Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc. is preparing to make gigabit internet service available to 100,000 local households this month, with another 40,000 added by the end of the year in Sacramento, Roseville, Citrus Heights, Antelope, Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove, Lincoln and Carmichael.
Consolidated’s Fidium Fiber service is fiber-to-the-home at a cost of $70 a month for residential customers, and it is 10 times faster than the national average, said Ron Fischer, field service regional manager with Consolidated in Roseville.
Mattoon, Illinois-based Consolidated (Nasdaq: CNSL) entered the Northern California market a decade ago when it bought Roseville-based SureWest Communications Inc. in a $324 million deal. SureWest started in Roseville in 1914 as Roseville Telephone Co. Consolidated is the legacy incumbent phone provider in Roseville and parts of Citrus Heights.
“Fidium is the future of high-speed internet service, and we’re thrilled to offer Californians this entirely new fiber broadband service and customer experience at an ultra-competitive price point,” said Erik Garr, president of consumer and small business for Consolidated Communications, in a news release.
Fischer said the gigabit fiber service is symmetrical, which means it attains that speed both on uploads and downloads.
The service doesn’t require contracts or bundles with cable contracts or phone plans, and it doesn't have data caps.
Fidium does come with a router and a high efficiency Wi-Fi 6 wireless gateway and a smart home management platform.
“It allows you to manage your house as your own network,” Fischer said.
The system allows the user to manage the network and smart devices in the home, he said. “It’s a pretty slick system.”
The management platform, Fidium Attune, allows users to see what devices are connected to the network, to limit content for age-appropriate use, and to set controls on network use based on time of day.
The company is taking reservations for Fidium from people who sign up for it. Future expansion of the service will occur where the highest interest is and where Consolidated has the infrastructure to provide it. Depending on the neighborhood, the cable is either installed underground or from telephone poles.
The company has spent hundreds of millions of dollars across its networks to be able to provide the service, he said.
Earlier this year, New Jersey telecommunications company SiFi Networks began laying optical fiber throughout Rancho Cordova, offering download speeds of 10 gigabits to every home and businesses address.
In December, San Diego-based communications infrastructure company Netly Fiber said it plans to spend $50 million over the next two years to install wholesale fiber optic connections to every address in Folsom.
Those two companies operate their distribution network and hub, but other carriers make the connections to the internet.
In the case of Consolidated, it owns the distribution network and supplies the connectivity.
