The 9^th U.S. largest cable provider, Atlantic Broadband (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cogeco Communications Inc., TSX:CCA) has officially launched new Gigabit Internet Service in Aiken, South Carolina. It’s not just a big deal; it’s an incredibly fast deal and service, and puts Aiken on the map for state-of-the-art technology not yet available to most neighboring larger cities.

We sat down with Debbie Eblen, Vice President and General Manager of Atlantic Broadband to learn more about this new offering, and share highlights from their exclusive launch event for Aiken Chamber members and their customers held on Wednesday, March 21^st. The event took place at the Aiken Center for the Arts and was an important interactive, hands-on demonstration of the power of this new Gigabit speed for both residents and businesses of the Aiken community.

There was a strong mix of people from the community represented by the 50 attendees, many local business owners who are committed to growing Aiken’s economy. Debbie Eblen, Vice President and General Manager represented Atlantic Broadband, along with Sales & Marketing Manager Jenifer Granade, and Director of Technical Operations John Harmon. The president of the Aiken Chamber of Commerce J. David Jameson, and Aiken’s Mayor Rick Osbon spoke at the event. 

Debbie Eblen, Vice President and General Manager of Atlantic Broadband described, “It was part of our company plan to launch Gig service throughout different locations. We were ready to do it in Aiken. We officially launched at the end of February 2018, and hosted this event to help get the word out into the community about its arrival, and availability.”

Eblen shared, “It’s really a big deal for Aiken to get Gig service. If you look at other cities in the South Carolina, there are other bigger cities that aren’t even getting that yet. It’s important for the community, and its ability to recruit jobs in manufacturing and IT and bring those jobs to the area.”

“This product really is a state-of-the-art product that we are bringing to the city of Aiken and surrounding towns. This Gigabyte service more than doubles current Internet speeds for most. So many people are working from home now, not just in Aiken but across the country. It supports the expansion of virtual offices, and it provides more activity in a global market.”

Eblen added, “To date, only 7.9% of cities across the State have this Gig capability over a broadband product. It really puts Aiken on the map.”

About The Service

Both GigaEdge (residential) and Pro GigaEdge (business) services, are now available for homes and businesses in Atlantic Broadband’s growing South Carolina region which includes Aiken, as well as Graniteville, Jackson, New Ellenton, Wagener and Warrenville.

Atlantic Broadband’s fastest speeds increase current speed ranges from 250 Mbps/20 Mbps to 1 Gigabit or 1,000 Mbps/50 Mbps, allowing customers to download a two-hour HD movie in 32 seconds and send a large file (250 MB) in just 40 seconds. These powerful internet speeds enable a new and advanced technology level of the customer experience for Aiken’s community, with faster speed for multiple users who are connected simultaneously, and without any interruptions.

Atlantic Broadband is fully committed to bringing affordable Gigabit service to the areas it serves with promotional pricing starting at $79.99/month for new residential customers and $239.99/month for new business customers with a 3-year agreement.

The average Internet speed statewide in the South Carolina is 26 Mbps, according to BroadbandNow. Aiken is part of a small percentage of SC residents that now have access to 1 gigabyte service through Atlantic Broadband’s new offering.

Highlights of the Event

Eblen offered, “We had the Gig launch event on Wednesday at Aiken Center for the Arts. Chamber members and their customers from Aiken County businesses throughout attended. A nice lunch was served. A strong mix of people from the community were represented. Our speakers were the president of the Aiken Chamber of Commerce, David Jameson and Mayor Rick Osbon.”

“Aiken Center for the Arts was very nice and really allowed us to provide an interactive experience for our guests. We did a video conference with all of our company representatives so that everyone could see there was no buffering, caching or digitizing noise.” 

Eblen added, “A lot of companies are using Dropbox as a work setting. We demoed a modem with our 1 Gigabyte connection speed that downloaded a 620 Megabyte audio file which took about 2 seconds. Everyone was very impressed.”

“We had smartphones, tablets, and laptops on each table and asked everyone to connect and do a speed test. They did, which was ultra fast. And, then they surfed, streamed, and downloaded movies, audio files, games and more, at the same time, to experience the power of this new service and its ability to transform their business operations, entertainment and communications with one another.”

She continued, “We also showcased our enhanced home WiFi, which is a companion service that goes hand in hand with the Gig product. It provides specific access points throughout the home and prioritizes things like videos, audio and other downloads. It really maintained the downloads and impressed the group with its speed of execution.”

“We had a living room setup with an Xbox gaming system, where attendees downloaded and played Xbox Live games in a real home setting. They did and were able to experience the power and possibilities of the ultra fast speeds in their personal lives.”

Eblen concluded, “The community of Aiken is a really nice community, very supportive of each other and each others’ businesses. I was really proud of our team who worked hard to provide the interactive hands-on experience for our guests so they could really understand what a Gig product can do for them from a personal and business perspective.”

If you are interested in this service or getting more information about it, please visit www.atlanticbb.com.