Texas-based phone cooperative and Internet service provider GVTC has quietly reduced the prices of its broadband speeds in select areas of its service footprint, offering residents in the cities of San Antonio and Gonzales, Texas, 1 Gbps download speeds for $160 per month.
DSL Reports noted that GVTC is offering several lower-speed broadband tiers as well, many of them symmetrical.
Besides the 1 Gbps/100 Mbps offering, GVTC's website lists a 500 Mbps/100 Mbps tier for $99 per month, and three symmetrical speed tiers: 100 Mbps at $69.95, 50 Mbps at $59.95, and 20 Mbps at $54.95.
The provider's pricing is likely aimed at convincing customers to sign up for 50 Mbps rather than 20 Mbps, with just a $5 per month difference between the two. GVTC said that its 50 Mbps symmetrical tier is ideal for multi-device households, its 100 Mbps tier will "optimize your household devices such as iPads/laptops/computers/Blu-ray players" and more, and its 500/100 Mbps tier is a "great speed for working at home" or gaming. At 1 Gbps, the provider says subscribers will "never experience buffering again."
GVTC is also offering a computer support package to 1 Gbps subscribers at no additional cost.
When GVTC initially announced its 1 Gbps service in 2014, prices for the top broadband tier were much higher at $299.95.
The cooperative has been steadily building out fiber services in its south Texas footprint since unveiling a multi-city FTTH buildout plan in 2014: it initially lit up 40,000 San Antonio area residences with fiber service in 2014, and is currently expanding its fiber network into Boerne, Texas, and has completed the first phase of plans to reach more than 1,600 premises in the city. GVTC is investing about $1.8 million in the Boerne fiber build while the city is putting up $77,500 for engineering costs. The city of Bulverde is also part of the provider's GigaRegion plan.
GVTC is continuing to move ahead in the gigabit fiber race – rather than waiting for Google Fiber (NASDAQ: GOOG), which announced service in Austin, or incumbents like AT&T (NYSE: T) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) to meet the 1 Gbps broadband demands of residents and businesses in other south Texas areas.
For more:
- see the GVTC pricing page
- see this DSL Reports post
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GVTC expands FTTH service availability in Boerne, Texas
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