Cox Communications is catching up with rivals Google Fiber, Comcast, and AT&T in offering gigabit Internet to more of its residential customers. Initially announced a year ago, the company’s “G1gablast” service has gone live in parts of Phoenix, AZ; Orange County, CA; and Omaha, Nebraska, and Las Vegas, NV, earlier than the initially anticipated launch by the end of next year.
“We started in Phoenix last fall, but we have not stopped there,” said Cox President Pat Esser. “We are excited to have the choice of gigabit speeds available to more customers today, and we’re adding new building projects every month.”
Cox claims it is working on its network infrastructure in parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Rhode Island, Oklahoma, and Virginia, with the aim of expanding Gigablast to customers in those states later this summer.
Existing subscribers on lower-speed Internet plans have already received speed increases. Earlier this year, its High Speed Internet Essential and High Speed Internet Starter packages were boosted, following after the doubling of speeds for its High Speed Internet Preferred and High Speed Internet Premier accounts last year. Customers using its High Speed Internet Ultimate service will have to wait until later this year to enjoy a bandwidth upgrade, unless they live in a Gigablast area and change their service before then.