Brightspeed brings fiber internet to 1M+ homes in 20 states

When Brightspeed was founded less than two years ago, it purchased internet infrastructure that served millions of customers in 20 states. The only problem? The vast majority of those connections relied on DSL internet.

Fast forward 18 months and $2 billion in private investment, and Brightspeed has made fast fiber internet available to more than one million homes and businesses. Fiber is now live in all 20 of those states, a Brightspeed spokesperson told HighSpeedInternet.com.

Why fiber makes a difference

Brightspeed has focused its fiber expansion in areas where DSL speeds maxed out at 10Mbps—too slow for anything but checking email and light browsing. After fiber is installed, homes and businesses have access to breakneck speeds up to 1,000Mbps (1Gbps).

These gigabit speeds mean home internet that can handle virtually anything. On a single connection, you could have enough bandwidth for VR gaming, streaming in 4K, hosting video calls, supporting dozens of IoT devices, and multiple video conferencing calls.

Samir Memon, Brightspeed’s director of Digital Marketing, sat down recently with HighSpeedInternet.com.

“We are in the business of delivering quality internet service experiences to households that did not have the luxury before,” he explains. “Seeing that come to life is huge—1 million customers, right? It’s a big deal.”

Brightspeed fiber connectivity in 20 states

So far, Brightspeed has built new fiber connections in all 20 of the states where it purchased DSL infrastructure. Here’s the full list:

Throughout its footprint, Brightspeed plans to replace 90% of its DSL infrastructure with fiber by 2026. Overall, 7% of the construction will be in areas (such as new housing developments) that haven’t had any internet service before. Throughout the network, Brightspeed is using XGS-PON infrastructure and providing customer gateways with Wi-Fi 6 technology.

Soon, the company plans to launch fiber internet service with speeds up to 2Gbps in certain areas. That’s 100 times faster than some of the existing DSL connections.

Are people signing up for Brightspeed fiber?

Brightspeed hopes to sign new fiber customers up in 27% of its final fiber footprint, but it has a long way to go. For now, Memon says the company is happy if it signs up a little over 1% of homes with new fiber access.

That may be a hard sell in areas with existing cable internet infrastructure, because cable internet can now reach gigabit download speeds, and budget pricing is available (especially in competitive areas).

Brightspeed may have an easier time converting its DSL subscribers to new fiber lines. In those areas, the only other options for years have been expensive satellite internet and 4G LTE home internet.

Brightspeed competitive advantages

Brightspeed purchased its DSL infrastructure from a company called Lumen, which is the parent company for both CenturyLink and Quantum Fiber. Before the sale, many customers in rural areas were stuck with Centurylink DSL. Over the years, the company earned a poor reputation for reliability and customer service.

Brightspeed is working hard to change that as, and it has a few arrows in its quiver:

Decades of combined Verizon experience: Memon and many of Brightspeed’s other founding fathers earned their stripes at Verizon. They’re using lessons from that experience to build better infrastructure, hire better contractors, and improve customer service at every level.

Cutting-edge software solutions: Brightspeed uses geospatial software and industry-leading cloud platforms for planning, design, construction, and maintenance. That, combined with plug-and-play network distribution technology, means faster fiber deployment throughout the network.

WYSIWYG commitment: Brightspeed is committed to transparency—a philosophy it calls “What You See is What You Get.” It shows up in two important ways: transparent billing practices and a commitment to service excellence. Already, Brightspeed has reduced wait times for customers on hold with the help desk by 75%. It has also reduced the average time between service calls and tech visits to less than 48 hours.

Find out whether your home is fiber-ready and get notified of updates in your area.

What to expect when Brightspeed’s fiber comes to town

For Brightspeed’s DSL customers, fiber internet can’t come quickly enough. But how will they know the wait is over?

Residents may not see construction crews right away, Memon says. That’s because a lot of the work takes place behind the scenes. But people are very likely to see ads and announcements all around town (and on the internet) about the fiber construction. That means outdoor billboards, door hangers, banner ads, reading material, and more.

If you sign up for Brightspeed fiber, you’ll need to schedule professional installation so techs can string a fiber-optic cable from the street to your home. When they arrive, they will help you find a suitable outdoor location for the drop.  Then, they will connect the line to a small optical network terminal (ONT) mounted outside or inside your home. After that, they supply you with a Wi-Fi gateway that connects to the ONT using an Ethernet cable. That’s it! You’re good to go.

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