Google Fiber expansion continues

Google Fiber, the search giant’s all-fiber Internet service, is already available in the Kansas City area and Provo, Utah. And the company is taking signups in Austin, Texas. Now, Google has announced deployment plans in four southern metro areas: Atlanta; Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; and Nashville. The retail price will be the same as in Kansas City, about $70 a month.

So now Raleigh NC will have three choices of high-speed fiber: Google, AT&T, and the local cable company. But other cities like Boston, Buffalo, and Baltimore, have only one choice: the cable company. Something is wrong with this competitive model.

Google said it was still in talks with five other cities – Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Jose and Portland, Ore. – and would decide whether to expand into those regions later this year.

Google’s move has sparked a build-out war with traditional Internet providers, such as AT&T. As Speed Matters reported, AT&T is currently building 1 Gbps in Austin, Dallas, North Carolina, and has announced plans to launch in up to some hundred additional cities.

And, CenturyLink has announced plans to build all-fiber networks in 13 cities.

These four lucky cities are now officially getting Google Fiber (Washington Post, Jan. 27, 2015)

Google Fiber is coming to Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville and Raleigh-Durham (Google corporate blog, Jan. 27, 2015)
 
AT&T Moving GigaPower fiber to Dallas and suburbs (Speed Matters, Jul. 29, 2014)

CenturyLink aiming for 1 Gbps in 13 new cities (Speed Matters, Oct. 7, 2014)