MONTREAL – It’s not 100 Mbps like in its tests (that’s still pretty hard to deliver consistently) but Videotron today announced the launch of two new tiers of Internet service – some of the fastest download speeds in North America.
The company’s new Ultimate Speed Internet 30 ($65 a month) and Ultimate Speed Internet 50 ($80 a month) will deliver speeds of 30 Mbps and 50 Mbps respectively. “The new services are tailored to the needs of modern connected families sharing one Internet link,” says the press release. The two services have total file transfer limits (uploads and downloads combined) of 30 GB and 50 GB per month respectively.
With the two new Ultimate Speed Internet services, Videotron becomes the first cable company in North America to offer such speeds on a cabled network. The roll-out of these services will begin in Laval, where they will be available to 112,000 homes.
Videotron and Cisco have been working together for a year on different technologies to be able to deliver this upgrade.
To give an idea of the capabilities, the 30 Mbps service will make it possible to download a music track in two seconds and a movie of almost 2 GB in about eight minutes. With Ultimate Speed Internet 50, it will take ten seconds to download a full CD containing 10 tracks and five minutes for a movie of almost 2 GB.
“As a provider of high-tech services, we strive to deliver the higher speeds and transfer limits that consumers, families and organizations need,” said Manon Brouillette, senior vice president, marketing, content and product development, at Videotron. “The new modem, developed in collaboration with Cisco, combined with our robust and reliable network, now make it possible for us to offer the full entertainment experience that connected families are looking for.”
After Laval, the new service will gradually be rolled out across the rest of Videotron’s service area.
Videotron Business Solutions is also launching both speed levels in Laval today. www.videotron.com/business.
Videotron began beta testing wideband technology in 2007 as part of a partnership with Cisco. In the tests with real-life users, speeds of up to 100 Mbps were reached.
