Internet service options expanding
GoNetSpeed expanding in parts of New Haven, Fairfield, Hartford counties
Residents of some Connecticut municipalities with limited options for high-speed Internet service providers soon may have more choices.
Portions of Milford and West Haven will be getting high-speed fiber optic Internet service, according to officials with GoNetspeed, the Rochester, N.Y.-based company that entered the Connecticut market in 2018.
GoNetSpeed will install fiber optic cable that will run past about 3,600 homes and businesses in West Haven and roughly 700 in Milford’s Woodmont section, according to company officials. The installation is expected to be completed during the first half of next year.
The build-out of the company’s fiber optic network in New Haven County is part of a larger expansion that includes portions of Fairfield and Hartford counties. GoNetspeed will be making fiber optic cable available to about 6,000 homes and businesses in Bridgeport and Trumbull as well as approximately 8,200 in Bloomfield, West Hartford and Windsor.
Tom Perrone, GoNetspeed’s chief operating officer, said the company is “working quickly to build out the next generation of fiber communications in Connecticut and are proud to be filling this need.”
“I’m excited to introduce new subscribers in these communities to the unparalleled customer service and unmatched speed and performance GoNetspeed prides itself on,” Perrone said in statement.
Fiber optic internet service offers symmetrical speeds, which means the speed of both downloads and uploads are equal. GoNetsped offers residential speeds ranging from 150 megabits per second to 1 gigabit per second.
Part of GoNetspeed’s business model for determining where to expand its fiber optic network is based on requests for service made to the company’s website. That has resulted in the company installing its fiber optic network in portions of communities but not others.
For example, GoNetspeed has installed its fiber optic network in New Haven’s East Rock neighborhood, but not in the city’s downtown.
Ashley Gustafson, a spokeswoman for the company, said part of its criteria for where it expands is “high density communities.”
“It’s easier to reach more people that way,” Gustafson said. GoNetspeed also looks to serve areas where there are utility poles, she said, so that installation doesn’t require burying the company’s fiber optic cables.
Lon Seidman of Essex, who reviews technology products on his YouTube channel LON.TV, said the company’s slow but steady growth makes sure “that the service is well provisioned.”
“Two of my friends have it and it is really good,” Seidman said. “You get the speed that is advertised, but it may not be everywhere people want it.”
A different approach is being taken in East Hartford, where officials this week announced a network that will provide access to a 10-gigabit network for more than 50,000 homes in town. Construction of what is being called the East Hartford FiberCity project will start next spring and continue through 2024.
The $40 million project is being paid for by a New Jersey company, SiFi Networks, which expects to recoup its investment over a long period of time. But rather than SiFi’s money coming from the town, it will come from other internet service providers because the fiber optic network being installed is Open Access.
The business model, which is used in the western United States and Europe, allows the fiber infrastructure to be shared by multiple Internet service providers, which brings competitive service and pricing to the marketplace. The providers will connect homes and businesses to the fiber optic cable network that passes by in the street in front of them.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., speaking at a news conference Monday announcing the FiberCity network, said fiber optic networks are a “part of our social fabric.”
“Connectivity is part of our future,” Blumenthal said, “We will not be a nation together unless we are all connected and right now there is a digital divide. It’s not a luxury or convenience, it should be as basic as our roads and bridges are.”\
For more information or to see if GoNetSpeed service is available in your area, visit https://gonetspeed.com.