New modem 100 times faster than DSL

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LAS VEGAS, May 9 (UPI) -- The next generation of Internet cable modems will download in a fraction of a second what today takes several minutes, a U.S. cable executive says.

The new devices, known as "wideband," will revolutionize the television and technology businesses, predicts Brian Roberts, chairman and chief executive o Comcast Corp.

A wideband prototype he demonstrated at a cable industry conference in Las Vegas transferred data at 150 megabits per second, 15 to 25 times faster than the 6 to 10 Mbps capacity of most cable modems and up to 100 times as fast as the 1.5 to 3 Mbps telephone companies typically offer through DSL service, Cox Newspapers reported.

"It's kind of mind-boggling when you consider the potential use of a platform that can let you do something at this ... speed," Roberts said at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association's annual meeting. "It's a whole new platform."

Roberts would not predict when Comcast would make the new modems available, but technology analysts said it would be several years.

"It's a good demo ... but it's a long way" off, Envisioneering Group analyst Richard Doherty said.

Doherty said it took three years before the industry was able to offer the current version of Internet modems to 10 percent of its subscribers.