City of Alexandria residents used to have one main option when it came to Internet service: Comcast.
In recent years, Verizon has started offering its Fios service in select areas — and now, more companies are planning to offer fiber optics Internet service to residents.
Earlier this year, a company called Tucows started to bring its Ting Internet service to Alexandria. The company will be able to provide service to "tens of thousands" of locations in the city, according to a report by Fierce Telecom. "The deployment will tee it up to challenge incumbent cable provider Comcast as well as Verizon Fios, which is in the process of upgrading its copper lines in the area to fiber," the website reported. (Ting is not serving residents yet, but homeowners can sign up for more information on their website.)
Tonight, city of Alexandria council members are considering an agreement to allow Crown Castle Fiber to start construction on a system that will could other companies to serve Alexandria residents. Crown Castle Fiber is a network design and infrastructure company that constructs Internet connectivity capabilities for municipalities. Construction sites Crown Castle Fiber is requesting include Potomac Yard and the West End, including the Landmark neighborhood.
Last year, city officials broke ground on a new municipal fiber-optic communications network to increase Internet speed and reliability to city facilities.
"In addition to improving connectivity among City facilities and sites, the Municipal Fiber project will create potential partnership opportunities to expand consumer choice and increase available speeds for broadband services available in Alexandria," city officials explained last year. "With the construction of the new fiber optic network, the City is planning to seek new partners who could lease excess conduit space to provide broadband service to residents and businesses. This would allow all providers to compete fairly and would encourage providers to offer consumer services."
