Oceanic says its Internet is fastest again

The cable company says Road Runner can download data at 15 megabits a second

Oceanic Time Warner Cable says it is reclaiming its status the fastest online service in the state with a new variant of its Road Runner service that offers download speeds of up to 15 megabits per second.

The accelerated service, Road Runner Turbo Plus, joins Road Runner Turbo, at 8 Mbps, and its standard broadband service, called Road Runner High Speed, at 5 Mbps.

Turbo Plus, at $70 a month, rolled out in selected locations yesterday and will eventually expand to all serviceable areas, the company said.

Road Runner Turbo costs $55 a month, or $9.95 a month more than the standard Road Runner service.

While Road Runner High Speed Online service, which provided 5 Mbps of down- load speed, was adequate for many customers, the company launched the new service in recognition that some people wanted even faster service, said Alan Pollock, vice president of marketing at Oceanic Time Warner Cable.

"There are some individuals who just want the fastest car in the parking lot. For them, we now offer Turbo Plus," Pollock said.

In addition, Oceanic has increased the upload speed to 1 Mbps for all Road Runner subscribers at no extra charge. Current Road Runner subscribers can get a free 1 Mbps upload upgrade, by simply rebooting their Road Runner modems.

The new service rollout comes on the heels of Hawaiian Telcom's August announcement that it was raising the speed limit on its DSL broadband service.

Depending on where they live, Hawaiian Telcom's DSL subscribers can get download speeds of 3, 7 or 11 Mbps under the new service. Upload speeds are 1 Mbps.