Buzzword: Channel bonding
Cable companies say they've discovered a way to transmit data even faster. Too bad they can't figure out a faster way to get it to us.
An Internet arms race brings us this week's Marketplace Money buzzword: Channel bonding.
Channel bonding is the latest development in the war between cable and telecom. They've been competing over who can give customers the fastest Internet connection. This week, cable giant Comcast unleashed its ultimate weapon: channel bonding. It fuses four channels to transmit data - fast. Comcast execs used it to download a 32-volume encyclopedia in under four minutes.
But before consumers rejoice, cable execs admitted it won't be available for a couple of years. And they really don't know how much it'll cost.
