Which internet providers are fastest in Fayetteville and Hope Mills?
In January 2021, the Metronet internet service provider announced it would spend more than $70 million to bring high-speed internet to Fayetteville and the surrounding communities.
Customers who wanted an alternative to Spectrum and CenturyLink were gladdened to see a new provider enter the market. So were potential customers in rural areas who wanted broadband internet but could not get it because Spectrum and CenturyLink (now called Brightspeed) would not extend service to them. Metronet promised to deliver service to the smaller communities and unincorporated areas.
Two years and seven months later, Metronet‘s fiber optic lines have been laid in the ground through much of the Fayetteville area. The company is recruiting customers with an aggressive marketing campaign that has included an ice cream truck, outreach on social media, direct mail and socials for residents at apartment complexes.
Read all about it: Fayetteville, Cumberland County getting new high-speed internet service option
Which internet provider is fastest?
Are customers getting high-speed internet for their money? Data from the internet speed testing company Ookla says they are.
Some of its recent findings for Fayetteville, as of Aug. 2:
Metronet: 158 to 583 Mbps.
Spectrum: 103 to 428 Mbps.
Brightspeed: Not listed. Ookla does not list a provider unless it has at least a 3% market share in a city, said Adriane Blum, Ookla’s senior vice president for marketing and communications.
Metronet promoted its speed dominance in a news release on Aug. 1.
Findings for Hope Mills on Aug. 2:
Spectrum: 133 to 396 Mbps.
Brightspeed (listed as CenturyLink): 11 to 120 Mbps.
Metronet: Not listed.
“Ookla provides speed ratings for internet service providers that account for 3% or more of the total test samples in the market,” Metronet public relations representative Katherine Yochum said. “At the time Ookla conducted their measurements, Metronet did not meet Ookla’s service threshold to be included in their survey.”
You can test your internet speed at this link: speedtest.net/run.
What does all this mean in laymen's terms?
“Mbps” means “megabits per second.” Ookla says this is the standard measure of internet speed. “A megabit is 1 million bits of information,” it says.
At least 2Mbps for email, audio streaming and low-quality video streaming.
At least 10Mbps for photos and video uploads, high-definition TV streaming and video chat.
At least 25Mbps for 4K and higher resolution video streaming.
For people who need to move large amounts of data, Ookla says a gigabyte of data can be transferred in 400 seconds at 20 Mbps, 80 seconds at 100 Mbps, and 16 seconds at 500 Mbps.
Paul Woolverton can be reached at 910-261-4710 and pwoolverton@fayobserver.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Which internet providers are fastest in Fayetteville and Hope Mills?
