It’s always an exciting thing when an ISP decides to finally give everyone a little bump to the speed limits of their monthly internet packages. It helps stimulate the growth of the industry, allows the company to remain competitive, and gives customers a new refreshing internet experience. Now, Comcast (Xfinity) is doing that right now.
It could possibly be related to some of the recent announcements from companies who are looking to extend their offerings with even faster multi-gig packages. One of these companies is Google, which announced its plans to offer 5Gbps and 8Gbps tier options to its fiber services in the near future. This would make for some tough competition as the company already offers 1-2Gbps options (both ways). Meanwhile, cable companies all over have been having nothing but trouble trying to compete.
Unfortunately, Xfinity is not increasing speeds to this degree, but it is at least giving customers something to push them ahead a little. The new speed increases are kicking in this week and the following list shows which account tier is getting what increase.
- Performance Starter/Connect is going from 50 Mbps to 75 Mbps
- Performance/Connect More is going from 100 Mbps to 200 Mbps
- Performance Pro/Fast is going from 300 Mbps to 400 Mbps
- Blast/Superfast is going from 600 Mbps to 800 Mbps
- Extreme Pro/Gigabit (formerly Ultrafast) is going from 900 Mbps to 1 Gbps
Although it isn’t as exciting as 2-8Gbps, the company is planning to roll out 2Gbps access by the end of 2025. This likely means it is trying its best to lay down as much fiber as possible between now and then. It will still be behind, but not by as much. This will also help promote other ISPs to do the same as once one starts increasing its speeds, others are likely to follow.
It sounds like the next few years are going to be interesting as the world moves closer toward the next level of internet connectivity. With 4K, 8K, VR, and so many other technologies putting a strain on things, this will help usher in a whole new generation of technology standards. Out with the old, in with the new!