Internet providers are doubling their fastest speeds, making 2-gigabit offers their newest battleground.
(Bloomberg) — Internet providers are doubling their fastest speeds, making 2-gigabit offers their newest battleground.
Verizon Communications Inc. on Wednesday followed Comcast Corp. as the latest broadband provider to turn up the speed on internet service, with an offer to attract bigger-spending customers who want a more robust service for gaming and streaming. Starting this week, homes and businesses in New York City will be eligible for Verizon’s 2-gigabit-per-second internet service.
Plans start at $94.99 if bundled with some 5G wireless offers and the customer chooses AutoPay, and $119.99 with only AutoPay. The promotion includes a four-year price guarantee, according to an announcement.
The company is also expanding wireless 5G home and business internet service to Rochester, New York; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and West Palm Beach, Florida.
Last week, Comcast said the first iteration of its Gigabit x2 high speed service would be available in 40 cities this month, priced at $100 a month price for the first two years, including AutoPay.
Read more: Comcast to boost internet speeds as fiber threat looms
Offering a speed advantage has become a key selling point as service providers fight for customers in a slowing market.
“Consumers want reliable, quality broadband, but those are nebulous concepts,” said Tammy Parker, an analyst with GlobalData. “Speed is measurable and thanks to carrier marketing, people equate fast speeds with better service.”
All the fuss about speed is a response to less-expensive, slower services that have robbed cable companies of growth.
T-Mobile US Inc. added 2 million broadband customers last year with the rollout of its $50-a-month wireless home internet service, delivering about 100 megabits per second. That was four times more than the combined subscriber additions of Comcast, Charter Communications Inc. and Altice USA Inc.
Wireless competitors have been mocked by Comcast in TV ads and blogs, and led to a war of words with executives invoking the speeds of Ferraris and Toyotas.
“The cable industry is finally starting to take the threat of wireless home internet seriously,” Parker said.
(Corrects market availability in second paragraph.)
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