12 Mbps is quite an achievement

Feb 1, 2008 16:23 GMT  ·  By

A few days after Ireland's largest telecommunications provider revealed its plans for a 100 million Euro data center in Europe, the company comes with another juicy offering: real broadband speed for its subscribers.

While the low broadband speed in USA apparently has no cure, Eircom seems to have found the key to providing better Internet services, through a cocktail of network infrastructure upgrades and new products. At the same time, the company's broadband rivals will also offer broadband services at lower prices.

Eircom has already announced that it will soon provide its updated offerings: broadband speeds ranging from 1Mbps up to 12Mbps, that will become available in the following months. According to the lelecom provider, about 240,000 wholesale and retail customers will have the pleasant surprise of waking up and finding a 3Mbps data rate instead of their old 1Mbps subscription, for the same monthly fee.

The premium subscribers that have signed up for a 3Mbps, 4Mbps or 6Mbps plan will receive at least double download speeds than it was previously stipulated. The company claimed that the new subscription will be upgraded to 7.6Mbps, 10Mbps and 12Mbps products respectively, while 2Mbps plans will automatically be taken to 3Mbps download speeds.

"Eircom is responding directly to customer needs and levels of broadband usage by introducing increased speeds. Customers are maximizing the benefits of their broadband connection through the increased use of on-line applications such as video streaming, on-line gaming, music downloads and peer to peer applications. The introduction of these higher speeds benefits broadband users nationwide and is the next step in the roll-out of Eircom's Next Generation Network," said Rex Comb, CEO, Eircom.

Ireland seems to have fixed all the shortcomings in broadband subscriptions. On the American continent, things look a little gloomier, as the major Internet-over-Cable providers are unable to find a viable solution for upgrading their network speeds. Since switching to optical fiber is not too much of a solution, they'll have to pray for a miracle.