Comcast to launch extreme 50-Mbps high-speed Internet service in Central California and Santa Barbara County

OCTOBER 29, 2009 -- Comcast is launching next-generation DOCSIS 3.0 and making the leap from broadband to wideband in several areas of California, including Fresno, Merced, Modesto, Stockton, Tracy, Tulare, and Visalia, as well as Santa Barbara County. With the launch, Comcast has now begun its roll-out of the wideband service in Central California and North Santa Barbara. The company previously deployed wideband in the San Francisco Bay Area and in the Monterey-Salinas area earlier this year.

With wideband, Comcast has introduced new Internet speed tiers, offering some of the fastest speeds available today in Central California, including the Extreme 50 tier with download speeds up to 50 Mbps. Wideband also enables Comcast to double speeds for the majority of existing high-speed Internet customers.

"Wideband utilizes our existing fiber-optic network in neighborhoods across our footprint. With this next generation of service, our customers' online experience is dramatically enhanced," says Steve White, senior vice president of Comcast's California region. "And this is just the beginning. Wideband, combined with our fiber-optic network, gives us the capability of meeting the needs of our customers for many years to come by offering even faster speeds in the future."

Beginning Oct. 29, Comcast's new services will be available to residential homes (and beginning Nov. 5 to all businesses) in the following cities and areas: Acampo, Altaville, Angels Camp, Armona, Arnold, Atwater, Avery, Ballard, Big Trees, Buellton, Camp Connell, Chowchilla, Clovis, Corcoran, Crows Landing, Del Rey, Dinuba, Dorrington, Dos Palos, Douglas Flat, Firebaugh, Fowler, French Camp, Fresno, Friant, Goshen, Grangeville, Grayson, Gustine, Hanford, Hardwick, Hathaway Pines, Jackson, Kerman, Kingsburg, Lathrop, Laton, Lemoore, Lemoore NAS, Linden, Lockeford, Lodi, Lompoc, Los Banos, Los Olivos, Madera, Manteca, Mendota, Merced, Modesto, Mokelumne Hill, Mountain House, Murphys, Newman, Oakdale, Orcutt, Parlier, Patterson, Pinedale, Planada, Plymouth, Rancho Calaveras, Reedley, Riverdale, San Andreas, San Joaquin, Santa Maria, Santa Ynez, Sanger, Selma, Solvang, Stockton, Stratford, Sutter Creek, Tracy, Tulare, Vallecito, Valley Springs, Victor, Visalia, Wallace, Winton, and Woodbridge.

As part of the wideband deployment, the service provider is launching two new premium-speed tiers to its residential and business class customers. Both new services are designed for households or businesses simultaneously using several computers or Internet-connected devices.

• Extreme 50, offering up to 50 Mbps of downstream speed and up to 10 Mbps of upstream speed
• Ultra, offering up to 22 Mbps of downstream speed and up to 5 Mbps of upstream speed

With Extreme 50, Comcast says its customers will be able to download a high-definition movie (6 Gbytes) in about 16 minutes, a standard-definition movie (2 Gbytes) in about five minutes and a standard-definition TV show (300 Mbytes) in a matter of seconds.

In addition to the new speed tiers, Comcast will also increase speeds for its existing Performance tier customers, who will now experience doubled downstream and upstream speeds -- offering up to 12 Mbps and 2 Mbps, respectively. Plus, with PowerBoost technology, download and upload of files such as videos, games, music, and photos will speed up.

Business customers will also experience increased efficiency and productivity with wideband. Customers can sign up for the Deluxe 50 Mbps/10 Mbps tier. As part of their service, Business Class customers receive Microsoft Communication Services, providing corporate-class e-mail, calendaring and document sharing, as well as firewall protection, static IP addresses, multiple e-mail addresses, and business class 24/7 customer support. Existing business class customers also will receive complimentary speed increases -- speeds on the Starter tier will be doubled to up to 12 Mbps/2 Mbps and a new Premium Tier also will be introduced, offering speeds up to 22 Mbps/5 Mbps.


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