Since Gator Net, a fiber-optic Internet service, offered an upgrade from 50 megabits per second to 100 Mbps, seven out of 37 of its Gainesville clients began negotiating an upgrade.
“We’ve definitely seen an increase in interest,” Frank Latini said, a Gainesville Regional Utilities manager.
Latini said although he could confirm that seven apartment complexes are in the process of upgrading, he cannot comment on which ones until negotiations are finalized, which takes time to do.
“Sometimes it’s fairly quick,” he said.
Residents at The Courtyard Apartments use Gator Net at 50 Mbps as part of its utilities, but resident Hunter Krug, a 21-year-old UF food and resource economics senior, doesn’t think upgrading is necessary.
“I don’t think I would pay for 100 Mbps because I think 50 Mbps is OK,” Krug said.
Krug and his three roommates can easily stream Netflix, watch television and play Xbox at the same time without having to worry about slow Internet.
At Cypress Glen Apartments, residents can choose whether to pay for Gator Net.
They are given a month-long free trial to decide if they want to pay a $25 monthly fee for the service.
“Most of the residents buy Gator Net after they have it for a month,” Aston Steele said, a leasing agent at Cypress Glen. “There’s definitely a major difference in Internet speed.”
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 7/24/2014 under the headline "Interest grows for upgraded Gator Net service"]
