• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, April 30, 2008

Now that Web users are increasingly connecting via broadband lines at home, look for Internet service providers to start competing with each other by boosting speed.

That's according to blogger Om Malik, who examines the latest figures from UBS.

As ISPs are offering faster connections, they're also raising the price. The most expensive service appears to be offered by Surewest, which charges $250 a month for speeds of up to 50 Mpbs and Cablevision, which charges $200 a month for up to 50 Mbps downstream and 5 Mpbs upstream, according to GigaOm.

Comcast, still on the defensive for throttling traffic to peer-to-peer sites, offers a $153 a month plan in Minneapolis that boasts speeds of up to 50 Mpbs upstream and 5 Mpbs downstream.

Faster broadband connections will undoubtedly appeal to people who watch or upload video online. Yet, as GigaOm points out, other factors -- including slowdowns at the network level -- can influence the experience of watching online video.

In fact, Comcast has argued for months now that it had no choice but to slow down some visits to bandwidth-hungry peer-to-peer sites in order to manage network traffic. But that hasn't made angry consumers any less irritated with the company. One irked subscriber, who was paying Comcast an extra $20 a month for premium connections (a promised download speed of up to 16 Mpbs) sued last year after Comcast's throttling came to light.

Those who decide to pay more than $150 a month for ultra high-speed service aren't likely to be any more receptive to justifications for throttling traffic.