Hawaiian Telcom today launched the state's fastest residential Internet service.

The cost of the new high-speed service is $39.99 a month for 7-megabit-per-second download speeds and $49.99 for 11-megabit-per-second download speeds when paired with Hawaiian Telcom landline service. The service offers upload speeds of 1 megabit per second. Hawaiian Telcom's myChoice bundle customers can upgrade from 3-megabit-per-second to 7-megabit-per-second service for an additional $4 a month. Business-class services are also available.

The new high-speed Internet service is available in metro and East Honolulu, 'Ewa, Mililani, Waipahu and Wahiawa. It's also available in Hilo and in Makawao on Maui. Hawaiian Telcom is working to expand the new service throughout the state.

"This acceleration in speed establishes a performance benchmark against which all other providers will be measured," said Mike Ruley, Hawaiian Telcom's chief executive officer. "Our investment in our next generation high-speed Internet provides broadband access using the most advanced technology available and brings us another step closer to priming our network for the delivery of our digital video service."

Hawaiian Telcom said it invested more than $100 million during the past two years into systems and network upgrades that made the launch possible.

Oceanic Time Warner Cable offers a competing service called Road Runner Turbo, which offers 8-megabit-per-second download speeds coupled with 512-kilobit-per-second upload speeds for an added $9.95 a month. The basic price for Road Runner Internet service is $44.95 a month, though rates are lower when bundled with other services.

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com.