Shaw Communications in Canada has quietly launched a 100 Mbps tier using DOCSIS 3.0 technology. That would exceed, by far, the fastest tier previously offered by an MSO: 60 Mbps, recently launched by Charter Communications in St. Louis (story here).

Shaw is offering the 100 Mbps service in Saskatoon, a market Shaw has occasionally used in the past to test new services.

The company is calling the new tier “High-Speed Nitro.” Previously, Shaw had used the Nitro name for its 25 Mbps service . (In Saskatoon, the 25 Mbps tier is being called High-Speed Warp.) The upload speed for the Nitro tier is 5 Mbps. The tier comes with a 200-GB-per-month bandwidth cap.

A screenshot of Shaw Communications’ Web site. The company is offering a new 100 Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 data service.

Shaw’s High-Speed Nitro service is being offered for $249 per month when bundled with TV and VoIP, and $269 standalone. The service comes with a free DOCSIS 3.0 modem; Shaw is sourcing its modems from Motorola.

Shaw’s 100 Mbps download speed might best the 100 Mbps data tier Verizon has promised for FiOS, according to an engineer familiar with the service, since the 2.4 Gbps Verizon claims is shared between all of the high-definition (HD)/phone and Internet connections tied to the node (a Verizon node is typically 32 homes).