Comcast Corp., America's largest cable operator, added 549,100 broadband Internet subscribers during the third quarter of 2004, the company's highest total ever. Comcast's stellar Q3 marks a 67.9% improvement over its weak second quarter cable modem customer additions, and is 16.1% higher than its previous record, set in the third quarter of 2003. Comcast counted 6.55 million broadband Internet subscribers as of September 30. Revenues for the service increased 37.9% from the third quarter of 2003 to $808 million with average monthly revenue per subscriber of $42.91. For its part, Cox Communications added 184,446 cable modem subs in Q3 -- an 89.1% increase over Q2 -- to bring its total to 2.43 million as of September 30. Cox also added a record 82,596 telephone customers, bring its total in that category to 1.21 million at the end of Q3. Following a pitiful first half of 2004 for North American cable operators in broadband Internet subscriber additions, it is encouraging to see both Comcast and Cox turn in a sizzling Q3. Way to go! By comparison, America's largest telco added a healthy 402,000 DSL customers in Q3, up 27.6% from Q2, but 9.8% less than its record Q1 this year.