Comcast is planning to roll out a next-generation cable technology allowing it to compete at the same speeds as Google Fiber — 1 gigabit per second. That's good news for Internet users in the short term, if it pans out.

Within two to three years, virtually all of Comcast's 22 million broadband subscribers could be gigabit-enabled, according to the company. The only catch? Customers will have to swap out their cable modem for one that supports the extra speed (and probably pay a pretty penny for the service).

Still, if Comcast is successful, it would become one of the nation's largest providers of gigabit Internet. AT&T also provides gigabit Internet through its U-verse product, as does Google Fiber. But Comcast could conceivably edge out the other providers; it offers gigabit services in only a handful of cities, with an uncertain timeline for expanding because of the need to build a fiber-optic infrastructure. There is a race to become a nationwide gigabit company, and with this move, Comcast could pull ahead.

Comcast, Google and AT&T are competing to get Americans on gigabit Internet, but that doesn't compare with the bigger showdown providers such as these are going to face in the next decade. Because that race — to 10 Gbps — has already begun.

It's hard to put in perspective just how fast 10 Gbps is. So let's look at it this way: At current top speeds of 500 megabits per second, a Verizon customer can download an HD movie in about 15 seconds. At the speed of Google Fiber, that time would be shaved in half. Now, think about how quickly you could download that same film with a connection that's 10 times faster.

That's the kind of bandwidth we're talking about. Although residential customers don't need that much power (yet), companies such as Comcast know that someday they will be asked to provide it. A 10-Gbps connection would help cities power their Internet-enabled infrastructure. It would help businesses support media-rich communications and possibly virtual-reality applications. Multiply your self-driving car and smart home appliances by a couple billion, and it quickly becomes apparent how much data we're going to be using in the future.

With that in mind, what Comcast plans to roll out shortly isn't capable of delivering just 1 Gbps speeds. Under ideal conditions, the company says it's capable of 10 Gbps speeds, effectively future-proofing the technology, known as DOCSIS 3.1. If it ever makes it to market, a 10 Gbps plan would probably be incredibly expensive; Comcast prices its niche 2 Gbps service at $300 a month.

But Comcast isn't the only company looking ahead to 10 Gbps. In a sign of how lucrative Internet providers think the space could be, Verizon has been testing an experimental version of its Fios service that is 10-Gbps capable. It is a different technology than cable that, like Google Fiber and AT&T U-verse, relies on fiber optics.

At a time when many Americans are chugging along on subscriptions below 1 Gbps, Comcast and Verizon are trying to get ahead on the costly work they know will have to be done to support 10 Gbps speeds. And over time, the chances that more companies join this race will only grow.