Downtown Detroit Will Soon Be Home To Super-Fast ‘Rocket’ Fiber Internet Service

Dan Gilbert, majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, is no stranger to making bold claims. After LeBron James left the Cavs to sign with the Miami Heat several years ago, he made a personal "guarantee that the Cleveland Cavaliers will win an NBA Championship before the self-titled former 'King' wins one," a statement he typed in all caps for emphasis. It didn't work out that way, though he's still making big promises, the latest of which is that an Internet Service Provider (ISP) he's launching will deliver speeds on par with or faster than Google Fiber.

His new ISP is called Rocket Fiber and it will soon roll out to downtown Detroit, Michigan, where he's buying dozens of buildings. According to Detroit Free Press, construction has already begun on the fiber optic network that promises to be 100 times faster than the residential average.

Detroit Lives
Image Source: Flickr (Russ)

At the outset, Rocket Fiber will be available to residents, business, and local governments in the greater downtown area of Detroit. Looking down the line, Gilbert hopes to serve other parts of the city with the same blazing fast Internet service.

It should be noted that Quicken Loans has a data center that's located fairly close to the downtown area where Rocket Fiber is being deployed. Gilbert owns Quicken Loans, along with Rocket Ventures, a company he formed last year to launch the new ISP.

Matt Cullen, president and CEO of Rock Ventures, called the network a "generational leap forward."