While Google Fiber, CenturyLink, Cox Communications, and AT&T, among others, are targeting larger cities with their 1-gigabit services, TDS Telecom is continuing to rack up small town deployments across four states.
Earlier this week, TDS Telecom started offering its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) product in broader areas of Mt. Juliet and La Vergne, Tenn. with plans to roll out the service in Farragut and Halls, Tenn. and St. Marys, Ga. next week.
TDS Telecom will also be offering the 1-Gig service in Deering, Hillsborough, and Hopkinton, N.H. in the first quarter of next year. All told, TDS Telecom has a roster of 19 small cities that either have or will have its 1-Gig offering. TDS Telecom, which picked up cable operator BendBroadband earlier this year, first offered its 1-Gig service in Hollis, N.H. back in May.
Similar to AT&T offering its GigaPower service at a symmetrical 300 Mbps when it debuted a year ago in Austin (it switched on 1-Gig this summer), TDS appears to start out with a 100 Mbps tier before upgrading to 1 gigabit. And while Google has its “Fiberhoods” sign up strategy, TDS has come up with “Fiberville” to promote its service.
The 1 Gig service, which features 400 Mbps on the upstream is priced at under $100 a month when its part of a bundle.
TDS’ 1 Gbps Internet service includes a free subscription to remote PC support, which provides users with unlimited access to technical support. The technicians assist with device setup, Internet troubleshooting, plus computer optimization and safety.
For the most part, TDS has worked with Actiontec Electronics and Calix on the 1-Gig service. Actiontec is the customer premise equipment supplier while Calix has deployed its E7-2 Ethernet Service Access Platform and 700GE family of optical network terminals.
On the video side, TDS TV, which uses the Mediaroom platform, has more than 190 all-digital channels, VOD, pay-per-view, picture-in-picture channel surfing, and instant channel change. It also features a connected-home master DVR, which links all TVs together in a home giving full DVR functionality to each set-top box. The bundle also includes a VoIP phone service.
