There are many advantages to Capitol Hill’s dense blocks of apartments and coming eight-story buildings. One should be a fat pipe. The Internet, like a sewer system, requires infrastructure and the more people hooking up closer together the better. But a new plan to bring affordable super-fast online access to the city may not benefit Capitol Hill’s thousands of apartment dwellers — and one competitor service is particularly skeptical.

In December Mayor Mike McGinn unveiled his plan to tap the city’s unused “fat pipe” of fiber optic cable to bring uber high-speed internet into Seattle’s homes and businesses. Housing dense Capitol Hill and Central District were among the 14 neighborhoods selected for the trial service that will feature a partnership with Washington D.C.-based service provider Gigabit Squared.

Gigabit Squared Seattle is slated to roll out sometime early next year and a sign-up process is scheduled to start this month. Seattle single-family homeowners who want gigabit service will pay $80 with a one year contract, or a month-to-month plan will come with a $350 installation fee. As details of the service emerge, CHS has tried to find out exactly how the plans will perform and how much it will cost for apartment dwellers.

Company representatives tell CHS there will be discounts for developers and landlords who want to bring service into their buildings, but so far has not specified how much of a discount or how the service will perform.

Gigabit reps say even if an apartment and condo building doesn’t bring in a direct fiber line, residents can still access super speed via wireless service. Gigabit Squared plans to build a “dedicated gigabit broadband wireless umbrella” from 38 transmitting locations to blanket Seattle apartment and condo buildings but hasn’t yet clarified to us what performance customers should expect.

Renters may not need to wait for Gigabit Squared to get gigabit speed. Seattle-based CondoInternet has been offering gigabit capacity connections to apartment buildings and businesses since 2008. In addition to more than 50 buildings around Seattle, CondonIntenet currently offers gigabit connections in The Citizen, Trace Lofts, and Pine+Manor on Capitol Hill.

CondoInternet COO Joe Bangah said the company wants to expand farther into Capitol Hill. In addition to the Hill’s density, Bangah said the neighborhood’s above ground power lines are key to making fiber to an apartment economically viable.

“It matters much more than you think,” he said. “Going underground can cost 20 times more.” Since CondoInternet lays its own optical fiber, bigger buildings will have a better shot.

 

Bangah said the best thing to do is tell the company and your landlord you’re interested in the service. “If you can convince your landlord to let us in, we’ll be there in a month,” he said.

Building owners do not pay any fees for opening access to CondoInternet. Bangah also said that if a block of smaller buildings were interested in hosting gigabit service, CondoInternet could likely provide it. CondoInternet was also vying to be the city’s fiber optic partner before the city settled on Gigabit Squared.

Bangah and CondoInternet CEO John van Oppen said they’re skeptical that Gigabit Squared will be able to offer gigabit speeds to condo and apartment residents through wireless service for $80 a month. CondoInternet’s gigabit service is $120 a month. Bangah also said that the Seattle’s current fat pipe infrastructure that Gigabit Squared will be utilizing, while it provides a backbone, barely makes a dent in the economics of bringing fiber into the home.

“You have to build so much, and what the city provides doesn’t add much to that,” he said.