SAN MARCOS, Texas ­-- Based on increasing customer demand for faster Internet service, Grande Communications® is unveiling Grande.NETSM 4000, the fastest broadband service currently available to residential customers. The service, ideal for home office workers and gamers, is more than 125 times faster than dial-up.

Grande.NETSM 4000 has download speeds up to 4Mbps, plus 5MB personal Web site space and up to five personal email addresses. The service doubles the speed of average broadband service. Grande.NETSM 4000 will be officially available Wednesday, Dec. 3 in the Texas markets where Grande offers bundled high-speed Internet, local and long-distance telephone and digital cable television services. Grande.NET 4000 will be priced at $99.00 per month.

"Our customers are increasingly asking for faster speeds as more advanced applications and content become available online," said Grande vice chairman and CEO William E. Morrow. "Demand for higher bandwidth will continue to rise sharply and, unlike some legacy networks, Grande's network is fully capable to meet future residential broadband demands today."

Grande also offers Internet speeds of 2.5Mbps, 1.5Mbps, 256kbps and high-speed dial-up and standard dial-up to provide a speed option to meet every residential and small-business need. Grande has also recently begun offering static IP addresses, which allow other Internet users to locate Grande customers with greater ease.

In a separate release:

To address the growing interest in advanced cable services, Grande Communications® is launching its digital video recording (DVR) and high-definition television (HDTV) services in Texas markets where Grande offers bundled high-speed Internet, local and long-distance telephone and digital cable television services.

Grande's digital video recording service, which uses a state-of-the-art Motorola receiver, allows customers to fast-forward through commercials, pause live television, conduct instant replay and record up to 40 hours of programming, including high-definition programming. After a successful test launch in Waco, the service will be available to Grande customers in Austin, Corpus Christi, Midland, Odessa, San Antonio and San Marcos beginning Monday, Dec. 8. The service costs $9.95 per month in each Grande market, plus the monthly fee for expanded or digital cable service and the digital video receiver.

Also, on Monday, Dec. 8, Grande customers in Austin, San Antonio and San Marcos can access Showtime HD and select local programming with high-definition quality. Already available to Grande customers in Corpus Christi, Midland, Odessa and Waco, high-definition programming offers viewers a dramatically sharper and clearer image. Within each community, local HD programming includes:

Customers will require an HD-ready television set and an HDTV receiver to access these channels. Grande plans to introduce additional cable channels in high-definition in the first quarter of 2004.

"Each product or service Grande provides is on par or exceeds our competitors in terms of features, pricing and customer service. It's something Grande customers have come to expect," said Grande Vice Chairman and CEO William E. Morrow. "Our goal at Grande is to bring choice to Texas consumers ‹ the choice to select competitive pricing and bundled services, and the choice to take advantage of the convenience of one bill and one call for customer service."

Grande Communications