Google Fiber expansion is putting Time Warner Cable (TWC) on the defensive.
Google Fiber expansion is putting Time Warner Cable (TWC) on the defensive.Google Fiber has release plans to expand into Charlotte, NC. This news has put TWC, the current and largest ISP in the area, into overdrive to make sure they keep their existing customers. TWC has plans to upgrade customers’ Internet to speeds as much as six times faster, depending on their current plan. So for those customers currently on the 15Mbps plan, they will be moved to the 50Mbps plan. Following that, the 50Mbps plan customers will be moved to 300Mbps.
All of this is being done at no charge to the customers.
TWC has not said if they plan on increasing the upstream bandwidth as of yet. But I would look for TWC to make some kind of adjustment in the near future.
TWC is also in the process of upgrading their TV service. TWC is upgrading their customers to 1 TB of DVR storage, which is double the amount of space currently offered to customers.
This is not the first time TWC has had to upgrade their service because of the looming threat of Google Fiber on their doorstep. Last year, Google Fiber announced they were planning to move into the Dallas, TX area, which prompted TWC to increase their 100Mbps plan to 300Mbps.
While the free of charge increase in bandwidth is nice, 50Mbps, 200Mbps and 300Mbps plans are still far slower than Google Fiber’s 1000Mbps for both upstream and downstream. Currently, TWC’s top of the line Internet package starts at $65 per month. This was their 50Mbps plan, which will become 300Mbps. Google Fiber, on the other hand, starts at $70 per month. Having the 1000Mbps both up and down is sure to entice consumers to make the switch to Google Fiber when construction is complete.
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