Comcast is introducing the first customers in the world to a new, ultra-low lag connectivity experience.
It’s of greatest benefit to interactive applications like gaming, videoconferencing, and virtual reality. According to the US operator, Xfinity Internet latency will be dramatically reduced to “faster than the blink of an eye”.
“Our connectivity is the key to unlocking a world of entertainment, sports, news and information and we’re constantly pushing the limits of network innovation to create an experience that exceeds the expanding demands of our customers,” said Emily Waldorf, Senior Vice President, Consumer Products, Comcast Connectivity and Platforms. “Modern applications are real-time and interactive and require more than just fast speeds. Xfinity Internet’s lower lag times will be a differentiator for Comcast.”
Latency-sensitive applications will experience less delay, and a smoother, more responsive end-to-end online experience compared to other options like 5G home Internet, where the network gets bogged down and the connection deteriorates when a lot of people are online.
Initially, customers will see the benefits of the new technology firsthand when they use FaceTime on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro, apps on Meta’s mixed reality headsets that will support this technology, NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW, or many games on Valve’s Steam games platform. Comcast’s low-lag experience will expand to any additional content and application providers who choose to leverage the new open standard technology for their own products. When fully deployed it will be available to all Xfinity Internet customers.
Comcast has been testing low latency technology with its user groups for the past year and those tests have met or even exceeded expectations. The initial rollout began and will expand to cities like Atlanta, Chicago, Colorado Springs, Philadelphia, Rockville (Maryland) and San Francisco, deploying in more locations across the country rapidly over the next few months. Low-lag Internet is made possible by Comcast’s state-of-the-art network, which has been built to deliver an exceptional Internet experience, ubiquitously, to more than 63 million homes and businesses across the country.
