Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable provider, will double the speed of its Internet service for current subscribers and offer even faster connections at additional cost to improve movie, music and game downloads.

In the next few weeks, the so-called DOCSIS 3.0 services will be available to subscribers in parts of New England, Philadelphia and New Jersey, the Philadelphia-based company said in an e-mailed statement today. The service will expand to more than 10 million homes and businesses by the end of the year.

Comcast is competing with AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. with bundled products that include phone, TV and high-speed Internet services. The company's high-speed Internet revenue increased 10 percent to $1.8 billion in the second quarter.

``This is allowing our customers to enjoy the things they do on the Internet at a much faster speed,'' Mitch Bowling, Comcast's senior vice president and general manager of online services, said in an interview today. Subscribers can now download movies and upload photos quicker, Bowling said.

Residential customers can switch to even faster services for $139.95 or $62.95 a month, while businesses can upgrade for $189.95 or $99.95 a month. Regular Internet service bundled with cable TV is currently $42.95.

Subscribers with the fastest service, Extreme 50, will be able to download a high-definition movie in about 16 minutes, compared with 67 minutes using the new standard high-speed connection, Comcast said.

Comcast, which reported 14.4 million Internet users at the end of the second quarter, fell $1.16 to $14.20 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have dropped 22 percent this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Callan in New York at jcallan2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 22, 2008 16:06 EDT