Bright House is bringing residential gigabit fiber network to Tampa

[Shawn Knight]

Bright House Networks has announced plans to build a gigabit broadband network for homeowners in Tampa, Florida, less than a month after Google selected 34 cities for possible Google Fiber expansion. Bright House President Nomi Bergman said their decision wasn’t influenced by Google Fiber but rather their desire to embrace technology as a differentiator in the community that they are building. With the fastest residential broadband speed currently offered in the US being 505 megabits per second, a one-gigabit connection would certainly be a differentiator.

The network will wire 6,000 homes in Tampa communities planned by real-estate developer Metro Development Group (MDG). The first homes with the speedy connection will be move-in ready this summer, the developer said, while the entire build-out should be complete within three years.

Naturally, the fast connection will be marketed to prospective home buyers. Pricing hasn’t been decided upon just yet although MDG President Greg Singleton promised rates would be extremely competitive.

Bright House Networks is one of just a few providers to commit to matching the speeds offered by Google.  Back in December, General Communications Inc. said they would start offering gigabit broadband in Alaska starting in 2015 while select residents in Mississippi can now pre-register for a fiber connection through regional wireless provider C Spire (formerly Cellular South).

A gigabit connection to the home is largely overkill at this point but as more streaming content hits to the web and 4K Ultra HD takes hold, it will certainly become worthwhile.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/55989-bright-house-is-bringing-residential-gigabit-fiber-network-to-tampa.html

 

[Nima304]

Why bring gigabit services to all of these parts of the US, and not have it at and around the nation's capital? Don't get me wrong, I love my current Internet speeds; they're the fastest I've ever had at 8MB/s continuous download, but I'd love a gigabit download even more. There's so much fiber laid out here for government buildings anyway, all it takes is for someone to expand on it slightly and rent it out to consumers.

 

[9Nails]

Who knows Nima304? The capital probably has more red tape to cut through than most other locations I'm guessing. All that city and permit shenanigans. It adds dollars which don't go directly into the build-out of a fiber network.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Why bring gigabit services to all of these parts of the US, and not have it at and around the nation's capital? Don't get me wrong, I love my current Internet speeds; they're the fastest I've ever had at 8MB/s continuous download, but I'd love a gigabit download even more. There's so much fiber laid out here for government buildings anyway, all it takes is for someone to expand on it slightly and rent it out to consumers.

I don't actually know, but it could be any number of reasons. It might be as simple as a good geographically laid out city, or the right weather for installing and maintaining the network. I haven't heard so much as a rumor of a city that gets snow being considered. Also, washington DC has some of the richest people in the country living there, which means the houses are probably farther apart and in spread out neighborhoods. That might also be why CA isn't where Google fiber has looked at making a network. Seems like most places are in the south and southeast. I'd guess dense neighborhoods with good weather.

 

[Nima304]

I don't actually know, but it could be any number of reasons. It might be as simple as a good geographically laid out city, or the right weather for installing and maintaining the network. I haven't heard so much as a rumor of a city that gets snow being considered. Also, washington DC has some of the richest people in the country living there, which means the houses are probably farther apart and in spread out neighborhoods. That might also be why CA isn't where Google fiber has looked at making a network. Seems like most places are in the south and southeast. I'd guess dense neighborhoods with good weather.

That actually makes a ton of sense, and are perspectives I didn't think to consider. All Google cares about is seeing if this is a viable business plan, and the best way to reduce costs and maximize revenue is to reach as many people as possible, while laying out as little fiber as possible. Adding on, the fastest way to do that is if there are no weather-related setbacks, making DC and Maryland poor places to start because of all the aforementioned reasons, and California because of all but the last reason.

9Nails, I'd imagine that they'd have to get permits regardless of which city they choose. Some may be easier and cheaper to get than others, sure, but I doubt they'd look over a city if they didn't think that revenue wouldn't be able to pay for the cost of laying down fiber plus any and all city/state related expenses, such as taxes and permit costs.