New high-speed provider entering Capital Region
Spectrum competitor set to debut by year’s end in Clifton Park
A new internet provider is entering the Capital Region, starting in this suburban community.
Rochester-based Greenlight Networks is already laying fiber optic cable here, with its first customers scheduled to receive service in the fall. It hopes to be available to 23,000 customers by year’s end.
Greenlight offers 100 percent fiber optic cable, which allows for high-speed connectivity.
“Greenlight has selected
Clifton Park as its first expansion effort in the Capital Region, resulting in a significant investment in our community,” Town Supervisor Phil Barrett said in a prepared statement. “Clifton Park residents will soon have an additional option for a very important service many people use every day.”
The area is also served by Spectrum Cable. Greenlight, which held a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week, will be based initially at the Vischer Ferry Fire District. For hosting its network equipment, it will provide free high-speed connections to town fire stations.
Construction of Greenlight’s network has started in neighborhoods around Fire Station 2 on Grooms Road. Greenlight is also looking to hire and hopes to employ 25 people by the end of the year.
The company serves about 80,000 homes in and around Buffalo, Binghamton and Rochester, where it was founded in 2011.
“There is clearly a demand for competition and need in this community as thousands of Capital Region residents have visited our website and expressed interest in our faster fiber internet service. When we come to a market, our competitors generally respond by offering lower prices and faster service,” company CEO Mark Murphy said in a prepared statement.
Greenlight’s fiber optic network will run at a base speed of 500 Mbps or megabytes per second, well above that needed for functions like streaming video or communications. It will go as high as 2 Gbps, or gigabytes per second. The firm says its service will come with no contracts or hidden fees, and the cost will be lower than competitors’ prices. The company builds, owns, and operates its fiber optic networks.
According to their website, prices vary from $50 per month for the 500 Mbps to $200 Mbps for the 2 Gbps service. It also charges a $100 installation fee.