NICE, BUT IT'LL COST YA.

From Engadget

Internet connections in the United States lag behind much of the developed world, but it looks like things are finally starting to improve. Comcast is launching DOCSIS 3.0, the next-generation of broadband technology, in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.

This new modem connection technology promises speeds up to 160 megabytes per second (Mbps) -- 50 times faster than current broadband speeds, which average around megabytes per second. This means you can download a full-length HD film in four minutes. Yes, that's minutes, not hours.

Of course, access to these kinds of speeds doesn't come cheap. Consumers are going to have to shell out around $150 each month for the top-tier access. All Comcast users will see speed upgrades, even if they don't decide to go with the extreme broadband (or "wideband") connection.

It's great to see faster Internet connections finally coming to the U.S. Comcast is rolling out these high-speed connections to the Twin Cities first, and Engadget reports that much of the rest of the country can expect wideband as early as 2009.
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American readers, you may not be aware of this, but your Internet is -- to put it lightly -- sub-par. Compared to the rest of the developed world, broadband access in America is not only slow, but also more expensive.

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) performed a study of broadband speeds in the United States and other developed countries. Its findings? Turns out America is way behind in the broadband race. The average download and upload speeds in the U.S. are two megabits per second and 371 kilobits per second, respectively. At that speed, a feature length film takes about an hour and a half to download.

Those speeds compare pretty poorly to average downloads of 61 megabits per second in Japan, 45 in South Korea, 18 in Sweden and 17 in France. Even Canada averages seven megabits per second.

Meanwhile, the World Bank released a study that makes these speed numbers even more depressing. Turns out Americans pay more for their lackluster broadband service than other countries. South Korea spends $0.08 per 100 kilobits of bandwidth, and Japan $0.07. The U.S.? A whopping $0.49 per 100 kilobits a second, slightly higher than the per-kilobit price in France.

Well, at least our gas is cheaper.

From www.switched.com