Cox Communications on Wednesday began doubling the speeds on two of its most popular Internet service packages, Cox High Speed Internet Preferred and Cox High Speed Internet Premier.

These packages represent more than 75 percent of Cox’s high-speed Internet customers. Internet service speeds also will be increased on Cox High Speed Internet Ultimate service package.

The rollout of the new speeds will be completed by Thursday for customers in the Santa Barbara area.

With speeds as fast as 150 megabits, Cox continues to provide its customers with the fastest residential speeds. The increased speeds come on the heels of the company’s announced plans to offer gigabit speeds in all of its markets by the end of 2016.

Cox High Speed Internet Preferred will increase from 25 megabits per second to 50 megabits per second. Cox High Speed Internet Premier will increase from 50 megabits per second to 100 megabits per second. Cox High Speed Internet Ultimate will increase from 100 megabits to 150 megabits per second.

“Internet usage is doubling every two years, and this increase marks the 10th consecutive Internet speed increase in 11 years for our customers,” said Suzanne Schlundt, vice president of marketing for Cox Communications in California. “Consumers are adding more and more devices to their Wi-Fi networks to stream movies and TV shows, download music and share photographs. We’ll continue to invest in our network to offer a broadband experience that not only meets our customers’ needs, but exceeds them.”

Examples of what customers can do with the new speed increases (depending on the service plan):

» Download an email attachment — in less than a second

» Download 10 MP3 songs — in less than a second to one second

» Upload 30 vacation photos — in less than a second up to two seconds

» Upload a video clip up to 35MB — in two to eight seconds

» Download a full-length movie in one minute up to less than four minutes

In addition:

» Cox offers a wide array of broadband service packages designed to suit anyone’s needs, from the casual email user to power gamers and households with multiple family members using the Internet simultaneously.

» All Cox Internet customers receive free cloud storage, and the Cox Security Suite Plus and McAfee Family Protection, a comprehensive package of Internet security tools to help ensure online safety with anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-phishing, parental controls and more.

» Cox customers with the Preferred or higher packages have free access to 300,000 Wi-Fi hotspots when they travel to cities including Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., so they can stay connected on the go.

Customers interested in experiencing the new Internet speeds can click here or visit a local Cox Solutions Store to test drive the new speeds.

— Ceanne Guerra is the media and public relations manager for Cox Communications.