Qwest Launches 20mbps Internet Access Service

Building off its $300 million fiber-to-the-node network upgrade, Qwest Communications International Inc. is preparing to formally intro its highest ever speed Internet access service, which will offer a top downstream speed of 20mbps.

Like other telcos and cable operators, Qwest is looking to provide fatter pipes for consumers looking to download and share phat content – streaming movies, other videos, pictures and bandwidth demanding attachments to a fast broadening audience.

The offering is but the latest installment in the intensifying Internet access race, which caught fire when Verizon Communications Inc. last year began offering a 20mbps symmetric offering as part of its FiOS triple-play offering.

Since then, others such as SureWest Communications have joined the fray with symmetric services, designed specifically for applications, such as gaming, that don’t tolerate delay.

Cablecos like Comcast Corp. have joined in, deploying new and higher speed Internet access services in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, and most recently in the Minneapolis/St. Paul market.

While fiber has fueled the fire on the telco front, cablecos are implementing CableLabs-driven (http://www.cabelabs.com) DOCSIS 3.0 specs which enable them to bond channels on their existing, coax-dominated plant to try and keep pace in the bandwidth race.

What remains unclear is what pieces of the spec are being used and whether the cpe needed to access the cable offerings has been certified by CableLabs or is pre-DOCSIS 3.0 gear based to some extent on the spec, but rushed into service because of competitive and/or market pressures.

Qwest would not say if its 20mbps service was symmetric, as are telco offerings from Verizon and SureWest, or if they were asymmetric as have been the latest additions from the cable industry.

One important caveat for most all Internet access services is the speed listed is the top-most speed, with users typically experiencing lower throughput in actual installations.

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