Cedar Falls Utilities (CFU) just announced that it is ready to serve customers with 1 gig service. Earlier this year, CFU increased speeds for existing customers at no expense and we watched their expansion and upgrade from cable to FTTH.
Jon Ericson reported in the Courier that the city hopes to boost economic development in Cedar Falls with the new 1 gig offering:
Bob Seymour, economic development manager for the city of Cedar Falls, said the “gigabit city” label will help with business recruitment.
“This is a great tool for promoting Cedar Falls as a place to locate or expand a business,” Seymour said. “It’s an important part of the complete infrastructure package we bring to the table, and it means we can compete with the best broadband communities anywhere in the country.”
Business customers already at the most expensive tier will be upgraded automatically. Residential 1 gig service will be $275 per month and businesses will pay $950. CFU anticipates the growing demand for online video and gaming will drive residential requests.
Betty Zeman, marketing manager, said CFU wanted to lead, not follow, the technology curve.
“We want to be on the front end of that, not the tail end of that. We’ve just seen year after year customers use more bandwidth faster than you ever thought they would. By the time you think you need additional bandwidth, it’s already too late,” Zeman said.
Congrats to CFU as they join the 1 gig club!
You can find out more about the community and the network in episode #13 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast. Find out more about CFU’s new service in this video.