Cable One will make four Coast cities 'Gig cities'

In less than 12 months Biloxi, Gulfport, Long Beach and Ocean Springs will be Gigabit cities when Cable One launches high speed Internet that is 40 times faster than the average speed available across the United States.

"GigaONE will support the technology needs of the communities we serve, now and in the future," said Joe Felbab, vice president of marketing for Cable One. He said the Gigabit service will be offered to nearly 1.5 million homes in the markets the company serves nationwide.

Greg Capranica, general manager of Cable One in Biloxi, said the high-speed Internet service already is available for businesses in the service area and the residential launch will happen starting in the second or third quarter next year.

Cable One won't pick and choose who gets the fast Internet, he said. "We're going to launch it across our service area in every single neighborhood."

One Gigabit speeds will let customers:

-- Download an HD movie in 60 seconds or less

-- Download 100 songs in four seconds

-- Download a game in 29 seconds

"This is going to be great for people using multiple devises in their home," said Capranica. Research shows that by 2019, people will have close to 12 devices running in their homes, including social media, games and movies.

He also sees the fast Internet helping local communities attract new businesses and providing opportunity for home-based businesses.

Cable One has invested more than $500 million over the past five years on network upgrades and enhancements and more than $28 million locally.

"We just doubled our speeds in October," Capranica said. The company first offered 50 megabits per second (Mbps in 2011 and doubled that to 100Mbps in 2014, 200Mbps in 2015 and will jump to 1,000Mbps next year.

Prices and data plans for the new service will be announced in January, the company said.

Details: gigaone.com or (602) 364-6372.

This story was originally published November 12, 2015 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Cable One will make four Coast cities 'Gig cities' ."