U.S. cable operator Charter fired the latest salvo in the residential high-speed Internet battle rolling out a 60Mbps offering, the Ultra60.
Based on the so-called DOCSIS 3.0 technology, the Ultra60 service will be available initially in the St.Louis metropolitan area and subsequently in other areas covered by the company.
Not Gonna be Cheap
Ultra60 will cost $139.99 per month on a standalone basis and $129.99 per month when you purchase other Charter services like Cable TV or telephone.
Given the current horrible economic climate and consumers struggling to retain their jobs and pay their mortgages, we doubt there will be many takers signing up for the Ultra60 service.
Bragging Rights
Charter claims that its new offering is the fastest residential Internet service.
Verizon and Comcast offer speeds up to 50Mbps downstream service.
But there’s little overlap in the geographical areas covered by the three companies, which is one of the reasons why Broadband Internet access is so expensive in the U.S.
Broadband Picture in India
Are there any operators in India (cable or telecom) offering at least a reliable 5Mbps residential Internet access service without any caps on usage?
Wow! Charter Launches 60Mbps Internet Access added by SearchIndia.com on
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http://www.charter.com/Visitors/Products.aspx?MenuItem=3 says the top speed is 16Mbps..
http://www22.verizon.com/Residential/HighspeedInternet/
says “all the way upto 7.1 Mbps”.. Am I understanding the “downstreaming” terminology incorrectly?
I am paying 60 bucks for a 8 Mbps connection(Roadrunner).. which itself is exorbitant.. Never would go for a 130$ internet..
SearchIndia.com Responds:
1. You write above: http://www.charter.com/Visitors/Products.aspx?MenuItem=3 says the top speed is 16Mbps..
Charter has not updated its web site. The announcement was made just today.
2. BTW, the 16Mbps service you refer to has gone up to 20Mbps downstream (i.e. the Charter High-Speed Internet Max program).
3. Verizon FiOS (bsed on fiber optic technology) offers up to 50Mbps downstream.
SI,
I am aware of 3 providers:
BSNL in India offers a max of 2mbps within India with a caveat of wherever technically possible.
Airtel too offers upto 2mbps for residential homes but again it never it 2 mbps. I have one installed back home and I have been their customer now for over 2 years.
Tata Indicom offers upto 4 mbps – i will have it checked out (in terms of review) and then post another comment.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Usually, with Comcast we get over 7Mbps download but when we just (1:36 ET) checked at Speedtest, we got download 3.2Mbps & upload 1.8Mbps.
Cost unbundled – around $63/month (incl tax)
Bundled around – $105/month (Internet +TV+Phone..may go up if you add DVR & premium channels like HBO, Starz et al)
broadband in india sucks………dc often
I had 1 mbps connection from airtel it costs 46$ per month. coz of the frequent disconnections i downgraded my speed to 512. Now its fine. Heard BSNL and TATA connection sucks too. Hope a better service provider comes soon…which is not gonna happen
In India traditionally DSL has been faster than Cable. Initially there was only one DSL provider – DishNet, then it got taken over by VSNL, which in turn was taken over by Tata. I had a 512 kbps connection @ Rs. 1200/- per month with VSNL about 5 years back and it was awesome. There was one rather stupid limitation – your monthly downloaded content could not exceed 1 GB, or you would have to pay extra fees. So, bye-bye automatic updates.
BSNL has a 8mbps service, but am not sure they give it for home use.
SearchIndia.com Responds:
Thanks.
What speed do you get from your provider?