Qwest introduces 20 megabit DSL in some areas

Excite News ^ | 24 April 2008 | AP

[ShadowAce]

NEW YORK (AP) - Qwest Communications International Inc. (Q) (Q) on Thursday introduced DSL plans with faster download speeds, including one that is the fastest DSL service from a major U.S. phone company.

Qwest is charging $104.99 per month for a download speed of 20 megabits per second. For 12 mbps, it is charging $51.99 per month. The prices are $5 lower when combined with local phone service.

The plans will be available in 23 of Qwest's top markets, the company said. By the end of the year, they will be available to 2 million customers.

Download speeds on DSL, or Digital Subscriber Lines, from other companies generally top out at 10 or 12 megabits per second. Like Qwest's plans, those speeds are only available in some areas, where the local phone company has drawn optical fiber closer to homes to shorten the distance the signal is carried by copper phone lines.

Qwest said it is committed to spending up to $300 million to upgrade its network by drawing fiber into neighborhoods. AT&T Inc. (ATT) is putting billions of dollars into a similar upgrade, which it is using to provide TV service over phone lines.

Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) (VZ) has chosen a different route, drawing fiber all the way to customers' homes. While its fastest DSL service provides 7 mbps downloads, its fiber Internet service clocks in at 50 mbps.

Cable companies also have been boosting their speeds. Earlier this month, Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) (CMCSA) introduced 50 mbps service for $150 per month in Minnesota's Twin Cities region, where Qwest is the dominant phone company. A check on Qwest's Web site indicated that the 12 and 20 megabit services are available in Minneapolis.

[ShadowAce]

[ShadowAce]

If I don’t respond to messages today, it’s because I’m flying back home. I won’t get home until late.

[theBuckwheat]

Customers who think this service will give them the full rate need to understand that their connection to a remote server goes through quite a few intermediate connections and links.

The datarate to any particular website will be limited to the speed of the slowest link in the chain of connections.

There is a utility called Traceroute that discovers and reports the IP address and delay time for each hop for a connection. Windows has a similar utility that the user can run. I am sure that a google search can yield instructions for Windoze users.

[driftdiver]

20 MB is nice but DSL has some limitations. For one the quality of service features with DSL aren’t great. 20 MB ATM provides a much better throughput for intense applications. JMHO

[Lokibob]

save for later reading. (bttt)

[Vio24]

Perhaps you can answer a questiomn for me.

I have Comcast cable and Internet and am not happy with the company for several reasons. I am looking at Verizon FIOS for TV, Internet and VOIP (I have Vonage now). What, in your opinion would the difference be for me if i switched. I only use the Internet for surfing and on line shopping. As for TV I seldom watch anything except Brit Hume and the NFL.

Thanks

[Conan the Librarian]

I am very happy with my Comcast. I get 12 to 15 Mbps on my WIFI, more on the hardwire.

We also have digial voice and digital TV. All work great!

[driftdiver]

I have FIOS and have found it to be very stable. I have 20 MB with static IPs. The limiting speed factor is usually the servers delivering the content.

The biggest thing I’ve noticed is the stability. With cable or DSL I always had problems. The FIOS voip is about the same as the old copper lines. It has better stability and quality than vonage.

[CedarDave]

Download speeds on DSL, or Digital Subscriber Lines, from other companies generally top out at 10 or 12 megabits per second.

What sort of download speeds are available on Cable internet systems (e.g. Comcast, Cox, etc.)??

[antiRepublicrat]

I am very happy with my Comcast. I get 12 to 15 Mbps on my WIFI, more on the hardwire.

I heard a report a while back with evidence that Comcast detects for customers running those online speed tests. Comcast then prioritizes the network to make sure the packets for your test blast through. IOW they try to make it look like you get better bandwidth and latency than you actually have.

[dayglored]

> There is a utility called Traceroute that discovers and reports the IP address and delay time for each hop for a connection. Windows has a similar utility that the user can run. I am sure that a google search can yield instructions for Windoze users.

Windows has "tracert.exe".

On most Linuxes there's an improved "live" version called "mtr" (My TraceRoute or Mike's TraceRoute) which does the trace repeatedly and calculates averages, best/worst, and also lists dropped packets.