Wave Broadband is getting ready to ride the 1-Gig wave through its CondoInternet subsidiary.
Wave will launch 1-Gig services to the Seattle-area neighborhood of Eastlake next month for a flat rate of $80 per month, The Seattle Times reported.
CondoInternet, a company that has been serving apartments and condos in Seattle since 2008, has more detail on the Eastlake project on its Web site, noting that the fiber-fed network will reach the entire neighborhood, including single-family homes and even houseboats. In addition to the no-contract 1-Gig service, CondoInternet will also introduce a 100 Mbps tier for $60 per month. Both services don’t require a contract and are free of installation and construction fees.
According to the Times, CondoInternet is keeping costs low as it targets about 2,400 homes in the area by building out aerial plant on power poles that sidesteps the need to dig trenches and install big networking cabinets.
CondoInternet notes that it won’t stop at Eastlake. “Our expansion will follow where there is demand and we have fiber infrastructure to leverage, in cities that are easy and economical to work with,” the site notes. Potential customers in the region are then encouraged to fill out a form to show they are interested. That will pit Wave against area providers such as Comcast and CenturyLink.
According to the paper, CondoInternet, acquired last year by Wave, currently services about 20,000 residents, with 75% already having access to gigabit speeds. CenturyLink also plans to launch 1-Gig service to “tens of thousands” of homes in Seattle next year, the telco told the paper. In August, CenturyLink announced it would bring 1-Gig services to “select locations” in 13 cities, expanding on initial gigabit deployments underway in Omaha, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas.
Comcast has not announced a residential 1-Gig broadband service, but does offer a 505 Mbps (downstream) service in some markets using its fiber-based Metro Ethernet platform. Comcast recently filed a trademark application for “True Gig.”
