Among the cities on tap to receive Google Fiber is Charlotte, North Carolina, and that has apparently prompted the region's biggest ISP—Time Warner Cable—to take action to hold on to customers.
Time Warner Cable will roll out what it calls "TWC Maxx," which will provide Internet that's up to six times faster than existing service.
Customers who currently have TWC's standard 15 Mbps Internet service or 30 Mbps Extreme service, for example, will be getting up to 200 Mbps. Those on the 50 Mbps Ultimate will be upgraded to 300 Mbps. All upgrades will be free.
TWC said it will notify customers in regions where TWC Maxx is rolling out. The move is part of the company's move to an all-digital experience. According to TWC, analog channels take the space of three to four HD channels and up to 12 digital networks. So switching to digital will "free up the necessary bandwidth to offer faster Internet speeds in the Charlotte area beginning this summer."
This switch will require those without TWC digital equipment (if you plug your cable line right into a TV) to get an adapter. The ISP will offer them for free through Aug. 11, 2016, but you have to put in an order by Dec. 10.
TWC also teased a new Enhanced DVR that can record up to six programs and store 150 hours of high-def programming on a 1TB hard drive.
TWC Maxx will be available in the neighborhoods of Albemarle, Badin, Boiling Springs, Charlotte, Cherryville, Clover (S.C.), Concord, Ellerbe, Gastonia, Harrisburg, Huntersville, Indian Trail, Kannapolis, Kings Mountain, Matthews, Monroe, Mooresville, Rockingham, Salisbury, Shelby, Statesville, Wadesboro, Waxhaw, and Weddington.
Google doesn't have a firm rollout date for its gigabit Internet in Charlotte. It announced its expansion into Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, and Raleigh-Durham in January, but said at the time that it still needs to "work with cities to create a detailed map of where we can put our thousands of miles of fiber."
Still, the threat of added competition has existing ISPs hustling to retain customers. In Atlanta, Comcast is planning a 2Gbps service, dubbed Comcast Gigabit Pro, that "will be offered broadly across the Atlanta metro area" starting next month.