Shaw to Test Ultra-Fast Internet Speeds

Shaw Communications is unleashing a new gigabit internet technology for Canada’s high-speed internet access. It is now available to its customers and runs at 100mbps speed. It is called High-Speed Nitro and is being offered by Shaw in Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver.

The service will be offered over Fiber-to-the-Home or FTTH and will be able to support new, emerging internet applications that need faster download speeds.

Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw Communications, states that this is a game-changing technology on the leading edge of bringing lightning-fast speeds for new network capabilities that will give the company a springboard for other possibilities in the future. “It’s really exciting to think how our customers could benefit from this technology,” he said.

Company sources report that Shaw will be the first provider in Canada to try the Gigabit Internet and plans to launch trial runs in April.

The service will not be cheap, however. The price will be around $150 a month. In Japan, 160-megabit connections sell for $60 a month and 120-megabit speeds sell for $100 a month in parts of Europe. Shaw’s pricing is in-line with many of the prices being charged for internet in the United States, but both the U.S. and Canada have been recently criticized for a lack of competition in broadband, resulting in slower speeds and higher prices than those of their competitors in other parts of the world.

A recent study by Harvard University found Canada to be ranked 22nd out of 30 countries after availability, speeds, and pricing were taken into account. The U.S. placed 13th.

Included in the Harvard study, it was found that European and Asian countries have better broadband because governments have enacted open-access rules that allow internet providers to share infrastructure. Canada and the U.S. focused on promoting so-called “inter-modal” systems where cable and phone companies compete against each other, creating a duopoly in both Canada and the U.S.

The U.S. government is putting together a national broadband plan. Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski proposed the “100 squared” initiative last week, which will have 100 million homes connected to the internet with 100-megabit technology by 2020. The plan is being taken to Congress where the government could get involved in building some of the infrastructure.

Internet search engine giant Google is also building experimental networks that could bring one-gigabit speeds to several U.S. cities and towns which will show what can be done with super-fast speeds.

Shaw To Test Super Awesome 1-Gbps Fiber-Optic Broadband Service