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Comcast said this fall's speed increase is its 13th in the past 12 years, dating from a time when downloads topped out at 1.5 mbps.

(Bloomberg Photo)

Comcast is doubling Internet speeds for "the vast majority" of its customers in Oregon and Southwest Washington between now and the end of the year.

The faster speeds, up to 105 megabits per second, come amid a growing fiber war among Internet companies in the Portland area.

CenturyLink has begun wiring Portland neighborhoods for high-capacity fiber-optic Internet service, offering connections as fast as 1 gigabit per second – roughly 100 times a standard U.S. broadband connections. Frontier Communications has begun offering gigabit speeds in parts of Beaverton, and Google Fiber is contemplating its own fiber-optic network in parts of the Portland area.

Comcast is in the process of increasing download speeds for its "Performance" Internet customers from 25 megabits per second to as much as 50 mbps. The company's "Blast" plan goes from 50 mbps to up to 105 mbps.

Comcast said this fall's speed increase is its 13th in the past 12 years, dating from a time when downloads topped out at 1.5 mbps. Comcast has 600,000 subscribers in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

The company said subscribers will receive an e-mail when the faster speeds are available to them. They will have to reset their cable modem before receiving the upgrade; often, that's as simple as unplugging it and plugging it back in.

Comcast isn't raising prices as it raises speeds, but it did announce a rate hike last month: Performance now costs $66.95 a month ($53.95 to customers who also subscribe to Comcast cable TV or phone service); Blast service is $78.95 (or $65.95 for customers who subscribe to another Comcast service.)

It's difficult to compare prices across companies because Internet providers offer a variety of speeds in different areas, introductory and retention discounts, and discounts for customers who subscribe to multiple plans.

For comparison, though, CenturyLink offers introductory prices as low as $50 a month in the parts of Portland where it offers fiber service. Frontier charges $35 a month for a 30 mbps connection in parts of the metro area outside Portland where it offers fiber-optic service.

Google Fiber hasn't set Portland prices, but in other markets it charges $70 a month for a gigabit connection.

Consumers are seeking faster Internet subscriptions to take advantage of streaming video, online games and other bandwidth-intensive services.

Network congestion and feuds over priority access for Netflix and other streaming video sites have sometimes constrained results, though, and created huge controversy around "net neutrality" – the notion that all online traffic should be treated equally by Internet service providers.

In February, Netflix and Comcast reached a deal to ensure more reliable Netflix streaming video for the cable TV company's subscribers.

-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; phone: 503-294-7699