American Campus Opens Callaway House With 1 GB Amenity

by Katie Sloan

Austin, Texas — Grand opening of the one-gigabit-per-resident is August 15.

Austin, Texas — American Campus Communities’ Callaway House Austin will deliver Internet service of up to one gigabit per resident. The property is an off-campus freshmen residence hall that will serve students attending the University of Texas at Austin. It hosts a grand opening Aug. 15.

Gigabit speed is equivalent to 1,000 megabits per second. The connectivity is 100 times faster than the average cable Internet available in most U.S. households, or multifamily residential housing, including student housing, ACC says. The service also includes direct gigabit connectivity to the University of Texas’ campus network. There is no restriction on the number or type of devices allowed on the property’s network at one time.

The Callaway House features 661 beds in full-service residence hall accommodations and 92 beds in penthouse apartment accommodations. The community is 100 percent leased. American Campus chose Austin-based Internet provider CampusConnect to deliver the service.

“We know that a majority of properties that provide amenity Internet service are not meeting expectations of more than half of their residents,” says Rob Paver, founder and president of CampusConnect. “Here’s an example: Another large student housing property located a few blocks from Callaway House currently has a two-megabits-per-user service level provided by a major cable operator. To put this in perspective, Callaway residents are receiving 500 times the speed of the property down the street, and 100 times faster than the expected norm.”

According to Jorge de Cardenas, chief technology officer at American Campus, “Consistent with Google’s recent announcement of their fiber initiative in Austin, we believe that significant improvement in Internet connectivity will promote the productivity of our residents and encourage the emergence of new applications and services yet unknown. This infrastructure sets a new standard in student housing connectivity by removing bandwidth as a barrier.”

This news is distinctive, according to Paver, because other properties that provide 1 gigabit do so to the entire property, rather than per resident. “This technology infrastructure meets the evolving demand for fast Internet service desired by our residents for coursework, social media, online content and other emerging Internet services,” says American Campus CEO Bill Bayless.

 

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