austin – Steve Blum's Blog

Google's bootprint in Austin won't be Texas-sized

15 October 2014 by Steve Blum
att, austin, broadband, ftth, google

Click for a somewhat bigger version.

Google Fiber plans to start offering gigabit service in a handful of Austin neighborhoods in December. That’s the word from a press conference held by Google earlier today. Details are sketchy so far – all I could find in the way of coverage this afternoon was a brief write-up on a website published by a local newspaper, Community Impact.

The article, bylined by Joe Lanane, identifies Austin’s South Lamar, Zilker, Bouldin and Travis Heights neighborhoods as ground zero, and quotes Mark Strama, Google’s local manager, as saying…

That is where we will start—that is not where we will finish…Not every part of Austin will get fiber, but all areas will have the opportunity, and we will build in the areas with the highest demand.”

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Is Google Fiber making a power (zone) play in Austin?

25 September 2014 by Steve Blum
austin, broadband, community networks, google fiber, muni broadband

Google has finally broken ground in Austin, Texas for its third fiber-to-the-home project. The announcement came in a blog post, complete with a couple of pictures that show guys boring a hole in the ground for conduit and doing something – it’s not clear what – with a power transformer on a utility pole.

Yes, the guy in the bucket truck is working in the power zone – the area of the the pole reserved for electrical distribution.… More

San Antonio makes a fast move for Google fiber

14 March 2014 by Steve Blum
austin, broadband, ftth, google, public policy, san antonio

Open the gates. It’s Google.

Wasting no time in working through Google Fiber’s checklist, the San Antonio city council approved a master lease agreement yesterday that would give Google the right to build 40 or so fiber huts – 12 by 26 foot shelters for the electronic equipment that powers fiber-to-the-home systems – on city property at an annual lease rate of $2,250 per site.
“It will probably be difficult to overstate the importance of this vote – akin to turning on the lights in San Antonio” said councilman Ron Nirenberg.… More

If you don't believe Google Fiber is serious about city cooperation, maybe you'll listen to AT&T

10 March 2014 by Steve Blum
att, austin, broadband, dallas, ftth, google fiber, public policy

The odds of attracting FTTH investment depends on a lot more than luck.

AT&T was jolted into finding a fiber-to-the-home business case in Austin after Google Fiber said it was making the Texas capital and surrounding suburbs its next stop after Kansas City. But regardless of how it happened, AT&T is now singing in the FTTH choir. According to Fierce Telecom, CEO Randall Stephenson told an investment conference audience that the initiative, branded “Gigapower” is ready to roll out in Dallas this summer and other cities where it makes sense…

The market adoption and the performance of our U-verse Gigapower technology has been very, very encouraging…in fact, we’re so encouraged that we want to begin taking this to other communities.

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Google's fiber crusade rolls on in Austin, sorta

24 January 2014 by Steve Blum
att, austin, broadband, community networks, ftth, google

Some were shouting ‘Texas number one!’

AT&T will, it says, expand the reach of its fiber-to-the-home network in Austin, Texas. The company claimed, in a breathless press release, that uptake of its 300 Mbps service has been more energetic than expected…

“Austin’s response to our blazing fast broadband and enhanced TV services has been incredible and validates why we decided to roll this out in Austin first,” said Dahna Hull, vice president and general manager, Austin, AT&T Services Inc.

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Google says tear down local policy barriers to get faster broadband

28 October 2013 by Steve Blum
austin, broadband, cetf, comcast, ftth, google, kansas city, provo, public policy

No red tape to be seen.

“In Kansas City, my crews don’t wait for inspectors, the inspectors wait for them”, said Milo Medin, the head of Google Fiber. “We work with communities that make it easy for us. if you make it hard on us, enjoy your cable connection.”

Medin spoke last week to organisations funded by the California Emerging Technology Fund at a meeting hosted by Google in Mountain View. His message was that upgrading broadband infrastructure, improving service and lowering costs is an economic driver that should be proactively supported by policy makers and public agencies.… More