Montréal, March 3, 2005 – In keeping with its commitment to deliver the fastest service on the market, Vidéotron has announced an increase in file transfer speeds on its Basic Cable Internet service. With the change, Vidéotron's full line of Internet products remains the speediest in its service area.
Basic Cable Internet: affordable service within everyone's reach
Starting March 7, 2005, download speeds on Vidéotron's Basic Cable Internet service will be boosted by 134% from 128 kbps to 300 kbps and upload speeds by 100% from 64 kbps to 128 kbps. Basic Cable Internet is ideal for beginners or for Internet users who are fed up with dial-up access and want greater convenience. It is five times faster than dial-up access and does not tie up the phone line.
High-Speed Internet: travel at the speed of light
Since November 2004, subscribers to Vidéotron High-Speed Internet have enjoyed download speeds of 5.1 mbps, the fastest for the service category within Vidéotron's territory. They can also access exclusive content, currently including the auditions for Star Académie 2005, at zonehautevitesse.com.
Extreme High-Speed: experience extreme freedom
Vidéotron's Extreme High-speed Internet service supports download speeds of 6.5 mbps and upload speeds of 900 kbps. It is the perfect solution for Internet users who want to download large files without counting kilobytes or enjoy playing online games.
Significant customer base growth
The combined customer base for Vidéotron's cable Internet access services passed the half-million mark in 2004. At year's end, the number of subscribers totalled 502,600, up 23.7% from 2003.
Network improvements
In 2004, Vidéotron invested approximately $40 million to enhance the reliability and performance of its Internet access infrastructure and its two-way broadband HFC (hybrid fibre-optic/coaxial cable) network. At the same time, Vidéotron implemented one of the most effective virus check / spam filter systems in the world. All the improvements were designed to provide Vidéotron customers with the best possible entertainment and telecommunications experience.
Vidéotron ltée (www.videotron.com), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Quebecor Media Inc., is an integrated communications company engaged in cable television, interactive multimedia development, Internet access services and residential telephone service. Vidéotron is a leader in new technologies with its illico interactive television system and its broadband network, which supports high-speed cable Internet access, analog and digital cable television, and other services. Vidéotron serves 1,453,000 cable television customers in Québec; including over 334,000 illico subscribers. Vidéotron is also the Québec leader in high-speed Internet access, with 527,000 subscribers to its cable modem and dial-up services.
