Comcast said it has begun to rollout “Gigabit Pro,” its fiber-fed symmetrical 2 Gbps residential broadband service in Houston and Denver, while also introducing a new DOCSIS 3.0-based 250 Mbps service that’s delivered on the MSO’s hybrid fiber/coax plant.
In Houston, Comcast said it will launch Gigabit Pro this summer and make it available to 1.5 million homes. The new D3.0 service, Extreme 250, is available now.
Notably, AT&T launched its 1-Gig residential service, “GigaPower,” to parts of Houston in April, starting at $110 per month.
In Colorado, Comcast said it will offer Gigabit Pro to nearly 1 million homes in the metro Denver area and Colorado Springs this summer, along with widespread availability of the new 250-Meg service. Comcast’s primary wireline competitor there is CenturyLink, which has already launched a 1-Gig service in the Denver area. That summer deployment will also reach into Fort Collins, Loveland and Longmont, according toThe Denver Post.
Update: Comcast also announced it has begun to deploy Gigabit Pro in Utah (Google Fiber is operating in Provo); Washington State (including Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, and Everett); to 650,000 customers in Oregon and southwest Washington; to more than 600,000 homes in Minneapolis/St. Paul; and, starting in June, to about 190,000 customers in Knoxville, Tenn., and its surrounding communities.
Comcast plans to make Gigabit Pro available to 18 million homes by the end of the year. The service, which relies on targeted fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) deployments, will be available to residential customers who are within “close proximity” (about a third of a mile) of the MSO’s fiber network. Deployments are also underway in Chicago and northwest Indiana; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Atlanta; parts of Florida, including Miami and Jacksonville; and certain areas of California
Comcast has not announced pricing for Gigabit Pro, though a promotional Web site that appeared temporarily indicated that the service would start at $299 per month. At the time, Comcast said the site was put up in error and that pricing, including introductory and promotional rates for Gigabit Pro, were still being considered.
The MSO will also deliver gigabit residential speeds using DOCSIS 3.1, an emerging next-gen IP platform for HFC that Comcast is currently testing ahead of deployments expected to begin in early 2016.
Comcast offered a preview of a D3.1-based “Gigabit Home Gateway” at the INTX show in Chicago, noting that the device will enter production this year and become available to customers in early 2016.
