Roanoke, Va., is the next market to receive free upgrades that double the max downstream speeds of Cox Communications’ two most popular cable modem service tiers, the company confirmed.
The upgrades boost the speed of Cox’s Preferred offering from 25 Mbps to 50 Mbps, while Premiere jumps from 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps. More than 70% of Cox’s residential broadband customers are on one of those two speed tiers. A Cox spokesman said the upgrades take effect today (September 3) in Roanoke.
Cox already has upgrades completed or underway in Omaha; Neb.; Sun Valley, Idaho; Kansas; Arkansas; Arizona; and Las Vegas, and expects to introduce the faster speeds in all markets by the end of the year.
Cox hasn’t announced future introduction dates for other markets, but DSL Reports posted what appears to be a leaked schedule. Cox declined to comment on the accuracy of the upcoming dates mentioned in the report, but the list posted by DSL Reports does have Roanoke’s speed increase set for today, which is indeed accurate.
According to that list, here’s the anticipated rollout:
-September 9: Northern Virginia
-September 23: New Orleans
-Greater Louisiana: September 24
-Gainesville/Pensacola/Ocala, Fla.: September 25
-Middle Georgia (Macon): September 25
-Hampton Roads, Va.: September 30 - October 1
-Cleveland: October 14
-Connecticut: October 14
-Rhode Island: October 14
-San Diego: October 21
-Santa Barbara: October 21
-Orange County: October 28
-Palos Verdes: October 28
Cox announced the speed upgrade plan earlier this year while also announcing an initiative to offer 1 Gigabit per second speeds to all residential customers.
In May, Cox announced a plan to “begin market-wide deployment of gigabit speeds by the end of 2016.” Before then, Cox has committed to bring 1-Gig speeds initially to new residential construction projects and to new and existing neighborhoods in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Omaha, starting in the fourth quarter of 2014.
