Comcast has been testing for about two years and is finally one step closer to offering symmetric speeds of several gigabytes over cable. This week, the company began a new rollout that will give more than 50 million U.S. households access to the new 2 Gbps service by the end of 2025.
The Verge noted that Comcast said in its press release that it will offer multi-gigabit Internet packages in 34 cities across the country by the end of the year. Initial rollouts have already begun in Augusta, Colorado Springs, Panama City Beach, and Philadelphia.
Even without a subscription to the new Gigabit 2x service, you’ll notice an improvement in download speeds. In Colorado Springs, for example, Comcast says some tiers offer download speeds up to 10 times faster than previously possible. Initially, the Gigabit 2x plan will limit customers to downloading files at 200 Mbps. However, starting in 2023, symmetric speeds of several gigabytes will be possible thanks to DOCSIS 4.0 technology.
Comcast has been trying to implement this standard for the past few years. As soon as the project is completed, the company will have a network capable of delivering 10 Gbps download speeds and 6 Gbps upload speeds on the same connection. In turn, this will allow for symmetrical speeds on many cable packages. Cable has historically lagged behind fiber-optic Internet in this area.
