Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Comcast/Xfinity expects to launch its Internet and cable services locally within the next 60 days or so.
That, at least, is the word that company representatives have told City Clerk Emily Anderson, who recently shared the information with the Monticello City Council.
Anderson told the council on Tuesday, Dec. 7, that the company has completed the installation of the main nodes for the upgraded system and was reaching out to commercial and general users.
She said the expectation was that the upgrade would serve 1,200 addresses once the system was up and running.
Comcast/Xfinity began installing the two-way fiber-optic cable along the south side of U.S. 90 a couple of months back with the idea of providing faster, more reliable cable and Internet services.
“We are installing more fiber throughout our network by replacing some coaxial cable with fiber lines,” a Comcast/Xfinity online statement said at the time, adding that the upgrade activity would cause intermittent interruptions in service.
Comcast/Xfinity has apparently determined that bringing fiber-optic cable to Monticello is now feasible, although for long the company held that the area lacked sufficient residents to make the service economically worthwhile, given the high per-footage cost to install the cable.
As near as a month ago, contractors were installing cable lines along W. Washington Street, beginning in Leon County and coming east as far as Felix Street in Monticello. At the time, fiber-optic cable was also being buried along the Mamie Scott Drive area and in the vicinity of the Tractor Supply Company on U.S. 19 South.
“In the future, we’ll be able to offer you even more reliable service, greater network capacity and more gig speeds to more homes down the line,” the Comcast/Xfinity online statement read. “That means more downloading, more streaming and more gaming.”
Xfinity, a subsidiary of Comcast since 2010, provides TV and Internet service.