Recently, Comcast announced the rollout of new ultra-low latency technology for some home broadband customers.
The new feature comes in the form of an open technology standard, meaning any developer is free to utilize it in their application in order to achieve the ultra-low latency.
What is latency?
In general terms, latency is the time that elapses between a request for information and its arrival.
- Sometimes lag can happen on a network, on a device, or both at the same time. Anytime a signal is sent and processed, some degree of lag is to be expected.
- When accessing the internet, lag or latency is measured by the amount of time it takes for a “ping,” or sample signal, to travel from a source device to a server and back.
The rollout
Currently, the applications making use of the standard include FaceTime across a variety of Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro), as well as Meta’s mixed reality headsets, NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW, and many games on Valve’s Steam Games platform.
The ultra-low latency is expected to expand as new, additional content and application providers choose to incorporate the open standard into their services and products. When fully deployed, all Xfinity Internet customers will be able to benefit.
The company’s rollout 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.
The announcement is the latest development in the industry-wide 10G initiative, which will deliver multi-gigabit broadband speeds across the country. To learn more about the future of super-fast internet, check out the NCTA website.