Minnesota gets extra-fast Internet from Comcast

Seeking to stay in the Internet speed game, Comcast Corp. is introducing a new Internet service with eight-times-faster downloads than its popular existing service.

Extreme 50 is being launched today in Minneapolis and St. Paul, the Twin Cities market, and it will be available to 9.6 million homes in the United States by the end of the year, the company said.

Comcast has not said when the new "wideband" service would be introduced in Philadelphia. But it will make Extreme 50 available to its entire network, which passes 48 million homes, by mid-2010.

It costs $149.95 a month and offers speeds of 50 megabits per second for downloads and 5 megabits per second for uploads in the Twin Cities.

The most popular existing Comcast Internet service generally delivers 6 megabits of download and 384 kilobits of uploads. This Internet service, with a Comcast cable TV product, costs $42.95 a month.

Extreme 50 is targeted at online gamers and those who send or receive pictures, video and music on the Internet. "You could say we have brought to the masses commercial speeds for everyday use," said Greg Butz, senior vice president of marketing and product development.

The new service is the "evolution of broadband," Butz said, adding that Comcast was offering it because "we always maintained leadership with speed." About 13 million homes get Comcast's broadband Internet service.

Verizon Communications Inc. is challenging Comcast's leadership with its FiOS fiber-optic service. In one product available in six states, FiOS sells 50 megabits of download speed and 20 megabits of upload. It costs $89.95 in New York and $139.95 in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Florida, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The service is not offered in Pennsylvania.