A Shelby-based company is launching their own ultra-high-speed fiber optic project -- even as Google Fiber tests some North Carolina markets for connectivity. RST Fiber says it has activated a statewide 3,100-mile fiber network.
The company's goal is to provide faster online access not only to urban centers, but to many rural areas that have spotty online connectivity. Dan Limerick is a co-founder of RST Fiber. He says the potential difference in access speed will be very noticeable.
"The average connection in the United States is under 10 megabits per second download and about 3-or-4 megabits per second upload," Limerick says. "To give you a comparison of what we're bringing, our average speed is going to be a thousand megabits download and a thousand megabits upload."
Parts of Charlotte will be the first service areas with Raleigh and Asheville to follow by May. The super-speed access is projected to cost customers about 100-dollars a month.
'It's all going to come down to broadband infrastructure in the future and we laid that backbone across North Carolina and activated it.' - Dan Limerick
Limerick says bringing a faster online service to big cities and lesser-connected small towns can mean much better communication: "From a medical standpoint..educational standpoint..municipalities, smart grid, managing our energy sources..it's all going to come down to broadband infrastructure in the future and we laid that backbone across North Carolina and activated it..and we feel that gives North Carolina a four-to-five year head start on every other state in the country," Limerick explains.
Limerick says the connectivity his company offers was not created to undermine Google Fiber's recent decision to test market gigabit service in the Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte markets. He says RST Fiber's connectivity plans could put North Carolina years ahead of other states.
