Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable are boosting Internet speeds in San Diego County this year as they tout fast Web surfing as an advantage over rival providers.

Cox is launching a new 1 gigabit per second service in three new residential developments in the county – the 45-story Pinnacle apartment tower downtown, a new single family housing development near Escondido and another new single family project in north San Diego County.

While Cox and others offer gigabit Internet speeds to businesses, this is the first time it has been available to select San Diego County residential cable subscribers. Called G1GABLAST, it will cost $99 a month, with a $100 installation fee. The company is working with other new housing developments to expand its 1 gigabit footprint.

Gigabit speeds are capable of downloading a high definition movie in about a minute, or downloading 100 songs in about 3 seconds. Cox rolled out similar gigabit Internet in new developments in Irvine, Phoenix, Las Vegas and a few other cities last year.

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While Cox’s gigabit service is limited to new subdivisions, the company also plans to double Internet speeds on its top tier Ultimate package from 150 megabits to 300 megabits later this year. This upgrade will be available to all the company’s roughly 500,000 local subscribers.

“Cox has always led in broadband,” said Dave Bialis, senior vice president for Cox Communications. “We continue to invest heavily in San Diego in the network to drive capabilities up as usage needs go up.”

Meanwhile, Time Warner Cable is upgrading to an all-digital network in San Diego County in coming months. It began notifying customers of efforts to deliver faster Internet speeds up to 300 megabits per second. Its current top-tier package peaks at 50 megabits per second.

The conversion will require customers to have digital equipment in their home. There is no charge for the equipment if it is self installed, but there will be a $40 fee if a company sends a technician.

Time Warner Cable will not raise prices on its Internet service plans following the upgrade, said Spokesman Bret Picciolo. Subscribers will automatically receive faster speeds based on their current plans.

Gigabit Internet has become a hot topic for cable and telephone company Internet Service Providers since Google launched its fiber to the home project in 2012. Google Fiber now delivers 1 gigabit Internet speeds to selected neighborhoods in Kansas City, Provo, Utah and a handful of cities.

In response, cable and telephone company ISPs have been launching their own 1 gigabit Internet initiatives. So far, however, the roll outs have been small, say analysts.

“In many areas these incumbent Internet Service Provider deployments are what I like to call “fiber to the press release,” or broadband deployments that are dressed up to appear notably larger than they actually are,” said Karl Bode of DSL Reports, a broadband watchdog website. “In most cases these services are aimed solely at high-end housing developments where fiber is already in the ground and the cost is negligible.”



In addition, there aren’t many application yet that require super fast Internet, said Ian Olgeirson, principal analyst with SNL Kagan. Netflix and other streaming video services need less than 10 megabits per second of bandwidth to deliver high definition content, he said.

“For consumers, is there a driving application that makes 300 megabits per second a necessity? I don’t think so,” said Olgeirson. “Yes, we are seeing more streaming video and more streaming video on multiple devices. That puts a premium on speed. But it’s hard to map out how a consumer might use 300 megabits per second.”

Pushing speed does get the attention of consumers, said Olgeirson. While pay TV subscribers continue to decline year over year, Internet subscribers are a growing market for cable companies.

“For years, they have realized that the speed resonates with consumers when they are making the decision” on an ISP, he said.