Cox completes Gigablast for state’s NW

SPRINGDALE — Cox Communications said Thursday that all of its customers in Northwest Arkansas now have access to its Gigablast service, thanks to a $15 million investment in infrastructure.

During a gathering in Springdale at one of the company’s complexes, Curt Stamp, vice president and top executive of the company’s Arkansas operation, said Cox workers had put the finishing touches on the network a few hours earlier. He said Cox is the first cable company in the state to provide gigabit broadband connections to all its customers in a region.

In the area, Cox offers service to Washington and Benton counties as well as customers in Harrison, Berryville and Eureka Springs. The company declined to say how many customers it serves in Arkansas or elaborate on pricing for the new service.

In Northwest Arkansas, the company first rolled out its Gigablast service in Bentonville in September 2015. Nationwide, Cox plans to spend $10 billion on infrastructure to provide the service to its customers.

Stamp said the service meets customer demand and helps Cox remain competitive. He said the service is the equivalent of 1,000 megabits per second and gives customers the ability to download 100 songs in 3 seconds, 1,000 photos in 16 seconds and a high-definition movie in about a minute.

The speeds are also useful when running multiple Internet-enabled devices in the home. Commonly called the Internet of things, the technology connects appliances such as refrigerators and coffee pots to the Internet, allowing them to receive and share data.