Spectrum released a gigabit-per-second service option Wednesday for 23 million people across New York state, offering speeds 10 times as fast as the provider's current basic option.
What is a gigabit?
A gigabit is equivalent to 1,000 megabits per second. That measurement denotes the bandwidth, or volume of data, able to be transferred within a second's time. The company will also deploy DOCSIS 3.1 technology with the gigabit offering, which will allow the increased speed to travel along the existing fiber and coaxial cable network.
Customers looking to transition to gigabit speed need to have a professional installation, but won't need to have their yard torn up to run new cable infrastructure, said Charter Communications and Spectrum spokesperson Lara Pritchard.
Consumers can determine their speeds using an independent online service like SpeedTest.net.
Pricing
Spectrum will offer gigabit service (with a top download speed of 940 Mbps) for $104.99 for new customers, $114.99 for Spectrum TV customers and $124.99 a month for non-Spectrum TV customers, plus a one-time $199 installation fee, throughout western New York, with the exception of Buffalo.
Buffalo is scheduled to complete its transition to the technology in June, said Pritchard.
Spectrum is also offering 400 Mbps for $69.99 a month for new customers, $79.99 for Spectrum TV customers, and $89.99 for non-Spectrum TV customers. The basic 100 Mbps plan is $64.99 and $54.99 with Spectrum TV.
Rollout
Gigabit service will be available throughout virtually all of Spectrum’s 41-state service area by the end of 2018, according to a news release. The service will allow faster streaming of online video, game and music downloads over multiple devices.
The speed options offered put the Rochester area ahead of a chunk of the nation. The Federal Communications Commission’s most recent statistics show that as of the middle of 2016, 21 percent of census blocks didn’t have a single provider offering 25-Mbps or faster downloads.
Charter Communications, which offers its services under the name Spectrum, has been in the community for about two years, and this offering delivers on what the company said it was going to do, which was to to invest in the best technology for the area, said Pritchard.
"I think you're seeing delivery on that in a significant fashion, and in a expedited fashion, compared to what Rochester has had over the past several years," she said.
She pointed to the string of announcements from Spectrum over the past six months, including the switch this year to all-digital channel formats, which freed up more broadband space to increase internet speeds, and a boost in basic internet speeds from 60 to 100 Mbps for existing residential and business customers back in December.
Greenlight
The new speeds close the gap between internet offerings of Spectrum and local fiber optic network Greenlight Networks. Tom Golisano’s Grand Oaks LLC recently moved to acquire Greenlight in an expedited manner, based on a petition filed with the New York Public Service Commission. Greenlight offers gigabit service for $100 a month.
Greenlight offers 100 Mbps service for $50 a month. The company, which has provided service to pockets of the area since 2012, is available in Irondequoit, Webster, Brighton, East Rochester, Fairport, Pittsford and Henrietta.
Should Golisano’s acquisition be approved, an expansion will likely occur first in the west side suburbs and nearby cities like Syracuse and Buffalo.
Greenlight, while very well-reviewed by most local customers, has been slow to expand across the area. Golisano’s backing would be a shot in the arm to push the network into more widespread competition with Spectrum.
STADDEO@Gannett.com