Comcast said it will roll out Gigabit Pro, its new residential, fiber-based 2 Gbps service, in California in June, and also introduced a new DOCSIS 3.0-based tier, called Extreme 250, that will pump out downstream speeds of up to 250 Mbps and be delivered via the HFC network.
Also in California, Comcast said it is raising the downstream speeds of the following tiers at no additional cost:
-Performance: From 50 Mbps to 75 Mbps
-Blast: From 105 Mbps to 150 Mbps
Those speed bumps will go into effect starting in May and continue throughout the year, the MSO said.
California is the second area identified by Comcast for Gigabit Pro. The operator will launch that symmetrical 2-Gig service in Atlanta sometime next month.
Gigabit Pro, which Comcast expects to make available to 18 million homes this year, will be deployed on a targeted basis using fiber-to-the-premises technology (fiber and the other requisite premises-facing gear will only be deployed to homes that decide to subscribe to the service). On that note, Comcast has said it will make the symmetrical 2 Gbps service available to residential customers who are within “close proximity” (about one-third of a mile) of Comcast’s fiber network.
In California, Comcast will offer Gigabit Pro in Chico, Fresno, Marysville/Yuba City, Merced, Modesto, Monterey, Sacramento, Salinas, San Francisco Bay Area, Santa Barbara County, Stockton and Visalia metro areas. Comcast has been offering up to 10-Gig fiber-based Ethernet service to businesses in the state since 2011.
Comcast, which is in the process of acquiring Time Warner Cable, also intends to offer residential gigabit speeds on its more widely deployed HFC network using DOCSIS 3.1.
Comcast has not announced pricing on Gigabit Pro. It was not immediately known how the new 250 Mbps D3 service will be priced.
“This is Comcast’s 15th speed increase in 13 years. We are proud to boost our existing speeds and most importantly introduce new Internet tiers like the Extreme 250 and Gigabit Pro that will allow our California customers to do more online, across multiple devices,” said Hank Fore, regional SVP of Comcast Cable’s California Region, in a statement. “We will continue to look for opportunities to increase speeds to not only stay ahead of customer demands, but also to provide a wide range of options that meet customer needs.”
The MSO noted that the new speeds announced today for California won’t launch in the following areas: Arbuckle, Coalinga, Cool, Gustine, Huron, Isleton, Le Grand, Lodi, Maxwell, Planada, Rio Vista, Santa Cruz, Santa Nella, Scotts Valley and Williams.
