Part of Tech Movement initiative aimed at massive deployment of broadband technology for homes and businesses
Ellisville, Miss. (March 14, 2019) –
The Highlands, a residential subdivision in Jones County just outside the city of Ellisville, has become the first community in south Mississippi to receive C Spire’s next-generation Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Gigabit speed broadband Internet access, award-winning live streaming TV and digital home phone service.
C Spire began turning up FTTH services to homeowners in the first phase of the 300-lot Highlands development, which is located on 450 acres between Highway 11 and Interstate 59, late last month. The service activation followed installation of fiber optic cable infrastructure in the subdivision late last year.
“To have this amazing technology is incredible,” said Bruce Smith, an associate broker with Ellisville-based Magnolia Real Estate who lives in the development. “We’re very fortunate to have this option because most rural areas around the country don’t have many choices or good service,” he said, noting that internet access in the area has been limited to slower and more expensive DSL or satellite services.
Smith was one of the first customers to receive the company’s Gigabit-speed internet and streaming TV last month and uses the ultra-fast internet access to power several “smart home” features as well as real estate and graphics applications that require additional capacity. He also has several neighbors in accounting and other fields who use the Gigabit speed connections to work from home.
Whether it’s gamers or telecommuters who need to send and receive large files, C Spire’s Gigabit service has changed everything,” Smith said. “Installation was a great experience and C Spire has the best installers who got me up and running in no time.”
Ross Tucker, president and CEO of the Jones County Economic Development Authority, said the fiber optic infrastructure should boost home values and potentially lure new high-tech business investment to the county. “It’s happened in other areas and there’s no reason to believe it won’t happen here, especially if C Spire continues to offer these services in our region.”
In addition to Gigabit-speed internet, which is available in only a handful of regions across the U.S., C Spire offers Highlands residents digital home phone service and the nation’s first app-based, live streaming digital commercial TV service, which was honored by the cable TV industry in 2017 as the best television technology product in the U.S.
C Spire TV delivers advanced cable TV features that consumers love in convenient and simple apps that are designed to run on popular streaming devices, such as Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Apple TV – eliminating the need to outfit every TV in the home with a set top box and saving several hundred dollars a year in rental fees.
“Fiber to the Home is a revolutionary technology that promises to boost home values, broaden entertainment opportunities, help expand the local economy and improve the quality of life for everyone,” said Ashley Phillips, general manager of the C Spire Home Services subsidiary that manages the company’s FTTH and other related broadband internet access programs.
With the addition of the Highlands development, C Spire has rolled out ultra-fast Gigabit internet access and related services in 13 Mississippi markets, boosting broadband connection speeds in the state by 200 percent since 2014. The suite of services is competitively priced with additional discounts for C Spire wireless customers. To learn more or find out if your home qualifies, visit www.cspire.com/fiber.
FTTH is part of a broader C Spire Tech Movement initiative designed to move communities forward through technology with a focus on broadband access, workforce development and innovation. To learn more about the C Spire Tech Movement, visit www.cspire.com/techmovement.
About C Spire
C Spire is a leading technology company committed to transforming its service areas through the C Spire Tech Movement initiative, which includes broadband deployment, technology innovation and workforce development. The company provides world-class, customer-inspired wireless communications, 1 Gigabit consumer Internet access as well as a full suite of dedicated Internet, wireless, IP Voice, data, cloud and managed IT services for businesses. This news release and other announcements are available at www.cspire.com/news. For more information about C Spire, visit www.cspire.com or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cspire or Twitter at www.twitter.com/cspire.