Another increase in the speed of Broadband Internet is in the works. By Spring 2005 Comcast will have migrated all their users to a faster connection. Currently standard Broadband Cable Internet from Comcast is 3000kbps downstream and 256kbps downstream. This will be increased to 4000kbps downstream and 384kbps upstream.
The increased upstream speed will be of greatest use for Macintosh Graphic Arts users who have need of transmitting large documents over the internet. Broadband connections allow you to download very quickly, but tend to not offer near that performance for sending files. The faster upstream will also be helpful if you have migrated your phone service to Voice over IP services such as Vonage, AT&T CallVantage, and Lingo all of which improve their call quality with faster upstream connections.
For an additional $10/month fee Comcast offers a Premium Cable Internet service that currently performs at 4000kbps downstream and 384kbps upstream. This service will now move to 6000kbps downstream and 768kbps upstream. The much improved upstream of this service may be extremely interesting if you often need to transmit large files.
Note that most broadband routers cannot handle speeds much above 4000kbps. This may require the purchase of new routers capable of faster speeds such as the
Linksys RV042 VPN router.
