google fiber

AT&T discovers North Carolina

1 February 2015 by Steve Blum
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It’s tough work chasing Google.

AT&T is going on a hiring binge in North Carolina. According to a press release it issued on Friday…

AT&T today announced it is looking to fill nearly 100 new technician positions in North Carolina…

In North Carolina, AT&T launched U-verse with AT&T GigaPower Dec. 8 in Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Raleigh and Winston-Salem, and also plans to bring the service to Durham, Charlotte and Greensboro. U-verse with AT&T GigaPower provides customers access to the fastest Internet available from AT&T, featuring speeds up to 1 gigabit per second.

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Surprise, Google's fiber announcement didn't make everyone happy

29 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Maybe if they threw in some free beer?

Tuesday’s formal announcement that Google Fiber is heading for 18 cities in four southeastern U.S. metro areas is getting a generally warm and happy reception. But not universally. Grumbles are coming in two flavors: the who in the world needs all this sort – relatively rare so far – and the why not me variety, which is more common.

It has to be frustrating to want fiber to the home service and live in the next city over from one of the blessed.… More

Answers to the three big questions Google Fiber ducked on the way south

28 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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Along with a posse of elected officials, Google held four press events in southern states yesterday to formally announce the metro areas and cities picked for fiber to the home builds:

  • Atlanta, Georgia and the nearby cities of Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, College Park, Decatur, East Point, Hapeville, Sandy Springs and Smyrna.
  • Charlotte, North Carolina.
  • The Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina metro area, including those two cities plus Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Garner and Morrisville.
  • Nashville-Davidson, Tennessee.

The next step is to do the necessary, detailed engineering work, a process that’s expected to take several months to complete.… More

Video of Google's North Carolina press conference is online

27 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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WRAL-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina covered this afternoon’s press event there. Which included governor Pat McCrory, seven mayors from the area and Google representatives. The video is available here.

Lots of good words were spoken about fiber, gigabits, Google and North Carolina. The prepared announcement read by Google exec Michael Slinger pretty much tracked with the press release Google posted earlier today. He cited the “passion, commitment and dedication” that the seven Raleigh-Durham area cities brought to the process as key reasons for chosing them.… More

Google confirms fiber in South Carolina, Nashville, Atlanta, other cities told to wait

27 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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It’s confirmed: Google has decided to build out fiber to the home systems in four metro areas: Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte in North Carolina, Nashville and Atlanta.

The remaining five metros under consideration – Silicon Valley, Portland, San Antonio, Phoenix and Salt Lake City – are still officially in the maybe column. All Google will say is that they’re “continuing to explore” those areas and will have something more to say “later this year”.

Google Fiber hops to the southeast, no word for the west

27 January 2015 by Steve Blum
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The west end of an eastbound rabbit.

Today looks like the day we’ll find out where Google Fiber’s next cities will be. Rumors have been swirling for a couple of days and went from fuzzy to sharp yesterday when Google sent out invitations for press events in several cities, with no particular purpose stated. So far, it looks like the winners are going to be in the southeastern U.S.

Newspapers and websites in the Atlanta, Georgia area report receiving a message saying “You’re invited to join city leaders and Google for a press conference tomorrow, January 27 at 1 p.m.… More

No Google Fiber in Christmas stockings for hopeful cities

26 December 2014 by Steve Blum
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Naughty or nice? Google won’t say.

The 34 communities across the U.S. that were hoping Google would come down the chimney yesterday and leave a fiber-to-the-home project under the tree will have to wait to find out if they made it onto the nice list. Back in February, Google said it would pick the winners by the end of the year, but it’s told prospective communities it’s going to take a little longer than they thought.… More

Decision time nears for Google Fiber expansion

7 December 2014 by Steve Blum
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With Austin done and dusted, the next big decision point on Google’s fiber-to-the-home odyssey is: which cities will make the short list for the next round of builds? Back in May, after the deadline had passed for 34 cities to submit their responses to Google’s fiber ready checklist, the company said “We still plan to announce which cities will get Google Fiber by the end of the year“.

Well, it’s the end of the year.… More

Google Fiber sticks to $70 for a gig in Austin, TV costs more

6 December 2014 by Steve Blum
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Google Fiber is taking sign-ups in limited areas in the Austin, Texas area. Following the same path it took in the Kansas City area, Google says it’ll pick which neighborhoods – fiberhoods as it calls them – to build first based on the number of committed subscribers…

Whether you’re in a home, apartment, or a small business, you’ll notice that getting Google Fiber is a little different. We don’t choose which areas get Fiber — you and your neighbors do.

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

25 September 2014 by Steve Blum
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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