AT&T St. Louis GigaPower move part of rise in broadband speeds

AT&T is challenging dominant cable operator Charter for high-speed broadband service in the St. Louis area. AT&T said it would bring its 1 Gbps GigaPower fiber/copper network to residential and business customers in parts of the metro area.

This follows a June move by Charter which increased its lowest-level broadband from 30 Mbps (downstream) to 100 Mbps in St. Louis. Charter, a multiple-systems operator (MSO) has been marketing its all-digital “Charter Spectrum” upgrade in other areas as well.

This is by no means an isolated phenomenon. A story in The Washington Post notes that introduction of high-speed fiber – like that offered by Google and some municipalities – has a whipsaw effect. The hope, they wrote, “... is that they will nudge existing Internet service providers to upgrade their networks.s”

The Post’s story is based on a report from Gig.U, From Gigabit Testbeds to the “Game of Gigs”, which was covered in Speed Matters in August.

AT&T To Bring ‘GigaPower’ To St. Louis (Multichannel News, Sep. 3, 2014)

Faster broadband begets faster broadband, report says (Washington Post, Sep. 2, 2014)

From Gigabit Testbeds to the “Game of Gigs” (Gig.U, Aug. 2014)

Gig.U reports good news (Speed Matters, Aug. 25, 2014)