Montréal cable subscribers will soon be able to buy gigabit broadband speeds from Vidéotron after a successful pilot project demonstrated the cable company’s existing DOCSIS 3.0 network was up to the task.

“It is with great pride that we announce today that we have passed another milestone in the history of Videotron Internet service,” said Manon Brouillette, president and CEO of Vidéotron. “We have always been a trailblazer in this area. Over the past 10 years, we have introduced a series of high-speed Internet access services, each faster than the last, in order to meet consumers’ steadily expanding needs.”

Testing gigabit speeds began in a few Montréal homes and businesses earlier this year and the results have helped the cable operator optimize its network architecture and choose the correct cable modems to reliably support the service across its service area. Availability is expected sometime this year.

In 2016, Vidéotron will upgrade its network to DOCSIS 3.1 technology, which should support even faster speeds and require less network configuration to support the fastest Internet speeds.

Vidéotron has been aggressively pushing speed upgrades to its customers, largely in Québec. Fibre Hybrid 120 and Fibre Hybrid 200 Internet services are available to nearly 2.9 million households and businesses.

After months of issuing nationwide press releases promoting Comcast’s new, blazing fast 2Gbps fiber to the home broadband, the cable company has finally announced it will be available (so far) … in one single 993-acre unfinished planned community in a northeastern suburb outside of Houston: Humble, Tex.

The Groves, designed to eventually contain 2,200 single-family homes on 993 acres west of West Lake Houston Parkway and south of Kingwood, currently resembles a crop circle because much of the community has yet to be built.

Crescent Communities, the North Carolina-based developer, calls The Groves a “refuge” from the rest of Houston, with amenities close at hand. Residents may not instinctively balk at Comcast’s expensive super-fast service requiring a $1,000 installation fee and a multi-year commitment to get the special promotional price of $159/mo. Housing at The Groves starts in the upper $200,000s and extends into the $500,000 range.

The Houston Business Journal reports Comcast will directly connect homes in the development to fiber optics, not the usual coaxial cable used elsewhere. Every home in the development will have access to the all-fiber network, which will offer 250Mbps and higher speeds, according to Comcast spokesman Michael Bybee.

Comcast will officially launch the 2Gbps service next week.

The Groves (center) is a master-planned upscale residential community that will eventually contain over 2,000 homes. But in this photograph, provided by the developer, it looks more like a crop circle.

Unfinished Business: Comcast will not face much of a challenge wiring an incomplete planned community for fiber optics. Much of The Groves has yet to be built. (Dark Green: Unfinished/Tan: Complete)

Rachelle Chong, a former commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission during the Clinton Administration, member of the California Broadband Task Force (2006-2008), commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission (2006-2009), and Comcast’s vice president for government affairs for the California region (2011-2013) also happens to be a Comcast broadband customer.

She took to Twitter this morning to complain the company she used to work for was giving her a fraction of the speed she was paying for.

At least Comcast’s poor service doesn’t discriminate. Less prominent customers are experiencing the same issues:

I feel like if @comcast internet is reliably running at 20% of the speed I pay for I should only be expected to pay for 20% of the bill.

— Brian E. McElaney (@McElaney) July 29, 2015

4th attempt to contact @comcastcares for same slow internet speed issue, no response. Left wondering what @comcast actually cares about.

— Dave Perks (@writegud) July 28, 2015

One customer isn’t too sure fast speeds matter much. He lives in one of Comcast’s usage cap test markets, where Comcast enforces a usage allowance on their Internet service, with a bill-shocking overlimit fee if you dare exceed it.

Congratulations! Comcast has increased your speed so you can now hit your data cap 50% faster! https://t.co/Vh7Y9fwkgg

— Doug McCaughan (@djuggler) July 25, 2015

If you find your Internet connection a bit slower and your usage meter spiking, it could be courtesy of Microsoft, which began quietly sending Windows 10 installation software this morning to those reserving a copy for their home computer(s) and laptop(s).

Though not officially available until July 29, some users report Windows 10’s software installation files are already arriving in a new, usually hidden, folder on your operating system partition. If you disable hidden files and folders, you may see this new directory: $windows.~BT

If you do, that is Windows 10 winding its way to your computer. Microsoft is not mass blasting the update to every computer all at once, so there is an excellent chance you may not have the new OS just yet, but it is on the way.

Unfortunately, it is huge, with some users reporting file sizes ranging from 4-6GB per computer, so if you are subject to usage caps or an allowance, Microsoft may help push you over the limit. For now, the only way to stop the upgrade is by canceling the invitation:

How can I cancel my reservation? I don’t want to upgrade to Windows 10 at all.

Open the Reservation app in the notification area (double click it)

Click the Hamburger (three horizontal lines) menu in the upper left corner, then select View Confirmation.

In the lower left, click Cancel reservation and then confirm (twice).

Do not try to launch the installation before you receive a prompt to do so. Those who tried to jump the gun reported the installation files were deleted as a result, and would need to be downloaded again.

Residents of one of the world’s most isolated countries will soon have the option of getting fiber-to-the-home service that will offer faster Internet access than most Americans get with traditional DSL from their phone company.

Thailand’s Benchachinda Holding Company has partnered with four other technology companies to launch Myanmar Information Highway Limited (MIH), with the goal of wiring fiber-to-the-home service to every home and business that wants service in Yangon and other major economic cities. It’s a remarkable investment for a country that had until recently been run by a military dictatorship for more than 50 years and is still liberalizing its economy and implementing democratic reforms.

Benchachinda’s president, Vichai Bencharongkul, said the group’s investment in international businesses in Myanmar is the first of a few foreign investments in other nations. Bencharongkul told the Thai press fiber broadband sells itself and investment in Myanmar would make good business sense.

Bencharongkul

He can point to the fact MIH was able to quickly get permission to lay fiber-optic cable from Yangon Electricity Supply Corporation, the country’s dominant electric utility. Myanmar’s bureaucracy can prove daunting to doing business in the country, but the promise of faster broadband overcame those concerns.

Internet access in Myanmar, better known internationally as Burma, has traditionally been a frustrating experience. Despite some fiber Internet rollouts by state-owned Myanma Posts & Telecommunications (MPT), offering up to 100Mbps, the average upper income Myanmar household still relies on DSL service and gets only up to 6Mbps speed. The country is ranked 159 out of 198 by Net Index for consumer download speed, averaging just 5Mbps. Fiber optic broadband will change that.

In a cost-saving measure, MIH will launch service with speeds averaging 20Mbps — four times faster than the current average speed in the country — and raise speeds and capacity going forward. They intend to deliver stiff competition to both Yatanarpon Teleport (YTP) and the state telephone company, which charges almost $65 a month for a basic DSL line. MPT charges $1,200 a month for 20Mbps fiber broadband and focuses on business customers. MIH is expected to charge lower prices for service and will rely on its own network instead of the one owned and controlled by the state-owned telephone company.