Starkville business owners were educated about a faster internet option at the Mill Conference Center on Friday.
Representatives from Mississippi-based telecommunications firm C Spire were in town to discuss the company’s new fiber service for businesses.
The service starts at $200 a month, and is available to businesses near C Spire’s fiber hookups.
Approximately 1,000 businesses in Starkville are eligible, with more to come as businesses sign up for the service. C Spire is pushing its fiber internet for businesses across the state, with more than two dozen communities across the state involved. All three Golden Triangle communities are among the two dozen. Also, the local efforts are supported by both the city of Starkville and the Golden Triangle Development LINK.
“We’re here basically spreading the word about our fiber infrastructure for Starkville, the fact that we now have speed up to a gig for businesses throughout the state,” C Spire Major Marketing Initiatives Leader Joel Deer said. “We’ve got a list of about 30 or 35 cities that we’re hitting, letting everybody spread the word and make them aware of the fact that they can have this fiber internet service.”
Deer said the statewide efforts were going well for C Spire, saying the company had been exceeding its monthly sales goals of the new services.
“I think these events and getting the word out is kind of helping that,” Deer said. “A lot of these businesses today can’t really operate unless they have some good internet.”
Deer said fiber internet was much more stable than copper or DSL cable, which could be affected by weather or other events. He also emphasized the ease of repair, should something go wrong.
“It basically gives you higher speeds, higher bandwidth so you can operate your business more efficiently,” Deer said. “It’s more reliable than those other technologies.”
He also said much of the fiber infrastructure was already in place, with C Spire being in the field for several years.
“Towards the end of 2017 is when we upped the speeds to a gig,” Deer said.
Business owners interested in fiber internet for their establishments should visit C Spire’s website. The company also offers fiber internet for residential users.