Fidelity Communications is now offering gigabit Internet service in West Plains, MO, a city of about 12,000 residents in south central Missouri.
Gigabit broadband speeds have been available to Fidelity business customers via dedicated fiber circuits, but recent technology advancements have made it possible to offer the service to residential customers over Fidelity's existing HFC (hybrid fiber/coax) plant. Fidelity is using Cisco's (NASDAQ:CSCO) DOCSIS 3.1-capable cBR-8 CCAP and ARRIS (NASDAQ:ARRS) 32-channel DOCSIS 3.0 gateways. The company plans to phase in DOCSIS 3.1 gateways in the near future.
"It is a great honor to call West Plains a Fidelity Communications GIG City," said John Colbert, president of Fidelity. "As a dedicated partner to the city, Fidelity is committed to doing everything we can to introduce innovative technologies which encourage business and residential growth."
The residential service features 1 Gbps downstream speeds with 10 Mbps upstream, with a flat price of $79 per month, fees and WiFi included; taxes may still apply.
Over the past several months, Fidelity completed network upgrades, acquired 1 Gbps-capable customer modems and freed up the bandwidth necessary to support the new gigabit speeds.
Fidelity is also expanding its fiber footprint in West Plains and building facilities in additional residential areas to improve its high-speed Internet, video and phone services. The company began offering 250 Mbps internet in the town last August.