The lure of high-speed Internet connections (1 GB per second – read “really, really fast”) has been around for years in Maple Leaf.
Gigabit service through fiber-optic lines, perhaps 1,000 times faster than a “typical” Internet connection, has been tried twice thrice here (we forgot Google), by the city and by GigaBit Squared – that one died a little over a year ago.
But several readers, including Scott, noticed utility trucks last month were stringing fiber along our utility poles.
In my neighborhood around Northeast 75th Street and Roosevelt Way Northeast (south end of Maple Leaf), CenturyLink has been laying fiber on the utility poles today. When I saw lines being put on the poles, I asked one of the installers and he confirmed that it was fiber for CenturyLink.
When CenturyLink recently said they were adding Greenlake as a neighborhood for gigabit Internet, I guess they consider this area part of that. I have no idea how far the wiring is going, and where it ends.
Here at Maple Leaf Life South, we, too, have confirmed the installers say they are working for CenturyLink.
We have a query into the company now. GeekWire says of the service:
It costs $79.95 per month when bundled with other qualifying CenturyLink services like a home phone or TV subscription, usually for a minimum combined cost of $115 per month.
This may not be what it seems:
http://www.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/2015/04/03/22001588/centurylink-apologizes-for-misleading-customer-about-its-gigabit-internet-service
Multiple people are reporting signing up for “fiber” only to find out they just bought 40Mbps DSL service. Triple check the fine print.
Is it my imagination or is Comcast allowing me more MBPS (as noted by my Netflix screen) since Century Link began stringing up their transmission lines? Will they also begin to behave as if they care? Will competition improve the breed and lower prices? Stay tuned.
I had the crews working on 104th St. last week. After speaking with a worker, he mentioned he was stringing wires for WAVE internet. I have not checked it out yet, but this was the second round of wires strung on our street in the last few weeks.
I guess I’m not the only who’s blaming, or crediting Google, for CenturyLink’s decision to offer customers internet speed of 1GB:
“The great thing about this from Google’s perspective is that by directly supplying gigabit service in a handful of metropolitan areas, Google can prod incumbent broadband providers to offer faster service in areas where Google isn’t directly operating.”
http://www.vox.com/2015/4/4/8341199/google-comcast-broadband-race
Ah, got it, thanks. I didn’t see the entire contract.
Sue: from the same contract: “The active session may be shared to connect multiple computers/devices within a single home or office location”
Question for the geeks out there. This will be part of the contract language “Not surprisingly, users must also agree to a high-speed Internet subscriber agreement, which limits users to just a single IP address per session. (See section 7a.)”
so does this mean we can’t use more than one computer at a time in the household?
@anotherEric. Nothing you said is true about the new CenturyLink fiber services.
It is fiber to the home and you don’t need a phone line to get it.
Do you work for the cable TV company?
Also, Sue, I think you might have VDSL2 which is quite a bit different than this FTTH.
FWIW, Comcast and CenturyLink aren’t truly the only wireline ISPs in the greater Maple Leaf area (I say wireline to exclude Clearwire and the various satellite providers).
There’s also Condo Internet and Cascadelink. They’re on the very edge of Maple Leaf’s boundaries.
There’s a major fiber hub at 95th & Roosevelt where Verizon’s cell site is. I don’t know about Cascadelink, CenturyLink, or Atlas (map), but CondoInternet has not expressed any interest in leasing anyone else’s network; they want to build their own.
Wave owns CondoInternet but they’re not anywhere north of the Ship Canal–see the map on this article.
I’ve had Century Links currently highest available speed for a while now and am not impressed. I pay $95 a month for internet and land line phone. I think its still super slow and don’t feel I get my moneys worth.
It’s actually DSL, the fiber doesn’t come to your door so you’ll need a phone line to get it.
MLL: They are actually promising “fiber to your home.”
Also: http://www.uptun.org/2015/01/26/i-have-centurylinks-1gb-fiber-to-the-home-and-its-glorious/
NE 102nd St, east of 15th Ave. NE, was strung last Saturday.
Oh yeah, Comcast stinks. I am on the antenna now.
NE 105th @ Roosevelt done.
I saw them hanging the cable up near my place on 95th and 15th.. but when I check their website it doesn’t say anything about availability.
Upvoting all of the Comcast haters. I can’t stand Comcast and have never understand why our city has granted them a monopoly on Fast Cable Internet + TV. I can hardly wait to dump Comcast and their smug monopoly
My address checks out as “Coming soon!”
http://www.centurylink.com/home/internet/
I dropped Comcast phone and TV three years back. Perhaps internet is next.
Could also be that CenturyLink sees how many people hate Comcast and realizes that there’s a market for people that want fast internet speeds and no billing issues.
Really interested in finding out how far north they’re coming. It will be really unfortunate if they only do half the hill and leave the people north if 98th without hope.
Blame Google, or give Google credit, for forcing CenturyLink to having to upgrade their internet connection to 1GB. Although Seattle isn’t on Google’s initial 1GB roll-out, I suspect it will be soon. CenturyLink must have realized that if the behemoth (aka, Google) gains a foothold in Seattle, customers will defect to them in drove so CenturyLink has to get the jump on the competition.
http://9to5google.com/2014/02/19/google-fiber-1gb-broadband-is-coming-to-24-cities-is-your-city-on-the-list/
You gotta love competition. If we only had similar competition for cable TV, I’d dump Comcast in a heartbeat.