After launching a pair of multi-gigabit speed tiers in early 2022, Ziply Fiber is ratcheting up its top speeds again.

The company announced Monday that it has launched a new symmetrical 10Gbit/s tier across its fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) footprint in parts of Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Washington.

The new 10-Gig tier sells for $300 per month, plus a one-time $300 installation fee. By comparison, Ziply Fiber's symmetrical 2-Gig service currently starts at $80 per month for new customers (the price rises to $90 per month after 12 months), and its symmetrical 5-Gig offering fetches $120 per month.

Figure 1: (Source: the lightwriter/Alamy Stock Photo)

At launch, customers who subscribe to Ziply Fiber's new 10-Gig tier will be served via Ethernet. However, the company intends to shift the delivery of the 10-Gig option to passive optical networking (PON) "in the coming months," a company official said in response to emailed questions. As for reach, the official noted that the new 10-Gig service is "available anywhere in our footprint that we can get fiber internet to a customer's router."

Ziply Fiber has already installed the new 8-Gig service to customers in "several cities," CEO Harold Zeitz noted in a press release. Self-described "power user" Alex Balcanquall, a customer in Kirkland, Washington, is among the first to get the new 10-Gig offering from Ziply Fiber, the company said.

Customers will need some special in-home equipment to handle Ziply Fiber's new 10-Gig speeds. In addition to having a 10-Gig-capable computer, they can either supply their own router with an SFP+ (enhanced small form-factor pluggable) port capable of supporting 10 Gbit/s or lease one from Ziply Fiber for an additional $10 per month.

Upping the ante against cable

Depending on the market, Ziply Fiber matches up against cable operators and telcos such as Comcast, Charter Communications, Lumen, Astound Broadband and TDS. Given Ziply's rural focus, it also competes against satellite broadband providers such as HughesNet and Viasat.

Ziply Fiber is the latest FTTP service provider to raise its top speeds in recent weeks. Google Fiber, for example, has unleashed a $150 per month 8-Gig tier in a pair of markets: Mesa, Arizona, and West Des Moines, Iowa.

With upgrades and edge-outs included, Ziply Fiber is targeting an annual fiber build rate of a "few hundred thousand locations," Zeitz told Light Reading in a recent interview. He also expects Ziply Fiber to participate in the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.

Ziply Fiber is making its latest speed move as cable operators make moves of their own. Comcast, Charter Communications and Cox Communications are among the US majors that have made commitments to bring symmetrical, multi-gig speeds to their widely-deployed hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) networks. Cable One, one of Ziply Fiber's investors, expects to pursue DOCSIS 4.0 upgrades for its HFC network.

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— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading