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Altafiber: High-Performance Fiber Internet & Business Solutions

Altafiber provides high-speed fiber connectivity and integrated IT solutions for enterprises, delivering reliable regional infrastructure and managed services.

Private WAN & Transport

Overview

Altafiber, formerly known as Cincinnati Bell, is a leading provider of integrated communications and technology solutions. With a history spanning over 150 years, the company has evolved from a traditional telephony provider into one of the premier fiber-based service providers in North America. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Altafiber serves a diverse range of customers, from residential consumers to large-scale enterprises and government entities.

The company’s primary focus is the expansion of its high-speed fiber-optic network, which serves as the foundation for its comprehensive service portfolio. For enterprise clients, Altafiber offers a wide array of mission-critical services, including high-capacity internet, Ethernet, and wavelength services. Their business solutions extend into sophisticated IT areas such as SD-WAN, Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), and managed cloud services.

Through its subsidiary, OnX Canada, and other strategic acquisitions, Altafiber has expanded its geographic footprint and technical capabilities, now providing complex data center and hybrid cloud solutions across the United States and Canada. This expansion signifies their transition from a regional utility to a North American technology leader. The company is currently backed by Macquarie Asset Management, providing them with the significant capital necessary to accelerate fiber deployment and stay ahead of the increasing demand for bandwidth and digital transformation services.

Positioning

Altafiber positions itself as the "Gold Standard" of regional connectivity and integrated IT. Their strategic positioning is built on the concept of "Local Power, Global Reach." They aim to occupy the space between the massive, impersonal national carriers and the smaller, limited-service local ISPs.

Key elements of their positioning include:

  • Reliability and Performance: Messaging focuses heavily on the "Fiber Advantage," emphasizing the stability and speed of 100% fiber-optic connections compared to legacy copper or cable networks.
  • Strategic Partnership: They position themselves not just as a vendor, but as a strategic consultant that helps businesses navigate digital transformation. This is a deliberate move to compete with boutique MSPs while leveraging their massive infrastructure.
  • Regional Leadership: By rebranding from Cincinnati Bell to Altafiber, the company signaled its intent to transcend its original geography while maintaining its reputation for local reliability.
  • Vertical Expertise: They target specific segments—such as healthcare, education, and government—with tailored messaging around compliance (HIPAA), security, and high-uptime requirements.

In a crowded market, Altafiber differentiates by emphasizing that they own the network they manage, providing a level of accountability and performance optimization that non-facility-based managed service providers cannot match.

Differentiation

The core of Altafiber’s product advantage lies in its dense, state-of-the-art fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network. Unlike hybrid-fiber coaxial systems used by many cable providers, Altafiber’s symmetrical upload and download speeds provide a critical technical advantage for businesses utilizing cloud-heavy workflows, VoIP, and large-scale data transfers.

Beyond raw connectivity, their product suite is highly integrated. Key differentiators include:

  • Smart City & IoT Solutions: They offer specialized infrastructure for municipalities and large campuses, integrating sensors and public Wi-Fi with backhaul connectivity.
  • Advanced Networking: Their SD-WAN and SASE offerings allow businesses to manage distributed workforces with high security and low latency, leveraging the provider's own core network for better performance.
  • Unified Communications (UCaaS): By integrating voice and collaboration tools directly into their fiber backbone, they reduce jitter and packet loss compared to over-the-top (OTT) solutions.
  • Managed Security: Their security operations center (SOC) provides proactive monitoring that is natively integrated with the client’s transport layer, offering a holistic defense strategy that spans from the physical wire to the cloud application.

Their innovation focus currently targets edge computing and private 5G, positioning them to support the next generation of low-latency enterprise applications.

Ideal Customer Profile

  • Company Size: Mid-market (50-500 employees) to Large Enterprise (500+).
  • Industry: Healthcare, Education, Manufacturing, Finance, and Government.
  • Geographic Focus: Primary focus on Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana (Greater Cincinnati/Dayton/Columbus), but capable of national reach via partner networks.
  • Technical Maturity: Organizations looking to outsource network management (Managed Services) or those requiring high-performance, low-latency raw bandwidth for internal IT teams.
  • Budget: Organizations that prioritize reliability and SLAs over the "lowest-cost" consumer-grade cable alternatives.

Best Fit

  1. Multi-Location Enterprises in the Midwest: Organizations requiring a single partner for high-speed fiber across Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.
  2. Cloud-First Organizations: Businesses moving heavy workloads to AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud that require dedicated, low-latency Cloud Connect services.
  3. Hybrid Workforces: Companies needing integrated UCaaS (Microsoft Teams/Webex) and managed SD-WAN to connect remote offices and home-based employees.
  4. Security-Conscious Mid-Market Firms: Businesses that lack a full in-house SOC and need managed firewall, DDoS protection, and endpoint security integrated into their network stack.

Offerings

  • Business Fiber: High-speed internet packages ranging from 100Mbps to 10Gbps+ with symmetric speeds.
  • Enterprise Fiber (DIA): Dedicated, non-shared bandwidth with guaranteed performance and 24/7 support.
  • Managed SD-WAN: Utilizing platforms like Velocloud or Fortinet to provide intelligent path selection and network visibility.
  • Hosted Voice & UCaaS: Cloud-based phone systems featuring mobile apps, video conferencing, and CRM integration.
  • Managed Security: End-to-end protection including firewalls, antivirus, and vulnerability scanning.
  • Smart Biz: A bundled solution for small businesses including Wi-Fi, security, and internet.

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Buying Guide: Altafiber

Everything you need to evaluate Altafiber— from features and pricing to implementation and security.

Introduction

Welcome to the Comprehensive Buying Guide for Altafiber (formerly Cincinnati Bell). As a leading provider of integrated communications and IT solutions, Altafiber has evolved from a regional telecommunications utility into a sophisticated fiber-optic powerhouse serving the Greater Cincinnati area and beyond. This guide is designed to help IT leaders, procurement specialists, and business owners evaluate Altafiber’s extensive portfolio, which spans high-speed symmetric internet, managed SD-WAN, unified communications, and enterprise-grade security. Whether you are looking to modernize your branch office connectivity or seeking a local partner for complex cloud networking, this guide provides the technical and strategic insights necessary to determine if Altafiber is the right fit for your organization’s digital infrastructure.

Key Features

  • Dedicated Internet Access (DIA): Symmetric upload/download speeds up to 100Gbps with 99.99% uptime SLAs, backed by a wholly-owned fiber-optic backbone.
  • Managed SD-WAN: Centralized network management that optimizes traffic flow across multiple connection types, improving application performance for remote and branch offices.
  • Unified Communications (UCaaS): Fully managed voice, video, and messaging solutions, including deep integration with Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex to replace legacy PBX systems.
  • Enhanced Security Suite: Layered defense including Managed Firewall, DDoS mitigation, and endpoint protection, often bundled directly with connectivity services.
  • Cloud Connect: Private, low-latency connections to major cloud providers, bypassing the public internet for increased security and predictable performance.
  • Data Center Services: Colocation and cloud hosting services through their subsidiary brands, offering high-density power and cooling for enterprise workloads.

Use Cases

  • Hospitality/Healthcare: Providing high-density Wi-Fi and symmetric fiber to support guest services and large-scale EHR (Electronic Health Record) transfers without latency.
  • Manufacturing: Connecting remote plants via SD-WAN to ensure real-time synchronization of ERP systems and IoT sensor data.
  • Professional Services (Law/Finance): Implementing UCaaS to allow attorneys or advisors to maintain a single business identity across mobile and desktop devices while ensuring call recording compliance.
  • Retail: Using Altafiber's managed security and secondary wireless failover (LTE/5G) to ensure 100% "always-on" credit card processing and POS connectivity.

Pricing Models

  • Contract Terms: Typically offered in 12, 36, or 60-month terms. Longer terms significantly reduce monthly recurring costs (MRC) and installation fees.
  • Tiered Bandwidth: Internet pricing is based on committed information rates (CIR).
  • Per-Seat Licensing: For UCaaS and Hosted Voice, pricing is usually on a per-user, per-month basis.
  • Service Level Agreements (SLAs): Premium pricing tiers include aggressive "four-nines" uptime guarantees and faster Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) commitments.
  • Additional Costs: Construction charges (if fiber is not present), equipment rental fees, and regulatory surcharges.

Technical Requirements

  • On-Premise Infrastructure: Sufficient rack space, cooling, and power (UPS) for terminated fiber equipment (ONT/NID) and routers.
  • Internal Cabling: Cat6 or higher for internal LAN to support gigabit speeds; Multi-mode or Single-mode fiber for 10G+ handoffs.
  • Network Hardware: Compatibility with BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) if the customer is managing their own IP space.
  • Browser/OS: Modern web browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) for accessing the management portals.
  • Power: Standard 110V AC power for most edge devices; DC power options available for telco-grade environments.

Business Requirements

  • Executive Sponsorship: Required for digital transformation initiatives, particularly when migrating from legacy copper/MPLS to fiber and SD-WAN.
  • IT Skillsets: While Altafiber offers managed services, internal teams should understand basic networking concepts and cloud architecture to maximize the value of SD-WAN and Cloud Connect.
  • Change Management: Migration to new UCaaS platforms (like Teams or Webex) requires a user adoption plan and internal training.
  • Site Access Coordination: Implementation requires physical access to facilities for fiber builds and equipment installation, necessitating coordination with facilities management.

Implementation Timeline

  1. Discovery & Design (2-4 Weeks): Site surveys, bandwidth assessments, and architectural design for SD-WAN or UCaaS.
  2. Fiber Construction (4-12+ Weeks): If fiber is not already "lit" at the building, this phase involves permitting, trenching, and cabling. This is the most variable phase.
  3. Hardware & Configuration (2-3 Weeks): Staging of routers, firewalls, and IP phones.
  4. Migration & Porting (1-2 Weeks): For voice services, this involves porting existing numbers to the new platform.
  5. Testing & Go-Live (1 Week): Final circuit testing, failover validation, and user hand-off. Total estimated time: 3 to 6 months for complex enterprise deployments.

Support Options

  • Network Operations Center (NOC): 24/7/365 US-based monitoring and support.
  • Dedicated Account Management: Enterprise-tier customers receive a dedicated account manager and technical sales engineer.
  • Professional Services: On-site installation, cabling, and complex network architecture consulting are available.
  • Online Portal: Self-service dashboard for ticketing, billing, and real-time bandwidth monitoring.
  • Response Times: Standard 4-hour on-site response for critical fiber outages in most service areas.

Integration Requirements

  • Cloud Connectivity: Direct on-ramps to major CSPs (AWS, Azure, GCP) via private Layer 2 or Layer 3 connections.
  • Voice Integration: Support for SIP Trunking into legacy PBX systems or full integration with Microsoft Teams (Direct Routing/Operator Connect) and Cisco Webex.
  • API Access: Available for managed SD-WAN platforms to allow customers to pull performance data into their own monitoring dashboards.
  • Hardware Interoperability: Standard Ethernet handoffs (RJ45 or Fiber) compatible with all major enterprise networking hardware (Cisco, Juniper, Fortinet, etc.).

Security & Compliance

  • Network Security: Carrier-grade DDoS protection and automated threat monitoring at the network core.
  • Compliance: Services are designed to support customers in HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and SOC2 compliant environments.
  • Physical Security: Data centers feature biometric access, 24/7 surveillance, and redundant power/cooling.
  • Managed Security: Includes UTM (Unified Threat Management) features like URL filtering, intrusion prevention (IPS), and sandboxing.

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