Quite some time before 1 Gbps fiber to the press release became the industry PR trend du jour, Comcast had started offering a 505 Mbps down, 100 Mbps up tier. The tier isn't cheap -- it runs users around $300 a month, comes with a $1,000 ETF, a $250 activation fee, and a $250 installation fee. It's also only available in select locations where Comcast has run fiber all the way to a customer home -- usually either higher-end developments or select apartment buildings.

In the face of Google Fiber and highly selective 1 Gbps deployments from the likes of CenturyLink, Comcast has started claiming they'll be offering speeds ranging from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps "as soon as possible":

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John Schanz, the chief network officer of Comcast, says the Philadelphia-based cable giant will begin testing technology capable of 1 gig to 10 gig Internet speeds in a few months, and then offering it broadly as soon as possible. “Docsis 3.1 is capable of delivering gigabit speeds and will be available for testing starting next year, with Comcast’s network and Docsis 3.1 this has the potential to benefit millions of homes, as opposed to select areas,” said Schanz, a Comcast executive vice president.

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While DOCSIS 3.1 can offer up to 10 Gbps downstream, whether you'll see those speeds over a shared resource has yet to be seen. The standard also isn't expected to see significant deployment until 2016, and when it does it's unlikely the upstream portion will be able to get anywhere near 1 Gbps. As noted in previous discussions about the hype surrounding the often theatrical race to 1 Gbps, often lost in this conversation is the steep price you'll pay for such speeds due to limited competition.