Comcast Going High Speed In Washington, Surrounding Metro Areas

High-speed broadband is a big target in Washington as policymakers decide how to define, and roll out, universal broadband, particularly to lower income and rural areas.

Comcast isn't making those policymakers look very far to see its efforts to launch the cable indsutry's next generation of high-speed Internet access, Docsis 3.0.

The nation's largest cable operator said it has begun rolling out 50 mbps service in Washington and the surrounding metro area.

Comcast will start making the "leap" from broadband to so-called wideband service in the Anacostia neighborhood of the city starting this month. Anacostia has a large minority and lower-income population, just the target group some broadband proponents say need access to high-speed Internet to help close the digital and socio-economic divides.

Comcast says speeds will double for high-speed customers at no charge. It is also adding the service to parts of Arlington and Alexandria, Va., and Montgomery County and Prince George's County, Md., all part of the Washington Metro area.

Customers can go here to find out where the service, including two new premium tiers, new business tiers, and increased speeds for existing tiers, is available in their area.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.