Germany preps 50 Mbit broadband

Deutsche Telekom, parent company of T-Mobile USA, announced that it will begin installing VDSL2 broadband across Germany and will have the technology available in ten metropolitan areas by the end of this year. VDSL2 will offer download speeds of up to 50 Mb/s and uploads of up to 10 Mb/s. Deutsche Telekom said that the network will deliver about 100 free and premium TV channels to customers.

Meanwhile, US users will have to rely on cable companies and telecommunications firms such as AT&T to upgrade current DSL and cable broadband. According to AT&T’s most recent TV commercials, the company intends to bring DSL at the "prices you want" and "the speed you need." It is unclear how AT&T determines how much speed users need, but at least according to the firm’s president of networking services, Kirk Brannock, it can’t be much : In 2004 meetings with Illinois city councils, Brannock mentioned that 4 Mb/s certainly would be much more than most people would have use for.

We were not able to get a comment from AT&T, if Bannock’s views have changed over the past year. But we are looking forward to AT&T’s updated ideas on how much speed we need.