Comporium Continues Investment in Transylvania County with 1Gbps Internet for Cable Modem Customers

BREVARD, N.C. – August 25, 2020 – Comporium customers wanting access to faster speeds are having that request met with 1Gbps download speeds. The company announced today that it is making its Zipstream Gigabit service available to over 14,000 homes in Transylvania County. Comporium began the process of increasing speeds for all tiers of its fiber and cable modem customers in June. Beginning today, over 70% of the homes in Transylvania County will have access to 1Gbps broadband.

Citizens Telephone Company became a part of Comporium in December of 2008. Since that time, the company has been actively investing in the county’s broadband and increasing internet speeds to over 200 times those that were offered in 2008. With today’s addition of Zipstream for cable modem customers, Comporium will have increased the maximum broadband speeds by over 66,500% in the past twelve years.

“We believe that the communities we serve are communities worth investing in,” stated Comporium’s Director and City Executive, Shelia Carland. “From providing Gigabit broadband to offering free public Wi-Fi in Brevard and Rosman to actively collaborating with educators and local government on ways to serve our neighbors, we want to make sure that Transylvania County has more than just basic connectivity. We want to make sure our community is ready for both today’s needs and for future growth.”

In addition to increasing speeds, the company has been working on several projects to upgrade its core network and its field equipment over the past few years. These projects, which began in 2014, involve completely rebuilding the area’s cable TV system and rebuilding the company’s core network. The $5.6 million dollar cable TV system projects included replacing equipment and cables to provide better, faster service to residents. Over 7,000 customers were migrated from DSL to Cable Modem during those projects. In April, Comporium completed the rebuild of its core network equipment which increased reliability and capacity for the network as a whole.

The resulting speeds from these projects:

• 300 Mbps for customers with Comporium’s Standard High-Speed Internet package,
• 600 Mbps for customers with Ultra High-Speed Internet,
• 750 Mbps for customers with Elite High-Speed Internet, and
• 1Gbps (1,000 Mbps) for customers with Zipstream.

According to Comporium’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Matthew Dosch, the move is another example of how the communications provider is keeping pace with consumer demands. “The internet plays a huge role in our customers’ lives, especially now with the increased demand for remote working and learning,” he said. “The decision to make these improvements was made months ago, illustrating our longstanding commitment to maintaining a reliable, high-performing network for the communities that depend on us.”

Although the addition of Zipstream is the latest upgrade to the company’s internet offering, it won’t be the last. Plans are already being made for a project to prevent node saturation in Transylvania County. That work is scheduled to begin later this year and is a proactive move to reduce the number of homes served per node as Comporium continues to look at ways to expand and improve its network throughout the county.

About Comporium

Comporium, Inc., headquartered in Rock Hill, S.C., is a diversified, privately-held communications company that employs nearly 1,100 people and provides broadband, TV, voice, wireless, smart home systems and advertising services throughout the Carolinas. Comporium’s ventures include companies providing business solutions, data storage and managed services, smart devices and connected home services, and digital signage. For more information, please visit www.comporium.com.

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