Getting connected is going to get a whole lot quicker for some of you out there. The internet is getting ten-times faster than we're used to here in mid-Michigan. Comcast started offering one-gigabit-per-second service today. FOX 47's Marcus Dash is here to translate that into English.
To put this scientific jargon in perspective: According to Comcast, this new service will allow you to download a feature-length film in forty seconds without any hiccups. I gotta tell you, people I talked to are pretty excited about it.
"I do a lot of downloading so it's absolutely necessary to me," said Donzel Abram.
Donzel Abram isn't the only one excited about the possibility of a faster internet, Calvin Allen says his internet slows down so much that he's ready to make his kids log off when he wants on.
"It slows everything down makes me want to tell them not to use it," said Calvin Allen.
David Waymire of the Michigan cable telecommunications association says customers are going to get a familiar feeling.
"When you had dial-up and you could actually reach the internet, it was an amazing thing, then you quickly realized you want to be faster and have more access," said David Waymire.
One gigabit per second, what does that mean? Waymire tells me that means you can use up to 50 devices that use the internet, surfing the web while playing video games, while also streaming a movie. 50 sounds like a lot, one man tells me that's a commonplace in his household.
"Between me, my kids, my sister, my brother we all the household be on it, trying to surf something on the web," said Abram.
Of course, that speed comes at a price, 139.95 a month. That's actually $20 less than Comcast was charging customers in St. Paul, Minnesota last year.
Allen tells me it's not much more than what he pays now and it's worth it to get his kids off his back.
"They would quit bugging and saying that they cant watch the movies that they want to," said Allen.
Comcast says it won't have to do any digging for the new service. No word yet if any of its local competitors are going to match the one-gigabit-per-second speed.
