As 2018 winds to a close, gigabit Internet deployments are still in the news. According to a recent survey by Kagan, the top 25 U.S. cable and telco wireline Internet service providers (ISPs) all offer gigabit Internet tiers. And an estimated 60% of U.S. households have access to gigabit Internet. Cable operators have mostly chosen to deploy DOCSIS 3.1 technology, though some have bonded together DOCSIS 3.0 channels in order to reach gigabit speeds.
Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) alone has made gigabit available to nearly all of the 58 million homes and businesses it passes in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Comcast's residential broadband service is powered and controlled by Xfinity xFi, a digital dashboard that personalizes, monitors and manages WiFi connected devices in the home. Consumers can add xFi Pods, small extenders that plug into any electrical outlet, pair with xFi Wireless Gateways, and create a mesh network to extend coverage to hard-to-reach areas of the home.
As for individual deployments, in November, Cogeco Connexion announced the availability of gigabit Internet services over DOCSIS 3.1 technology in a variety of communities in the province of Quebec. And Buckeye Broadband in Ohio announced that it is using Harmonic's (NASDAQ:HLIT) CableOS virtualized cable access solution to launch a DOCSIS 3.1 broadband platform offering speeds up to 1 Gbps.
Operators also are working on fiber-optic deployments. Dalton Utilities/OptiLink has introduced GIGLink residential gigabit Internet service in Dalton, GA, a town of about 33,000 located between Atlanta and Chattanooga. Pricing for residential fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service is $79.95 per month. The announcement follows the September launch of VIDLink, a streaming entertainment platform that features streaming video and multi-device access.
Forethought.net finished its fiber-optic buildout to the Chatfield neighborhood in the town of Gypsum, CO. It now offers symmetrical FTTH-based Internet service with speeds of up to 1 Gbps. The service is intended for homes, multi-tenant units, municipalities and businesses. The fiber-optic network is complete in Chatfield Corners and is in phase 1 in Buckhorn, where work began in early October. Wireless connectivity is available throughout the towns Gypsum and Eagle.
Atlantic Broadband deployed GigaEdge for homes and Pro GigaEdge for businesses throughout its southern Maryland footprint, including California, Hollywood, Leonardtown, Lexington Park, Mechanicsville, St. Mary's City and surrounding areas. The Internet speed upgrades follow the rollout of multiple service enhancements in recent months by Atlantic Broadband in the region, including automatic speed upgrades for its residential Internet customers in May and the recently deployed TiVo Entertainment platform with voice remote.
WOW! (NYSE:WOW) is expanding its gigabit Internet service coverage in Cleveland-area communities in northeast Ohio, with plans to add the service in Willowick and Mayfield Heights before the end of the year. WOW!'s expansion efforts between now and the end of the year are intended to bring 1 Gbps speeds to more than 17,000 residents in northeast Ohio, including Lyndhurst, Mayfield Heights, Willowick and Wickliffe.