ATLANTA: Comcast has jumped over both competitors and plans to offer a blistering fast 2Gbps connection to the 1.5 million residents in Atlanta and the surrounding area.
The service, named Gigabit Pro, will require a fiber build out with fiber optic cables running to customer’s homes. Comcast hasn’t announced a price for the project, but plans to offer it starting next month.
With both Google Fiber and AT&T set to launch their fiber-based Internet offerings in Atlanta, Comcast has obviously felt pressure to respond, and they’ve certainly sent a shot across the bow of their competitors. Price and availability will really become key if Comcast wants to lure customers away from the Google and AT&T.
“Our approach is to offer the most comprehensive rollout of multi-gigabit service to the most homes as quickly as possible, not just to certain neighborhoods,” said Doug Guthrie, SVP of Comcast Cable’s South Region. “We already provide the fastest speeds to the most homes and businesses in Atlanta, and access to Gigabit Pro will give our customers all the broadband capacity they need to stay ahead of future technologies and innovations.”
They’ve already eclipsed the availability of what Google has planned to offer by covering the entire Atlanta metropolitan area, it will be interesting to see how they price this new service. Since it is Comcast, we can all but assume that there will be bundle offers and low introductory rates, the real question will be what the ultimate cost for this service will be. Google Fiber has won over customers by offering fast Internet and even TV service for a very reasonable price. Comcast has already taken the bait on the fast Internet speeds, we’ll just have to wait and see about the cost.
It’s good to see a healthy competition for Internet service in Atlanta. Now just bring some of those options up to Chicago and the rest of the U.S.! Are you in Atlanta and considering the Gigabit Pro service from Comcast? Are you more excited about the offerings from Google or AT&T? Let us know in the comments, or on Google+, Facebook, or Twitter.
