The speed race continues as Lumen Technologies announces Quantum Fiber service that offers symmetrical speeds of 8 Gbps using fiber broadband in three markets.
The new service is available now to residents and businesses in cities near Denver, Minneapolis and Seattle. More announcements are coming this year, the company says.
“This is a game-changer for internet users who want to broaden their horizons with multi-gigabit connections,” Maxine Moreau, the president of Lumen Mass Markets, said in a press release about the Lumen 8 Gbps launch. “Quantum Fiber service delivers reliably fast internet for the increasing number of connected devices, virtual work environments, next-level gaming and the ability to upload extremely large files in a matter of seconds.”
Quantum Fiber is based on XGS-PON technology. As Lumen notes, the service will use “a permanent network interface and router at the premise that is separate from the customer’s Wi-Fi.”
This, Lumen says, enables easy Wi-Fi activations and easy upgrades as technology changes. The service has no contracts, bundles or data caps.
Lumen is in the process of selling many of its traditional ILEC properties to Apollo Funds, which will go to market under the Brightspeed brand.
Lumen will remain active in 16 states after the close of the deal. In January, the company said that it plans to increase the locations it reaches by fiber in those states from 2.5 million to 12 million. More than 70% of the addresses it retains are in metro areas. The company is targeting deployment costs of less than $1,000 per location.
Maybe Lumen’s 8 Gbps service will move the needle for U.S. broadband speed. Last month, Ookla Speedtest results found that the U.S. ranked eighth worldwide in median broadband performance with a download speed of 153.80 Mbps, an upload speed of 21.60 Mbps, and a latency of 14 ms.
The U.S. was fourteenth in mean performance with a download speed of 225.51 Mbps, an upload speed of 88.77 Mbps and a latency of 24 ms.
