RCN Launches Gigabit Cable Broadband in Massachusetts Cable overbuilder RCN continues to expand availability of the company's gigabit broadband service, this week launching the speedy option across Massachusetts. While the company's announcement notes that the no-contract service will run you $70 per month (with no usage caps or overage fees), it steps over the fact that the upstream side of the service clocks in at "just" 20 Mbps upstream. The company says it will offer the DOCSIS 3.1-based service to 18 communities around Boston, and to customers in seven city neighborhoods later this spring.

This week's Massachusetts launch comes on the heels of launches in New York, Chicago, Washington DC, and Philadelphia. RCN's launch is one of several expected waves of gigabit cable broadband deployments made possible by the new DOCSIS 3.1 standard. Once cable companies get done upgrading to DOCSIS 3.1, they're expected to deploy under-development full duplex technology that should finally address cable's sluggish upstream offerings. "The need for data speed is becoming more important to our customers and RCN's new 1 Gigabit service will revolutionize the way a household will run with the increasing number of Internet of Things that are now embedded into our everyday lives," said Jeff Carlson, SVP and General Manager, RCN Boston. “Technological advancement is a priority at RCN and we are continually upgrading our products and services for the benefit of our customers." The company's The company's announcement has a little more detail.







News Jump California Defends Its Net Neutrality Law; AT&T's Traffic Up 20% Despite Data Traffic Actually Being Down; + more news Are The Comcast-Charter X1 Talks Dead In The Water?; AT&T May Offer Phone Plans With Ads For Discounts; + more news Europe's Top Court: Net Neutrality Rules Bar Zero Rating; ViacomCBS To Rebrand CBS All Access As Paramount+; + more news Verizon To Buy Reseller TracFone For $7B; 5G Not The Competitive Threat To Cable Many Thought It Would Be; + more news MS.Wants Records From AT&T On $300M Project; Google Fiber Outages In Austin, Houston, Other Texan Cities; + more news States With The Biggest Decreases In Speed; AT&T Hopes You'll Forget Its Fight Against Accurate Maps; + more news AT&T's CEO Has A Familiar $olution To US Broadband Woes; EarthLink Files Suit Against Charter; + more news 5G Doesn't Live Up To Hype, AT&T's 5G Slower Than Its 4G; Cord-Cutting Now In 37% of Broadband Households; + more news FCC Cited False Broadband Data Despite Warnings; ZTE, Huawei Replacement Cost Is $1.87B, But Only $1B Allocated; + more Cogeco Rejects Altice USA's Atlantic Broadband Bid; AT&T Is Astroturfing The FCC In Support Of Trump Attack; + more news ---------------------- this week last week most discussed view:

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GOD666

join:2017-03-10 GOD666 Member Beyond Boston - 6 million people Massachusetts has 6.754 million people and the city of Boston only has 645,966. That means there are 6,099,034 -- Over 6 Million people do not live inside Boston and yet the cable industrys oligopoly would have you believe Boston was the only habitable place. Worcester for example is just shy of 200,000 and Springfield is just behind them at 164,122.



No Western or Cental Massachusetts, no care.

skytom

join:2012-10-18

Northampton, MA 4 recommendations skytom Member Re: Beyond Boston - 6 million people Meanwhile in the rural areas of the state, there is little possibility of internet access, due to both Cable and Phone desiring to not deploy the infrastructure, at the same time paralyzing the Massachusetts Broadband Initiative which installed fiber trunks to every town or city hall in the state in order to allow for local incumbents or municipalities to create their own networks (like the Wired West coalition).

ctaranto

join:2011-12-14

MA 2 recommendations ctaranto Member Re: Beyond Boston - 6 million people I entirely agree that local incumbents or muni's should be able to build out their own service in the rural areas.

GOD666

join:2017-03-10 1 edit GOD666 to skytom

Member to skytom

said by skytom: Meanwhile in the rural areas of the state, there is little possibility of internet access, due to both Cable and Phone desiring to not deploy the infrastructure, at the same time paralyzing the Massachusetts Broadband Initiative which installed fiber trunks to every town or city hall in the state in order to allow for local incumbents or municipalities to create their own networks (like the Wired West coalition).



True, every mayor loves to claim how beautiful and modern "down town" has become. They use Main Street in all their re-election campaigns. But walk a few streets over in any town and that "modern life" is simply, GONE.



Springfield, MA for example, "technically" has fiber. City Hall can download and upload speeds that most folks can only imagine, while the rest of the town fights to even keep DSL. Nothampton, MA (where you seem to be from), has the exact same problem, though you're lucky to even get dailup in some areas.



Finally, most towns are blocked at every turn by those same oligopiles from ever building their own network. Even though they, themselves, have no intention of ever upgrading or building new service. A permanent block (denial) of service for many. Beyond Main Street ---True, every mayor loves to claim how beautiful and modern "down town" has become. They use Main Street in all their re-election campaigns. But walk a few streets over in any town and that "modern life" is simply, GONE.Springfield, MA for example, "technically" has fiber. City Hall can download and upload speeds that most folks can only imagine, while the rest of the town fights to even keep DSL. Nothampton, MA (where you seem to be from), has the exact same problem, though you're lucky to even get dailup in some areas.Finally, most towns are blocked at every turn by those same oligopiles from ever building their own network. Even though they, themselves, have no intention of ever upgrading or building new service. A permanent block (denial) of service for many. elefante72

join:2010-12-03

East Amherst, NY 4 recommendations elefante72 to skytom

Member to skytom

That is the real crime, the communities want to do it and some large cableco invisible hand snuffs them out when they have no intention of ever building unless someone else pays and they reap the vast profit.

ctaranto

join:2011-12-14

MA ctaranto to GOD666

Member to GOD666

Looking at the population density of MA, I can see why Western and Central MA are ignored. That region is sparsely populated and mountainous.



There is a pretty good map at Wikipedia titled "Demographics of Massachusetts". Outside of Springfield, anything west of Worcester (the red area in the middle of the state) is not worth the investment.

GOD666

join:2017-03-10 GOD666 Member Re: Beyond Boston - 6 million people 200,000 people you count as sparsely populated? 7 colleges all 20 minues of themselves, also sparsely populated?

ctaranto

join:2011-12-14

MA ctaranto Member Re: Beyond Boston - 6 million people I'm not sure of the city/town you are referring to, but if the surrounding area is sparsely populated, consider the cost to get the infrastructure *to* this "hopping" area.

GOD666

join:2017-03-10 1 edit GOD666 Member Re: Beyond Boston - 6 million people said by ctaranto: I'm not sure of the city/town you are referring to, but if the surrounding area is sparsely populated, consider the cost to get the infrastructure *to* this "hopping" area.



Personally, I believe eminent domain would work best. America should invest in Americans by investing in our infrastructure. In most cases, it has been the taxpayer who has paid for that infrastructure. For example, we all paid for Fiber 20+ yrs ago to replace all of America's aging copper lines, but never got it. Another example, in many cases, not even the copper lines have been maintained as promised and paid for (which we are still paying for and not receiving). You'd be surprised or maybe not so surprised on how much taxpayer money has been either pocketed or spent elsewhere. Either it should be classified as the cost of doing business in America (you do business with us all or not at all). Or we should once and for all, declare eminent domain concerning the infrastructure.Personally, I believe eminent domain would work best. America should invest in Americans by investing in our infrastructure. In most cases, it has been the taxpayer who has paid for that infrastructure. For example, we all paid for Fiber 20+ yrs ago to replace all of America's aging copper lines, but never got it. Another example, in many cases, not even the copper lines have been maintained as promised and paid for (which we are still paying for and not receiving). You'd be surprised or maybe not so surprised on how much taxpayer money has been either pocketed or spent elsewhere.

ctaranto

join:2011-12-14

MA ctaranto Member Re: Beyond Boston - 6 million people



Case in point: The Mass Pike. The agreement was the tolls would be used to pay off the construction, and then the state would remove the tolls (basically a highway tax). The Pike was paid for decades ago, but the tolls remain. Someone is pocketing a lot of money.



But I also agree that there are pros/cons in choosing to live in infrastructure restricted areas. When looking for a house with my wife (pre-kids), we had a few requirements: good schools, safe area, high speed internet. Granted this was in the late 90s and not a lot of towns in metrowest MA had HSI.



Relying on promises or rumors that HSI is coming, to us, was foolish. Our town had Comcast at the time, and now also has VZ FiOS.



As fate would have it, our kids no longer attend our town's public schools. At least 2 of the 3 things mattered. Agreed that tax money is being wasted, and our infrastructure is no where what it should be.Case in point: The Mass Pike. The agreement was the tolls would be used to pay off the construction, and then the state would remove the tolls (basically a highway tax). The Pike was paid for decades ago, but the tolls remain. Someone is pocketing a lot of money.But I also agree that there are pros/cons in choosing to live in infrastructure restricted areas. When looking for a house with my wife (pre-kids), we had a few requirements: good schools, safe area, high speed internet. Granted this was in the late 90s and not a lot of towns in metrowest MA had HSI.Relying on promises or rumors that HSI is coming, to us, was foolish. Our town had Comcast at the time, and now also has VZ FiOS.As fate would have it, our kids no longer attend our town's public schools. At least 2 of the 3 things mattered.

GOD666

join:2017-03-10 4 recommendations GOD666 Member Re: Beyond Boston - 6 million people said by ctaranto: Agreed that tax money is being wasted, and our infrastructure is no where what it should be.



Case in point: The Mass Pike. The agreement was the tolls would be used to pay off the construction, and then the state would remove the tolls (basically a highway tax). The Pike was paid for decades ago, but the tolls remain. Someone is pocketing a lot of money.



But I also agree that there are pros/cons in choosing to live in infrastructure restricted areas. When looking for a house with my wife (pre-kids), we had a few requirements: good schools, safe area, high speed internet. Granted this was in the late 90s and not a lot of towns in metrowest MA had HSI.



Relying on promises or rumors that HSI is coming, to us, was foolish. Our town had Comcast at the time, and now also has VZ FiOS.



As fate would have it, our kids no longer attend our town's public schools. At least 2 of the 3 things mattered.



The Internet has been incorporated in our lives, no matter if we like it or not. Yet not everyone is lucky enough and their lives should not be left to chance to the possibility of an ISP walking out on them. We all have paid for the infrastructure many decades ago and we continue to pay for it even today. It is time we simply claim what we have paid for. It is 2017 and no American should have to worry whether or not Internet Access is available. Today's modern world it is a requirement to even obtain work, no matter if you want to work in a Hospital or flip burgers, all applications today are online. Your child's homework will also depend on whether or not you live in a part of town that has a stable Internet Access and he or she can actually receive a failing grade if the local ISP suddenly decides to bail out.The Internet has been incorporated in our lives, no matter if we like it or not. Yet not everyone is lucky enough and their lives should not be left to chance to the possibility of an ISP walking out on them. We all have paid for the infrastructure many decades ago and we continue to pay for it even today. It is time we simply claim what we have paid for. elefante72

join:2010-12-03

East Amherst, NY elefante72 Member Re: Beyond Boston - 6 million people All they need to do is redirect the USF fees for a year or two and they could line the US with fiber and leave a chicken in every pot.



But of course then you would have people starving in the streets if they didn't get their subsidized cell phones, and libraries paying for enterprise Cisco switches for 4 computers.

ctaranto

join:2011-12-14

MA ctaranto to GOD666

Member to GOD666

While I agree with your sentiments, reality is different.



Live in "the sticks"? The expectation is to deal with substandard internet/cell coverage/utilities. Do those in the middle of Wyoming expect the same fast internet as those in urban cities? If you say "Come on. We're more populated than Wyoming!", then you fall into the same sentiments of what I'm saying - population/density matters.



Do schools in those districts without internet service require students to submit work via the internet? If so, shame on the school system and the town management.



Our town requires internet access, and being within 495, we have good choices of reliable service (and mobile phones as backups). dplantz

join:2000-08-02

Bradenton, FL ·Charter

3 recommendations dplantz Member Re: Beyond Boston - 6 million people We wired the entire country for electricity and telephone including some very remote areas. Why should quality broadband be any different? There tens of thousands of miles of dark fiber across the country that could be lit up. Its the last mile thats lacking build out. Another big issue are the people within say 3 miles of a cable plant not being connected. This is the case for my sister in Central Maine. Comcast's plant is 2.5 miles from her and no wired broadband serves here address.

ctaranto

join:2011-12-14

MA 1 recommendation ctaranto Member Re: Beyond Boston - 6 million people said by dplantz: We wired the entire country for electricity and telephone including some very remote areas. Why should quality broadband be any different? There tens of thousands of miles of dark fiber across the country that could be lit up. Its the last mile thats lacking build out. Another big issue are the people within say 3 miles of a cable plant not being connected. This is the case for my sister in Central Maine. Comcast's plant is 2.5 miles from her and no wired broadband serves here address.



No company by themselves are going to do anything for sparsely populated/difficult terrain areas. The government needs to pony up and wire all areas. Then ISPs need access to the infrastructure and compete on price and service.



Good luck with that. While I agree with your sentiments, today's Wall Street companies behave a lot different than what as done when electricity and telephone service was wired.No company by themselves are going to do anything for sparsely populated/difficult terrain areas. The government needs to pony up and wire all areas. Then ISPs need access to the infrastructure and compete on price and service.Good luck with that. your moderator at work hidden :



Anon7dd97

@verizon.net 1 recommendation Anon7dd97 to GOD666

Anon to GOD666

GOOD FOR BOSTON!!!! FWIW RCN serves Boston and surrounding burbs so the population is more than 645k.

ctaranto

join:2011-12-14

MA ctaranto Member Re: Beyond Boston - 6 million people My mother lives in an urban city (population around 70k) outside of Boston (ie. on the 128 belt). She can choose from Comcast, RCN, and VZ FiOS.

bemis

Premium Member

join:2008-07-18

Sharon, MA 3 recommendations bemis to GOD666

Premium Member to GOD666

RCN in Boston serves the communities of Allston, Arlington, Boston, Brighton, Brookline, Burlington, Charlestown, Dedham, Dorchester, Everett, Framingham, Hyde Park, Lexington, Milton, Natick, Needham, Newton, Roslindale, Somerville, Stoneham, Wakefield, Waltham, Watertown, West Roxbury and Woburn.



So they have ~20% coverage of the population.



As a Cambridge resident who's stuck with Comcast I would love to have RCN again (I had it in Newton and Allston in the past).



Get active on the local politics level. Don't sit around and gripe about why a company isn't doing business in your area--it might be their choice, but it might also be the environment created, or unfair competition.



Stop allowing town manager's, selectman and other bureaucrats be put in place who aren't willing to take action to encourage choices--whether it's subsidizing a multi-company infrastructure build out, or a home-built one (like Norwood as with their Norwood Light broadband and TV service).



These people are either elected, appointed or hired... but the source of their funds comes from the same place, which is local/state/federal taxes, find the people who you elect and make sure they know what you care about. In all fairness, FTFA:That's a fairly large area, assuming Google's "Boston" 645K figure includes Allston, Brighton, Charlestown, Dorchester, Hyde Park, Roslindale and West Roxbury, the rest of those towns bump the number up to 1,375,545 with a mix of 2013 and 2010 census data.So they have ~20% coverage of the population.As a Cambridge resident who's stuck with Comcast I would love to have RCN again (I had it in Newton and Allston in the past).Get active on the local politics level. Don't sit around and gripe about why a company isn't doing business in your area--it might be their choice, but it might also be the environment created, or unfair competition.Stop allowing town manager's, selectman and other bureaucrats be put in place who aren't willing to take action to encourage choices--whether it's subsidizing a multi-company infrastructure build out, or a home-built one (like Norwood as with their Norwood Light broadband and TV service).These people are either elected, appointed or hired... but the source of their funds comes from the same place, which is local/state/federal taxes, find the people who you elect and make sure they know what you care about. dplantz

join:2000-08-02

Bradenton, FL ·Charter

dplantz Member Re: Beyond Boston - 6 million people RCN does not cover all of the communities that it offers service in. I would say is between 65 to 85% of those areas served. You could be on a street that is one or so away from service with RCN. Total coverage in Mass is probably around 1 to 1.2 million for RCN. Saruman

join:2017-02-13

Livermore, CA Saruman Member ACKs Wouldn't you need at least 30-50 mbps on the upstream to properly ACK a 1 gbps downstream? 20 mbps doesn't seem like it would cut it. dplantz

join:2000-08-02

Bradenton, FL dplantz Member Re: ACKs Atlantic Broadband offers 1 gig down and 50 mbps service in CT. I don't know why RCN can't offer the same as there plants should be nearly identical. frnkblk0

join:2002-08-25

Sioux Center, IA frnkblk0 to Saruman

Member to Saruman

Our own testing has shown that you can get 900+ Mbps on a speed test with 20 Mbps upstream rate.

Anon6276f

@rcn.com Anon6276f Anon Hmmm...pricey. Well, I called them to sign up. I've got 330mbps at the moment with modem hire and a phone line for $88/mo. They quoted me $120/mo O.o



Is anyone else getting a crazy price like this?

Anonce442

@comcast.net Anonce442 Anon Re: Hmmm...pricey. Well bare minimum is



$10 to upgrade from 330->1gig

$10 modem rental fee - MANDATORY



So I mean its not that far off as far as I can tell satoru3

join:2007-04-19

Wellesley Hills, MA satoru3 Member 330 or 1gig.... If they had a BYOD option I'd jump on gig. But the modem rental fee is kind of a deal breaker your comment..

