April 21, 2011 6:26 AM
Shaw is boosting the speed of its basic Internet service as the company looks to cement its broadband position.
Speeds for downloading and uploading with its Extreme package will about double, and the Calgary-based cable giant is touting the faster service -announced Wednesday -for watching streaming video and online gaming.
"The core technology's going to be the Internet, clearly, for everything," said Tom Keenan, a professor in the University of Calgary's faculty of environmental de-sign who studies technology issues. "And more and more people are moving to that."
Shaw has long delivered the Internet to people's homes, but that business is changing as services providing streaming video, such as Netflix, gain popularity.
The company is also introducing a new TV box next month which will, among other things, allow content to be pulled from computers in the home.
"The Shaw Extreme speed upgrade is just the first spark of a whole new world of entertainment and offerings to come," president Peter Bissonnette said in a news release.
Extreme is in the middle of Shaw's offerings, speed-wise, with 25 Megbits per second for downloading -increased from 15 Mbps -after the upgrade. Customers subscribed to the Extreme service will be upgraded to the new speeds over the next month.
The company said it will unveil new Internet packages this summer.
Keenan said the market is changing rapidly, with younger viewers starting to shun cable as they turn to the Internet for viewing TV and movies.
"From a business point of view, they're clearly trying to think of where do we go next in the same way the telephone company had to think, well, we can't charge you to call your grandmother in Vancouver a lot anymore, we better find another way to take your money," he said. "(Shaw has) to think about their nice chunk of money they get from cable subscribers every month."
Keenan also sees the faster speeds being attractive to business, and Shaw has said it wants to pursue the small and medium business market more aggressively.
The Extreme speed is the basic Internet service Shaw offers as part of its bundling plan, which allows customers to choose the details of TV, phone and Internet service, including a la carte channels.
Keenan said there are five Internet speeds listed on Shaw's site, all with caps for how much can be downloaded.
Shaw has been consulting with customers about how to handle the small percentage of users who consume the majority of the available bandwidth. It plans to come back with ideas on how to package and price those options in the near future.
Shaw is boosting the speed of its basic Internet service as the company looks to cement its broadband position.
Speeds for downloading and uploading with its Extreme package will about double, and the Calgary-based cable giant is touting the faster service -announced Wednesday -for watching streaming video and online gaming.
"The core technology's going to be the Internet, clearly, for everything," said Tom Keenan, a professor in the University of Calgary's faculty of environmental de-sign who studies technology issues. "And more and more people are moving to that."
Shaw has long delivered the Internet to people's homes, but that business is changing as services providing streaming video, such as Netflix, gain popularity.
The company is also introducing a new TV box next month which will, among other things, allow content to be pulled from computers in the home.
"The Shaw Extreme speed upgrade is just the first spark of a whole new world of entertainment and offerings to come," president Peter Bissonnette said in a news release.
Extreme is in the middle of Shaw's offerings, speed-wise, with 25 Megbits per second for downloading -increased from 15 Mbps -after the upgrade. Customers subscribed to the Extreme service will be upgraded to the new speeds over the next month.
The company said it will unveil new Internet packages this summer.
Keenan said the market is changing rapidly, with younger viewers starting to shun cable as they turn to the Internet for viewing TV and movies.
"From a business point of view, they're clearly trying to think of where do we go next in the same way the telephone company had to think, well, we can't charge you to call your grandmother in Vancouver a lot anymore, we better find another way to take your money," he said. "(Shaw has) to think about their nice chunk of money they get from cable subscribers every month."
Keenan also sees the faster speeds being attractive to business, and Shaw has said it wants to pursue the small and medium business market more aggressively.
The Extreme speed is the basic Internet service Shaw offers as part of its bundling plan, which allows customers to choose the details of TV, phone and Internet service, including a la carte channels.
Keenan said there are five Internet speeds listed on Shaw's site, all with caps for how much can be downloaded.
Shaw has been consulting with customers about how to handle the small percentage of users who consume the majority of the available bandwidth. It plans to come back with ideas on how to package and price those options in the near future.