<p>In the latest sign of growing competition in the broadband Internet business, Cox Communications Inc. is speeding up its service without charging extra.</p><p>The Atlanta-based company says it's boosting the data transfer rate for all three of its three tiers of cable modem service for the same, or lower, monthly cost.</p><p>The news follows similar announcements from San Antonio-based SBC Communications Inc. and New York-based Verizon Communications Inc., both of which offer DSL, said industry expert David Burstein.</p><p>He said the moves are no surprise because DSL and cable modem networks are designed to handle higher speeds.</p><p>"The decision of what speed to give which customers when is a marketing decision based on the competition," Burstein said.</p><p>Cox, which has 2.2 million high-speed Internet customers, has increased its slowest service from 128 kilobits per second for upload and download to 256 kbps for each. The cost remains $24.95 a month and now can be purchased as a standalone product rather than just in a package, said spokesman Bobby Amirshahi said.</p><p>Its mid-level service is going from 3 megabits-per-second download and 256-kbps upload speed to 4 mbps download and 512 kbps upload. The price will remain the same _ $39.95 as part of a bundled package or $49.95 by itself.</p><p>Its fastest service is being upgraded from 4 mbps download speed and 354 kbps upload speed to 5 mbps download and 768 kbps upload. The cost for that service was $60 to $80 a month, depending on the location. It will now be $54.95 as part of a bundled package, Amirshahi said.</p>
