Charter's cable network extends to about 50 million homes and businesses across the US, and nearly all of them should have the opportunity to buy gigabit-speed cable Internet by the end of 2018. So far, prices for the service range from $105 to $125.

"By year-end, we'll offer gigabit services in virtually everywhere we serve at all 50 million passings," Charter CEO Tom Rutledge told investors in an earnings call Friday. The number of residential units among those locations is somewhere above 40 million.

An earnings call transcript by Seeking Alpha is available here, and Rutledge's remarks were pointed out by news site Stop the Cap.

The gigabit upgrades will require some modem transfers, Rutledge said. While it's advertised as a gigabit service, the actual maximum speed is slightly less, at 940Mbps, and uploads are 35Mbps.

So far, Charter is offering gigabit services in eight markets to 9 million homes and businesses, he said. The markets are Oahu, Hawaii; Austin, Texas; San Antonio, Texas, Charlotte, North Carolina; Cincinnati, Ohio; Kansas City, Missouri; New York City; and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.

In December, Charter "raised the minimum Spectrum Internet speeds to 200Mbps in markets like New York, Hawaii, Austin, and Charlotte at no additional cost to consumers," Rutledge also said. The 200Mbps minimum, up from 100Mbps, covers about 18 percent of Charter's territory. Charter, which offers service in 41 states, has 22.5 million residential Internet subscribers and 1.4 million business Internet subscribers. Only Comcast has more home Internet subscribers in the US.

Charter offers the 940Mbps download and 35Mbps upload package over equipment using version 3.1 of DOCSIS, the industry's Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification. While future DOCSIS gear will allow symmetrical uploads and downloads, standard cable plans are far from offering symmetrical speeds today.

Charter is prohibited from selling plans with data caps and overage fees until 2023 thanks to merger conditions imposed on its 2016 purchase of Time Warner Cable.

Federal Communications Commission Chief of Staff Matthew Berry claimed Friday that Charter "is investing more in its broadband network and workforce because of the FCC's Restoring Internet Freedom Order and last year's tax reform legislation." (The "Restoring Internet Freedom" order is what repealed net neutrality rules.)

In reality, Charter raised its capital expenditures with the net neutrality rules still in place. The spending went from $7.5 billion in 2016 to $8.7 billion in 2017; the net neutrality repeal was passed in December 2017 but hasn't taken effect yet.

Charter expects its 2018 capital expenditures "as a percentage of revenue to be a bit lower than 2017," Charter CFO Christopher Winfrey said. "Next year, 2019 that is, should deliver a meaningful decline in capital intensity in dollars."

Charter's capital spending rose as a percentage of revenue between 2016 and 2017, from 18.7 percent to 20.9 percent.

Starting at $105, going up to $125

Charter said the service would cost $104.99 a month for new customers when it launched in Oahu in December. That's significantly more than some fiber Internet services that offer a gigabit both upstream and downstream, such as Google Fiber's $70 plan.

Cable prices do vary by location depending on competition and other mysterious factors, and an official price list puts Charter's gigabit service at $124.99 a month. That's presumably what customers would pay after introductory offers expire. And you'll probably pay additional fees, but the FCC recently eliminated a requirement that ISPs be more transparent with customers about hidden fees in the full cost of service.

Charter's 200Mbps plan (with 10Mbps uploads) is listed at $64.99 a month. On average, Charter residential customers pay $110 a month, though that figure includes customers who bundle Internet, phone, and TV service.

Comcast's monthly service fee for gigabit cable is $104.95 a month, after an introductory fee of $89.99 for the first 12 months, according to an offer on Comcast's website.

Disclosure: The Advance/Newhouse Partnership, which owns 13 percent of Charter, is part of Advance Publications. Advance Publications owns Condé Nast, which owns Ars Technica.