Chicago (IL) – Cablevision Systems unveiled plans to launch a new high-speed Internet and WiFi service that could quite possibly bring Verizon, which posted excellent quarterly earnings based solely on their wireless, Internet and TV division’s strength, a little competition.
Cablevision officials announced that they intend to begin offering the nation’s first 101 Mbps high-speed Internet service on May 11. Currently, the company delivers high-speed Internet, digital cable TV and digital voice services in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut via its Optimum brand.
The new service, priced at $100 per month, is being called “Optimum Online Ultra” and leverages the new DOCSIS 3.0 technology. Cablevision believes that Optimum Online Ultra will put them a step ahead of competitors allowing the company to offer a superior product to anything else available. As a comparison, Verizon offers its FiOS fiber optic service at a rate of $140 per month, for download speeds reaching only 50 Mbps. Cablevisions said its service will provide up-speeds of 15 Mbps.
If Cablevision in fact can provide 101 Mbps, users will be to download full-length HD movies in less than 10 minutes – or 150 MP3 tracks or 750 high-resolution digital photos in one minute, the company said. And yes, we are also wondering about those download caps and how long it will take you to run into such a barrier with that connection speed. Cablevision did not release any information on bandwidth caps for its new flagship service.
The wireless Internet access offered by Cablevision will also be doubling in speed to 3.0 Mbps utilizing Wi-Fi technology. The service is free to individuals who subscribe to Cablevision when they want to use their laptops and mobile devices locally in specific areas.
Cablevision said that the new broadband service required an investment of about $300 million.
