Comcast is boosting the download speeds for its most popular internet packages in Chattanooga by at least 25% at no additional cost.
The cable TV company said Tuesday that download speeds for its Performance tier will jump from 60 megabits per second (Mbps) to 100 Mbps, Blast! speeds will increase from 150 to 200 Mbps, Extreme will move from 250 to 300 Mbps, and Extreme Pro will be upgraded from 400 to 600 Mbps.
About 85% of Comcast’s Internet customers in Chattanooga subscribe to one of the tiers being upgraded, whether they purchase Xfinity Internet on a stand-alone basis or as part of a package.
“We’re not only delivering the broadband speed and capacity that customers need to run more sophisticated home networks, we’re setting the bar for coverage and control, too,” said Jason Gumbs, regional senior vice president for Comcast. “Modern homes require fast Internet, wall-to-wall Wi-Fi, and a way to manage the connectivity needs of the entire household. With xFi, we’re giving our Internet customers the tools to manage the growing number of connected devices, apps and technologies in their homes.”
The faster internet connections by Comcast are the latest in a series of moves by internet providers in the Chattanooga area to support the growing demand for faster internet service to handle the increased number of connected devices powering smart homes with a variety of entertainment, security, work and other devices.
In February, EPB tripled the broadband speed for its most popular internet service to 300 Mbps at no extra charge and cut the cost of its gigabit-per-second service by $2 a month.
Dalton Utilities last month upgraded its fiber-to-the-home OptiLink service, which the utility began in 2003, to provide 10 Gig service – the first Georgia municipality to offer such citywide speed. Hank Blackwood, chief technical services officer for Dalton Utilities, said the telecom service has grown to include more than 14,000 customers and the speed of both basic and premium services offered along the utility’s fiber optic lines has continued to improve.
“We knew what a benefit that fiber optic connections were to our our operations so we decided to use our fiber links to offer this service to the community,” Blackwood said. “As the use of more internet-connected devices in the home has increased, we have increased the speed of our service to both commercial and residential customers,”
Last year, Comcast boosted download speeds for Blast! and Extreme customers in Chattanooga. Over the past two years, local Comcast subscribers, on average, have seen their speed increased by more than 50%.
Comcast, the nation’s biggest cable TV provider, has quadrupled its overall network capacity and doubled its fiber miles in the past four years across the country, while deploying gigabit speeds to more homes than any other Internet Service Provider.
Comcast also rolled out an entirely new class of gateways – the xFi Gateway and the xFi Advanced Gateway – that are designed for higher speeds and blanket most homes with Wi-Fi coverage. Over the next several weeks, customers who lease a gateway will automatically receive the new speeds without having to reset their modems. Other customers who purchased their own modems should check online to see if they need a new device that is capable of handling these faster speeds (http://mydeviceinfo.comcast.net/).
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.