WOW! Broadens 1-Gig Rollout

With the latest batch of DOCSIS 3.1 deployments factored in, WideOpenWest said its 1 Gbps (downstream) broadband service is now available to more than 95% of its customers.

The milestone follows a pledge last November that WOW would wrap up its D3.1 deployment for residential and business customers by Q1 2018

RELATED: WOW! Nears DOCSIS 3.1 Finish Line

WOW! said it has introduced 1-Gig service to nine markets, including Cleveland, Ohio; Charleston, S.C., and Pinellas, Fla., along with Columbus, Ga., and “large portions” of Huntsville and Montgomery, Ala.

WOW! has been rolling out its uncapped 1-Gig service on HFC using DOCSIS 3.1 and the Arris E6000 converged cable access platform, but is also starting to use a new virtualized Distributed Access platform from Nokia as the operator looks to mine more capacity from its HFC network in certain scenarios. 

RELATED: WOW! Rolls with Nokia's Distributed Access Platform 

WOW! has been selling the 1-Gig residential service (paired with an upstream of 50 Mbps) for $79.99 per month as a stand-alone with a two-year contract, or $89.99 per month without a contract. WOW!’s 1-Gig service comes at lower prices when bundled with other WOW services.

WOW!, a competitive cable operator with about 3.09 million homes passed, ended Q3 2017 with 730,000 high-speed internet subscribers.

“Almost every household and business is connecting more devices and using more data today than they did even one year ago,” Teresa Elder, CEO of WOW!, said in a statement. “As Internet-connected devices and appliances continue to proliferate, our 1 Gig Internet service allows customers to browse, stream, game, and conduct business at the fastest speeds available.”