Salisbury's Fibrant has soft launch

By Emily Ford

eford@salisburypost.com

Fibrant has launched, softly.

The city on Monday rolled out the soft launch of Fibrant, Salisbury's fiber to the home utility that offers Internet, cable TV and digital phone services.

Fibrant will compete with Time Warner Cable, AT&T and other incumbent providers using older technology.

Using light to transfer information, Fibrant “offers the fastest method of communication on the planet,” city officials said in a press release.

Some of the 115 early, free testers of Fibrant became the first paying customers Monday, with the utility scheduling installations for 200 other residents on a waiting list.

All areas of the city are wired for Fibrant.

The launch was delayed last month to tweak video signals and solve some software glitches.

The city borrowed $29 million to fund the project, which aims to have a 30 percent market share, or 4,400 households, in four years. All income from Fibrant “will remain in Salisbury to be reinvested for the benefit of the community,” Marketing Director Len Clark said in a statement.

Fibrant will occupy one-fourth of the $7 million Salisbury Customer Service Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, which is scheduled to open in mid-December.

Fibrant’s temporary home is on Klumac Road.

Installation costs $360, but the city will waive the fee for customers who remain with Fibrant for at least one year. Subscribers who leave before the year is up will receive a bill for installation.

While Fibrant’s fee schedule undercuts other providers’ published rates by 7 to 10 percent, the city can’t beat their monthly specials, which are usually good for one year and than revert to standard rates.

No incumbent provider can match Fibrant’s Internet speed, made possible by new technology that sends out information as quickly as it brings it in.

Fibrant officials also tout their “home-grown, over-the-top” customer service.

The utility offers more than 470 TV channels, including some not available elsewhere, like the NFL Network and Mid-Atlantic Sports Network.

Future plans for Fibrant include Internet and TV integration, video-conferencing, high-speed gaming and “many other advanced services not possible through older technologies,” Fibrant officials said.

To learn more or sign up, visit www.fibrant.com.

Contact Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.