Following Google Fiber Expansion, TWC Increases Speeds For Charlotte Customers

Competition sure is a good thing, something the folks in Charlotte, North Carolina, are now having reaffirmed. In late January, Google announced that it’d be expanding its Fiber ISP into four additional cities, with Charlotte being one of them. Well, no surprise: ISPs in the area were not pleased. Time Warner Cable is one of those.

Facing the imminent threat of Google Fiber, TWC has now dramatically increased the bandwidth speeds of its customers to help keep them away from the big G. Will it work? It’s hard to say, because Google will offer speeds that TWC still isn’t competing with. Some, though, might consider sticking with TWC to be worth it, just for the sake of saving the hassle (and let’s face it, 1Gbps speeds won’t affect everyone).

Flickr: Carbon Arc

Thanks to TWC’s change of heart, those who’ve had a 15Mbps package now enjoy 50Mbps, and those with 30Mbps will now get 200Mbps. Yes – more than six times the speed. Those who’ve had the 50Mbps package will get exactly six times their speed, to sit at 300Mbps.

Again, it remains to be seen how much impact this will have on Google’s entry into the Charlotte market. Even 300Mbps is less than one-third of what Google can promise, and it seems unlikely that TWC would be offering 1:1 (down:up) connections like Google offers with Fiber.

Regardless of all that, this proves once again that competition is very important. What’s disappointing, though, is that while Charlotte customers now have some great options for their Internet, most of us are still dealing with mediocre choices. This should change in time, but for most, it can’t happen quick enough.