Charter Introducing Gigabit Internet Speeds to Over 40 Million Homes
posted Saturday Feb 10, 2018 by Scott Ertz
It would appear that 2018 is going to be the year of gigabit. While Google Fiber may have made the concept mainstream, it has not been a priority for the company. However, if you have been watching the Pyeongchang Olympic Games in the US, you have likely seen the "Gig-speed Internet" commercials from Comcast, whether or not you have their service.
Comcast, as the largest cable provider in the US, implementing the technology in a widespread manner is a big move. Not to be outdone, though, Charter, the second largest provider, has announced that they will be bringing gigabit speeds by the end of the year to over 40 million households. This move is following the company upgrading the minimum speed for customers in some markets to 200 Mbps late last year.
Unfortunately, these new offerings do not seem to be offering symmetrical uploads and downloads, a feature in which you get the same speed up and down (in this case gigabit). Rather, the offering from Charter will include only 35Mbps upload speed, which is what the company currently offers on their higher-tier plans. Comparatively, services like Google Fiber and FiOS both offer symmetrical speeds on their plans. This is a limitation of the technology standard that cable companies use for their internet services.
The implementation may not be ideal for some who want gigabit speed, like myself, but the idea that cable companies are feeling the consumer pressure to bring this technology to their users is a good start. With a pipeline reaching the premises that is capable of supporting gigabit speeds, however, it will be easy for them to implement future industry standards which will add symmetrical speeds to the mix. This will all be a benefit, whether you are watching Netflix and want 4K UHD picture quality, or you are streaming videogames, either up or down.
