Back in January, Google announced that its Fiber networking service was slated to launch in 18 cities in Atlanta, GA; Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, NC; and Nashville, TN metro areas. The news was undoubtedly good to hear for businesses and residential customers alike that will benefit from the gigabit Internet speeds.
However, Google Fiber's presence in Charlotte may have pushed cable/broadband company Time Warner Cable into taking action against the threat of losing residential customers to Google by raising the speeds of its current broadband packages without raising the cost. The company calls this upgrade "TWC Maxx," and it will roll out the increased speeds starting this week.
"Customers who subscribe to Standard, formerly up to 15 Mbps, will now receive up to 50 Mbps; customers who subscribe to Extreme, formerly up to 30 Mbps, will now receive up to 200 Mbps; and customers who subscribe to Ultimate, formerly up to 50 Mbps, will receive up to 300 Mbps, at no extra charge," Time Warner Cable reported in a press release.
In addition to the speed bump, Time Warner Cable also said the TV service will be enhanced with a new DVR that doubles the previous amount of internal storage provided on the company's largest DVR. This new DVR will enable subscribers to record six different high-definition TV shows simultaneously and stash them on 1 TB of internal storage.
Time Warner Cable indicated that it plans to update every network connection site located in the Charlotte area. The company also stated that customers without a digital box will be provided with a digital adapter at no charge until August 11, 2016. These customers include those who plug the cable directly into a TV or other third-party set-top-boxes. The deadline to order a digital adapter is December 10, 2015.
Time Warner Cable is currently offering a "Triple Play" service costing $119.99 per month that includes broadband speeds of up to 30 Mbps, over 200 TV channels, and free calling features. There's also a basic Internet plan that costs $29.99 per month for download speeds of up to 3 Mbps. Customers can even get basic cable television for $39.99 per month. All of these prices are for 12 months only.
As for Google Fiber, Google offers three plans: Gigabit + TV, Gigabit Internet and Basic Internet. Gigabit + TV costs $130 per month and provides gigabit Internet (up and down) and over 150 channels; a $300 installation fee is waived if customers commit to one year. The same holds true with the cheaper Gigabit Internet plan for $70. Basic Internet is free, but customers will be required to pay the $300 construction fee. The downloads and uploads are also 5 Mbps and 1 Mbps, respectively.
Update, 4/13/15, 2:45pm PT: Fixed typo.
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