Mediacom’s top Internet speed in area to triple

CEDAR RAPIDS - Mediacom is upping the top speed of its Internet service in the metro area, which the company promises will allow customers who purchase it to download high-definition movies in less than a minute.

JR Walden, Mediacom senior vice president of technology, said Monday that the new 305-megabits-per-second (Mbps) of service will triple the Internet speeds in the Cedar Rapids metro area for the company's top tier of service, which now is 105 Mbps of service.

Many of Mediacom's residential subscribers purchase Internet service at 15 Mbps, and subscribers who need higher speeds are households with multiple digital devices and multiple users, he said.

In five years, though, Walden said most households likely will need 305 Mbps service.

Walden said Mediacom serves 22 states, and Phyllis Peters, Mediacom's director of communications, said Mediacom is unveiling its 305 Mbps of service for the first time in the Cedar Rapids area, which is the company's second biggest market after Des Moines.

Mediacom customers in Cedar Rapids, Marion, Hiawatha, Fairfax, Toddville and Bertram will have access to the new high speed Internet.

Walden said customers who are buying 105 Mbps of service will be upgraded to 305 Mbps for no additional charge for about six months so they can see what the added speed will mean.

Peters said the company plans to announce other upgrades for lower-speed users in the weeks ahead.

At a Monday afternoon news conference and ribbon-cutting at Mediacom's office at 6300 Council St. NE in Cedar Rapids, Mayor Ron Corbett applauded Mediacom's investment in the Cedar Rapids area and said it will help make sure the area doesn't fall behind technologically.

City Manager Jeff Pomeranz said the quality of the technological infrastructure in the city is one of the central questions that employers looking to move to Cedar Rapids or to expand here ask about.

'It's absolutely vital for our city to tell those businesses, to tell those companies that we have the best, we have the fastest, we have the most up to date infrastructure,” Pomeranz said. '305 is helping Cedar Rapids stay on the cutting edge of technology.”

Nick Wagner, a commissioner on the Iowa Utilities Board and a former Marion City Council member and state lawmaker, said Mediacom's high-speed Internet announcement fits into Gov. Terry Branstad's push to expand and improve broadband access in the state.

Wagner compared Mediacom's new 305 Mbps of broadband service to the earliest days of the Internet and said it is similar to the two-hour drive from Cedar Rapids to Des Moines taking just seven seconds. The improvement is about capacity, too, and he said it's as if one semi-trailer truck from an earlier time can now carry 1,000 loads.

'Connectivity helps drive innovation and success not only for businesses in Iowa, but for individuals,” Wagner said.