Fiber optic internet in CT has prompted a race among companies

Dec 01, 2023

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Frontier Communications workers installing fiber optic cable

Tom Perrone, chief operating officer of GoNetspeed, speaks at the opening of a new company facility in Berlin, Ct. last month. The company serves nearly three dozen Connecticut communities and is expanding its workforce in the state.

The competition for Connecticut consumers interested in high-speed internet service is continuing to heat up even as Norwalk-based Frontier Communications is in the midst of an investment in a fiber optic network that will total $800 million through 2025.

Frontier announced the fiber optic build out last fall with a goal of 90 percent of its customers having access to fiber optic cable by the start of 2026. Chrissy Murray, a company spokeswoman, said Frontier has completed a little more than half of its planned Connecticut build out in more than 111 communities.

Access to a fiber optic network was something most Connecticut households could only dream of five years ago, according to Lon Seidman, an Essex businessman who has his own YouTube channel where he reviews technology products.

"I think we're in a much better place now because there's more competition," Seidman said. "The last six months in particular have seen a real explosion of choice."

He credits part of the increase in competition to Frontier's emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2021.

"That allowed them to get more money to take advantage of their position on (utility) poles," Seidman said, referring to utility poles the company owns across the state.

At the same time that Frontier is rolling out its fiber optic network, an upstart company from Rochester, N.Y. is trying to make inroads in the Connecticut market. GoNetspeed started building its fiber optic network from scratch in 2018 and has already extended its network past 100,000 homes and businesses, according to Tom Perrone, the company's chief operating officer.

Perrone said the company's fiber optic network currently passes 200,000 homes and businesses now. He said the company will be building the network past another 100,000 homes over the remainder of this year and into 2024.

GoNetspeed provides fiber optic internet service in nearly three dozen Connecticut communities and is adding service in Clinton, Westbrook and Seymour in the coming months.

Seidman said high speed internet incumbents see GoNetspeed as a legitimate threat.

"They (GoNetspeed) have advantage in terms of size," he said. "They can be more personal and they've really focused a lot on customer service."

Perrone said company officials "are super proud of service we provide and the customer service that goes with it."

"There's an expectation that the company provides a good customer experience," he said. The company has opened a centralized operations facility in Berlin and has added another 50 employees to its Connecticut workforce, which already had about 65 employees.

GoNetspeed has also launched a partnership with DirecTV Stream. Perrone said that while some of the company's customers use streaming video service on the GoNetspeed network, the new partnership "helps make streaming an easier transition for some people."

The company also plans on offering telephone service via its network, which Perrone said will probably debut sometime in the third quarter of this year.

"It's not where we see our future, but we're trying to do something with a broader appeal," he said.

Altice USA is currently building its Optimum fiber internet network in the 28 communities it serves in Fairfield, Litchfield and New Haven counties, according to Janet Meahan, a company spokeswoman.

"The fiber deployment is part of the company's broader network investment initiative in the state of Connecticut to build out fiber internet services across its footprint in the state," Meahan said in a statement. "Our construction crews continue to make progress to bring fiber services to more homes and businesses across the state."

Consumers interested in determining whether Optimum fiber is available where they live can check on the company's website.

Stamford-based Charter Communications extended its hybrid fiber optic network in 2022 to reach an additional 1,000 homes and businesses in Connecticut while serving 126,000 customers, according to a statement from company officials.

Comcast is the nation's largest broadband provider. Here in Connecticut, it provides service in portions of the New Haven, Hartford, Waterbury, Danbury, Middletown and Thames River Valley regions.

Kristen Roberts, a Connecticut-based Comcast spokeswoman said the company "operates one of the largest fiber deployments in the nation," that includes an all-fiber backbone that connects cities coast-to-coast,

"Comcast has consistently added and expanded fiber throughout its Xfinity 10G Network that serves customers directly," Roberts said. "Comcast continuously looks at opportunities to expand our Xfinity 10G Network strategically, looking into rural or underserved community expansion opportunities."

In the past year, Comcast has made fiber optic expansions in Plainfield, Jewett City, East Lyme, New London, Waterford and to nearly 100 unserved businesses in the North End of Hartford.

Seidman said one reason internet providers are so eager to lure customers with fiber optic service is "once you get with one, you're unlikely to change."

Data from a Connecticut Conference of Municipalities survey released last month showed that while state residents seem to be satisfied with the pace at which high speed internet is expanding, consumers around the state want service that is more affordable and reliable.