Gigabit comes to Mammoth
Mono County Information Technology Director Nate Greenberg announced to Town Council on Wednesday, Dec. 2 that, as of next week, Suddenlink will be offering Gigabit Internet to the Town of Mammoth Lakes.
Gigabit Internet has been referred to as the “holy grail” for residential internet users. The term refers to a speed of one Gigabit per second (or 1,000 Megabytes per second), according to the online magazine Network World. The service is only available through fiber optic lines, such as those installed in the Digital 395 project.
For perspective: on a Gigabit connection, a High-Definition movie could be downloaded in seven seconds, according to ihiji.com, an online service manager. One hundred songs could be downloaded in three seconds.
“Certainly there’s not that many resort communities, and certainly not very many rural resort-based communities” that can boast Gigabit service, said Greenberg.
In fact, even many U.S. cities still lack the technology, according to Network World.
Wednesday evening was the first time that the announcement could be made publicly, Greenberg said, after having spoken to Suddenlink’s government affairs representative Jason Oelkers Wednesday afternoon, who gave Greenberg the go-ahead to divulge the exciting news.
He said that “most likely” after Tuesday of this coming week, Suddenlink will “be offering 50 Mbps [Megabits per second], 100 Mbps, 200 Mbps and 1 Gbps [Gigabits per second] service to all residents and businesses in Mammoth Lakes,” an announcement that drew murmurs of approval from the Council and audience.
“Two weeks ago [Suddenlink] did some significant upgrades to their system and wanted to make sure that saturation issues during Thanksgiving posed no problems,” Greenberg said. “They had no issues.”
Greenberg said that with the addition of Gigabit Internet, Mammoth would be better able to cater to the needs of its visitors and residents, providing them with a “no-gap” experience.
Visitors “want to be able to have a little more of a wilderness experience but still the comforts of home from a technology standpoint,” he said.
With the building of the Tesla Gigafactory in Sparks, NV and the promotion of “Silicon Beach” in Los Angeles, Mammoth Lakes stands to span the distance between the two tech-savvy cities. Greenberg echoed the hopes of many in both Inyo and Mono Counties when he said that with the area’s advances in technological services, the two counties stand to not only provide better services to visitors, but to technology-based businesses.
“I think we’re positioned very uniquely to be able to provide a recreation hub and hopefully convert some of those people to be part-time or full-time residents here,” he said.
Greenberg said that the town of June Lake would be joining Mammoth in Gigabit service about a week after Mammoth’s program comes online, followed by Chalfant and Crowley Lake by early next year.
Also, Greenberg said lightheartedly, “I am proud to say that we beat Truckee by about six months, which we’re very excited about.”
