In a bid to compete with high-speed fiber optic Internet access, Qwest is doubling the speed of some broadband connections to 40 mbps. The only problem is that existing customers will have to pay for every bit of it in 5 mbps increments.

Qwest is starting the expansion on a limited basis in yet-to-be-named cities in Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Minnesota. The service will cost $99.99 per month for 20 mbps or $109.99 for a 40 mbps connection.

However existing customers will have to upgrade their existing 5, 7 or 20 mbps line. The upgrade costs $5 per month on top of their existing bill for an additional 5 mbps of bandwidth.

These speeds are twice what Qwest has been offering for the last few years in terms of download speed. This is due to better-than-expected demand for the company’s high-speed Internet offerings according to Travis Leo, Director of Internet Service for Qwest.

At first, the service will be available in new neighborhoods, but could be retrofitted into existing lines if there is enough demand. This is because the new service leverages the existing copper lines used for DSL.

The technology behind this upgrade is called fiber-to-the-node. It requires running fiber optic cable to each neighborhood, which runs to a box at the bottom of a telephone pole. From there, the Internet connection runs over the copper telephone wires into each home.

These new plans allow Qwest to compete with Verizon’s FiOS offering in delivering top-end Internet speeds to residential customers. However the pricing is only competitive at the high end of the scale.

Verizon FiOS costs $69.99 for 25 mbps to Qwest’s $99.99 for just 20 mbps. That service should prove fast enough for a large portion of users. Only by getting the full 40 mbps can users save a bit on their bill versus paying FiOS’s $144.95 for 10 mbps more.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 10:25 am under Internet, Technology.

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