Bixby Claims Fastest Internet Service In Oklahoma

The city of Bixby claims to be Oklahoma's first gig-a-bit city. The Bixby chamber said it's a new step in cutting edge Internet service.

With Wednesday's announcement, Bixby can claim the fastest Internet service available for any community in Oklahoma.

With a choir singing Christmas songs, Bixby's community leaders celebrated a milestone in a 10-year project to build a fiber optic Internet service.

The local phone company turned Internet provider BTC announced the availability of one-gigabyte Internet service – ten-times faster than what most people have with cable or DSL.

Read More About Bixby's Fiber-Based Service

Bixby Mayor, John Easton said, “It makes the information highway go from four lanes to 12 in speed and capability. It gets rid of bottlenecks when you're downloading large files, it will stop the bottlenecks on our end.”

The new service requires fiber optic connections all the way into the home, which is why it's available for now only in newer neighborhoods.

As BTC has laid utility lines into new developments, they put in the fastest available technology.

"So anyone that has a new house in this area in the last ten years probably has this technology available at their house; there's even an apartment complex that has fiber to the individual units," BTC President, Scott Floyd said.

The new, fastest available speed for service comes with a new price - $99 a month for the first year and $129 a month after that.

That includes unlimited usage and higher capacity, so more people can use the same connection at once.

The first installations will start early next year.

"That's all been done with fiber optic technology and fiber to the home technology and because of that we've been able to upgrade and offer higher and higher speeds," Floyd said.

The footprint of the new service is limited right now; it's going to expand with time, going into at least 700 new homes over the next three years.