a little over $100. It would be nice to have, but I am at my maximum of how much I want to pay for my internet service. I think my 15/15 that I have is better than any of these (sub $100) offers. So I am happy :)
I have FiOS 20up 20down and I pay 59 per month in Tampa, FL. I hope this turns in to some pissing match and FiOS one ups them!
Hey, I'm all about a pissing war between the two. We can even add AT&T in there with their Uverse product (similar to the Fios product for Verizon). As long as it means I get faster speeds for about the same price. And I can't believe I'm not getting 20/20. I'm going to call Verizon TODAY about this atrocity
Well, this is no big deal for me. I'm a comcast customer in the twin cities and I already get better than 8mb down, 2mb up with my current service. It is actually more like 15mb down most of the time. There is no way I'm paying $150 bucks a month for +35mb down. I don't torrent much so my service is actually fine, but damn, we need some competition in this market. Qwest needs to get off their collective "big old expensive phone company" butts and get with the fiber program.
Wouldn't this be called Price Gouging.. I personally would expect the fcc and the government to say something about comcasts high price tactics. I really think Comcast needs to be investigated for thier high prices. something just doesnt add up. considering that other services like Verizon that uses Fiber and is like a thousand times faster than comcast endes up alot cheaper also than comcast is. Not just Verizon but other companies who are faster than comcast are also cheaper. i take it it shows that those companies care more about their customers and charge less to keep them rather than charge more and lose them forever and treats them like crap like comcast does. comcast you need to learn from these companies. otherwise you will get left behind!!
...and the warz puppies rejoice!
It is highway robbery, those prices. If only they had the guts to offer decent bandwidths in the first place.
I get downloads in the kilobytes here, mainly because I am at a college campus.
But really, in this day and age, why are these speeds THIS LOW, at THIS PRICE.
Who needs docsis 3.0 when you can use normal comcast and get close to the same speeds for a lot less than $149
http://www.speedtest.net/result/254697221.png
I have Comcast and my area code is 95376 (Tracy, CA). I'm getting 18.669mb/s Download and 5.86mb/s upload with the $39.99 Comcast cable package.
HELL YEAH! GO MINNESOTA!
hope this speeds up my internet a little...
I'm getting 7-8mbps/2mbps on a 6mbps/1mbps connection (called to confirm speed) in St. Paul.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/254747004.png
I get 3mbps on my supposed 6mbps in St Paul with Comcast. Consider yourself lucky Ethan.
I bet they are debuting this in St Paul because we can't get FiOS and therefore can't compare it to Comcast's new insanely expensive service. $150 a month? Who cares if I can download HD movies in 10 minutes with this service? For the extra $100, I could get 16 extra Netflix blu-rays at a time.
I recently switched to Comcast from Qwest in Feb. (couldn't get qualified DSL service faster than 256K in St. Louis Park) and I've been averaging about 15Mbps down all this time. I wonder if I'll see somewhat faster now or not? I'm paying for the $60/month service but I'm still in my first year promo pricing ($27/month or something like that).
Wow we finally got something before most other people! AT&T took FOREVER for their 3G!
Woot!
Ordered today, installed next week! :)
That's not so amazing. Here in Sweden we get 100Mbit/s full duplex private fiber for only 299kr = 49 dollars a month.
And they wan't you to pay 149 for 50mbit/s down and 5mbit/s up? Sounds expensive.
Hey, I just moved to the Twin Cities from Fargo! (not to gloat, but this is pretty sweet, as long as the price goes down) Hopefully it'll spread up there eventually. By the way it sure seems like there are a lot of us upper midwesterners on Engadget :)
The city wide wireless blows. I signed up for it and connected at less than a meg a second in my house (using their damn router). Worthless.
I randomly test my connection here in Saint Paul, and I almost always get better than 15Mbps down, and 2+ up. All for $43/month. Just tested it again now... 19Mbps down.
[URL=http://www.speedtest.net][IMG]http://www.speedtest.net/result/254829307.png[/IMG][/URL]
Ordered today, installed next week by Wednesday morning.
I have Verizon Fios in MA. I pay $50 for 20mb Down/5mb Up.
Comical that people from countries the size of a US state are chiming in how great their broadband network is. Its slightly more challenging when your definition of "Nationwide" spans more than a couple city blocks.
I live in St. Paul, and believe me, it is AWESOME!!!
The rest of you can burn with envy!
Maybe I just understand exactly what all the hype is about, but XMission in UT has a fiber optic with 50Mbs up and down for $55/month. http://www.xmission.com/products/connections/utopia/
I meant ...don't* understand....
telstra in Australia has bin running doccis 3.0 for about 6 months now at 30/1 and currently in trials for 80/8 and yes way to expensive
People always bash comcast, and sometimes with reason..
BUT
In my personal experience, I have ALWAYS received my rated speeds. Always. I had for 6 Mbps, and sure enough ALWAYS got 6 Mbps on my usenet downloads.
I just upgraded to 8 Mbps, and I expect to get it.
FIOS 30/5 for less than $60 FTW!
sorry guys...
FINALLY our frozen hell gets something no one else has at least for a while I new living in -20 temperatures and only having 3 nice months out of the year would pay off just so I could buy more into an evil corporation yay
Well, that proves that USA officially sucks, here in Sweden you can get 100/100 (down AND up) Mb/s for around 35$/month. 1000/1000, (1 GIGABIT) will be available in a year or so.
Yea, I know we rule.
You guys have a lot of lakes too.