Jason Dunn
03-17-2006, 10:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.betanews.com/article/RCN_Boosts_Cable_Internet_Speeds/1142608288' target='_blank'>http://www.betanews.com/article/RCN_Boosts_Cable_Internet_Speeds/1142608288</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Cable provider RCN said Friday that it would begin offering ultra-high speed cable Internet access in two of the markets it serves. Called MegaModem Mach 20, the service would provide up to 20Mbps downstream and up to 2Mbps upstream. The move is a bid to stay competitive in light of new offerings from competitors like Verizon. The first markets to be eligible for the new service will be Falls Church, Va., and Woburn, Mass. The service is twice as fast as cable Internet access from Comcast or Time Warner, and faster than DSL services in the same market. At these speeds, RCN says, a two-hour movie can be downloaded in under nine minutes, an entire music CD in less than thirty seconds, and a photo album in less than five seconds."</i><br /><br />For the math-impaired among us, let me break it down for you: that's 2.5 MB/s (2500 KB/s) download, and 250 KB/s upload. That's some serious speed - I have a 7mbps cable modem connection and I'm lucky if any server I connect to gives me more than 300 KB/s. Even the Thoughts Media server, which has plenty of bandwidth, can "only" cough up 700 KB/s or so on big downloads.