Broadband speed war emerges
A broadband speed war is emerging as cable operators raise data rates in regions where Verizon Communications is selling its Fios fiber-to-the-home service.
In the past two months, cable operators have begun increasing download speeds on their broadband networks. It's little coincidence that these higher speeds are being rolled out in regions of the country where Verizon has begun offering its Fios service, which runs over a fiber network that reaches directly into people's homes.
"I wouldn't say that Verizon is leading us to offer faster speeds," said David Grabert, a spokesman for Cox Communications. "But the local competitive landscape is one variable we consider when developing our product offerings."
In May, Cox Communications boosted speeds in its Northern Virginia territory to 15mbps. It began offering a similar service in Rhode Island in June. On Thursday, Adelphia announced that it is raising speeds to 16mbps to residents in Leesburg, Va.
On Monday, Cablevision, which already has one of the fastest residential cable broadband networks in the country, announced it had demonstrated a 100mbps service over its existing cable infrastructure. The company has no immediate plans to offer a 100mbps service to residential customers, but it is offering it to business customers in Oyster Bay, on Long Island, N.Y.
