Comcast, Time Warner increasing customer speeds in Kansas City to better compete with Google Fiber

As first reported by the Kansas City Star, several cable companies have started bumping up their internet speeds for customers, free of charge, in order to better compete with Google Fiber in Kansas City. Both Comcast and Time Warner announced changes for their internet packages.

Comcast customers in Kansas City who pay for speeds of 25 megabits a second will now see speeds of 50 megabits, while those paying for 50 megabits will see a more than double increase in speed to 105 megabits. Finally, customers already paying for 105 megabits per second will get up to 150 megabits with these new tiers.

Both Time Warner and Comcast say that their revised internet tiers will go into effect automatically over the next week, but anyone who wants to see the speed increase immediately can simply restart the modem.

With the availability of Google Fiber in Kansas City, it is obvious that companies like Time Warner Cable and Comcast have to do something to make their offerings more appealing to customers. Google Fiber offers 1 gigabit internet to homes in Kansas City for just $70, which is far cheaper and faster than anything Time Warner or Comcast offer. AT&T also recently signed an agreement with Kansas City to build out a fiber optic network to compete with Fiber, Time Warner, and Comcast.

Making the near monopolies that Comcast and Time Warner Cable have become compete to retain customers is certainly a good thing for consumers, and as Google Fiber continues its rollout to more cities, we can only expect other companies to follow suit and make alterations to their pricing tiers.

(via The Consumerist)