Google Fiber sign-ups are now open in Charlotte, North Carolina. Specifically, both residents and businesses in the Highland Creek neighborhood will be able to join one of three plans. The Charlotte expansion was announced at the beginning of last year along with Atlanta, Nashville, and Raleigh-Durham.
Those lucky enough to live in a city with Google Fiber will soon receive an update that essentially turns their current TV Box into a Chromecast. As the TV Box is already hooked up to a television, users will be able to stream music, video, and apps without making changes to their current setup.
Google I/O officially kicks off tomorrow, but this evening AT&T has taken some wind out of the company’s sails. AT&T has announced that it is brining its Google Fiber competitor to the Bay Area in California. The company says that its GigaPower service is now available in “parts of” San Francisco, San Jose, Dublin, Mountain View, Santa Clara and San Ramon.
We heard earlier this month that Google was planning to offer Fiber customers the option of a wireless service within its existing coverage areas, but a Re/code interview suggests that the company also sees wireless as a way to extend its reach beyond cities.
In an interview with Re/code, Access CEO Craig Barratt, who oversees Fiber, said the company is working on connecting wireless towers to existing fiber lines, and that it is “experimenting with a number of different wireless technologies” to make that happen.
Barratt said that adding wireless into the mix was a way to extend Google’s high-speed broadband service to areas where laying down optical fiber wouldn’t be economic …
When Google Fiber first launched in Kansas City, it did so with the promise of free internet, as long as customers paid for their installation. While subscribers could opt to pay $25 per month for 12 months to cover the $300 installation fee, internet usage was completely free. There was one caveat however: Download speeds were limited to just 5Mbps. Now, Google has replaced this Basic Tier with a 100Mbps plan and rebranded its two other tiers.
Earlier this year, Google began inviting certain Fiber customers to test out a home phone service. Today, the Mountain View company is officially adding a Fiber Phone service to the internet and cable TV services they already provide thus becoming a triple play provider…
We told you a couple of days ago that Google was building a crane game for SXSW attendees, and last night we finally had a chance to try it out for ourselves. Appropriately dubbed “I’m Feeling Lucky,” the huge crane game offers some free swag from the variety of products the Mountain View company offers via its online retail presence (with no SXSW badge required!)…
ArsTechnica reports that AT&T is going to court to prevent Google Fiber getting immediate access to its utility poles in Louisville, potentially delaying Google’s plans to launch its high-speed broadband service in the city.
AT&T’s lawsuit in US District Court in Louisville says the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government’s ordinance is invalid because it conflicts with and is preempted by the Federal Communications Commission’s pole attachment regulations. AT&T also argues that under Kentucky law, only the state Public Service Commission has jurisdiction to regulate pole attachments.
AT&T is planning its own fiber service in the city, but insists that the case has nothing to do with Google …
Google is on a role with their Fiber deployment. This Monday, they announced Fiber service is coming to Huntsville, Alabama. Today, they’ve announced that Fiber will be coming to certain properties in San Francisco.
Google Fiber, part of Alphabet’s Access unit, is up and running in four cities and work is underway in another six. Fiber’s expansion into Huntsville, Alabama will be slightly different in that Google will be using the fiber network that the city is already building.
As part of giving back to the community, Google is providing free gigabit internet service to residents in all public housing where Fiber is deployed. This is a change from an announcement last year where only some in public housing would get free Fiber.
The Washington Post has gotten its hands on an invitation that reveals that Google is experimenting with adding a phone service to Google Fiber. Currently, Fiber only has internet and cable, but the addition of a Google Voice-like phone service would bring it in line with packages from other providers.
Google, or rather Alphabet’s Fiber division, is investigating bringing their service to Los Angeles and Chicago. The two cities are significant in that they’d be the largest areas Fiber has worked with. This is hot off the news that AT&T will be expanding gigabit internet to 38 metropolitan areas by the end of next year.
Population-wise, Los Angeles and Chicago are the second and third largest cities in the US, with Google noting a combined population of over six million people. Google notes how Fiber could positively benefit the two cities’ startup scenes.
Currently, the process is still at an investigative state and there is no guarantee Google will bring Fiber to the two cities. The company is going through their checklist process and will be in discussion with city leaders. According to their checklist document, cities have six weeks to meet Fiber’s requirements. Afterwards, Google deliberates and reviews for an unspecified amount of time.
Including these two cities, there are 11 other cities being investigated for Google Fiber deployment. The service is currently up and running in three cities, with upcoming installs in another six. For comparison, AT&T’s gigabit internet service is already up and running in parts of Los Angeles and a total of 18 other areas.
Per an earlier report, Google Fiber is being spun off from Google as part of the Alphabet re-org. The Access and Energy division also includes the OnHub router, Project Link, Project Sunroof, and Project Titan.
Craig Barrat was previously Google’s SVP of “access and energy,” but now he leads an Alphabet unit as CEO. That unit is called Access and Energy, and includes Google’s Fiber division as well as several other access and energy-related products (as Google’s Ruth Porat noted in its Q3 2015 earnings call). Now, thanks to an extensive profile of Access today out of Re/code, we have a little bit more of an idea of exactly which projects fall under this group…
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Google Fiber is slowly but surely gaining momentum, and the Mountain View company just last month announced that it began exploring Irvine, Louisville, and San Diego as potential cities for the service. Today, it looks like there are three more cities being added to the “maybe one day” list (which is definitely an upgrade from the “who knows” list most cities are still on): Oklahoma City, Oklahom, Jacksonville, Florida, and Tampa, Florida.
Google says these “growing tech hubs” have a “strong entrepreneurial spirit”:
That’s why today, we’re inviting Oklahoma City, OK, Jacksonville, FL and Tampa, FL, to explore bringing Google Fiber to their communities, as we did last month with three other cities. These growing tech-hubs have a strong entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to small business growth. Their list of accolades is long—from Jacksonville’s title as a top 10 city for tech jobs, to Tampa Bay’s #2 spot on the list of best cities for young entrepreneurs, to Oklahoma City’s recognition as the #1 city to launch a business. One of our goals is to make sure speed isn’t an accidental ceiling for how people and businesses use the Web, and these cities are the perfect places to show what’s possible with gigabit Internet.
There are currently 3 Fiber cities, and 6 that are definitely on the way. This announcement leaves us with 9 cities that Google has designated as potentials, with the other 6 being Portland, San Jose, Irving, San Diego, Louisville, and Phoenix. Now, Google is going to start the “joint planning process” in collaboration with the three new cities’ local leaders to study their respective communities. Now it’s just a waiting game for those lucky enough to reside in these cities.
Google today has announced that it is launching a brand new training facility for Google Fiber in Atlanta, Georgia. In a blog post on the official Fiber blog, Google announced that it is introducing the Google Fiber Academy in Atlanta…
5G could even make Google Fiber look slow …
Early tests of Verizon’s 5G technology show that it can achieve connection speeds 30-50 times faster than 4G/LTE – above the speeds offered by Google Fiber’s gigabit wired broadband. Even better, the company expects to have “some level of commercial deployment” by 2017, some three years earlier than expected, reports CNET.
To put that speed difference into perspective, the movie Guardians of the Galaxy would take around six minutes to download over a good LTE connection – while 5G would have it downloaded to your device in just 15 seconds …
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Following a trial period in Palo Alto, Kansas City was the first city to get Google Fiber. Today, Google (Alphabet?) has announced that its offerings in Kansas City are expanding, as some addresses in Olathe East are now eligible for Gigabit Internet + TV.
As you may be aware, Google founder Larry Page said when Alphabet was launched that Fiber would become its own subsidiary under the newly-formed conglomerate, sitting independent of Google with its own CEO. For now, the company is still operating under the Google Fiber name.
If you’re a resident of the Olathe East area and have been patiently waiting for access to Fiber, you can now head over to the Fiber website and give it your address. If your residence is located within the blue area shown below, chances are that you’re now eligible.
Google has announced today that the company is bringing its Fiber Internet service to San Antonio, the second city in Texas to get the service and the company’s “largest Fiber city to date”:
Fast growing cities need Internet speeds that can keep up with their progress. For the 1.4 million residents of San Antonio, one of the biggest and fastest growing cities in the country, this is truer than ever. Which is why, today, we’re proud to announce that Google Fiber is coming to San Antonio—the largest Fiber city to date.
Rollout of Fiber even in the Austin area — which has been an official Fiber city for quite a while — has been very slow, and Google says that it is only just now entering the “design phase” of building out Fiber in the San Antonio area. It’s going to be a while before residential customers can actually get on board.
Most recently, Google announced that it is launching a program to bring completely free internet access to public and affordable housing residents in four of its Google Fiber markets — part of President Barack Obama’s ConnectHome initiative. San Antonio was recently selected for ConnectHome as well.
Google announced today that it is launching a program to bring completely free internet access to public and affordable housing residents in four of its Google Fiber markets. The initiative is part of President Barack Obama’s ConnectHome initiative, which hopes to bring broadband connections to low-income households in communities across the United States…
The web is where we go to connect with people, learn new subjects, and find opportunities for personal and economic growth. But not everyone benefits from all the web has to offer. As many as 26% of households earning less than $30,000 per year don’t access the Internet, compared to just 3% of adults with annual incomes over $75,000. Google Fiber is working to change that. Today, in all of our Google Fiber markets, we’re launching a program to connect residents in select public and affordable housing properties for $0/month with no installation fee.
Google says that the program aims to bring Internet to children and families living in homes under the assistance of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This currently includes 27 communities, four of which are Google Fiber markets where the Mountain View company will be able to contribute: Atlanta, Durham, Nashville and Kansas City. Google says it’s coming to future Fiber markets as well.
Even though Google announced in December of last year that sign-ups for its Fiber TV and Internet service were live to residents of southern and southeastern Austin, they’ve actually been opened and closed several times. Sign-ups are going live in the southeastern section yet again today, according to the official Twitter account for the company’s broadband cable and Internet subsidiary.
Google Fiber’s VP of access services Milo Medin says that while the company is a strong supporter of net neutrality, what consumers really need is legislation that enables greater competition in the broadband market. FierceTelecom reported Medin’s remarks in a keynote speed at the Comptel conference.
No consumers are seeing higher speeds than before the order was passed; no consumers are paying less for their Internet services than what they were paying for; no consumers are seeing higher volume caps that they had before; and no consumers have additional choice of providers than they had before.
Governments cannot legislate for better customer service, he said, but they can pass laws that increase competition in the market, and this is what will make the most difference to consumers …
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Comcast has come out today to announce that they’re prepping to beat Google Fiber to Atlanta—but they’re not just going for par; the company wants to one-up the offerings of Google and AT&T by introducing previously unheard-of 2Gbps residential Internet service. It will be “the fastest residential Internet speed in the country,” the infamous media conglomerate says.
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Google announced today that Salt Lake City will be the next location to receive the company’s Google Fiber TV and Internet service as the city begins preparing for the fiber network alongside other recently announced additions. Back in January Google announced Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville and Raleigh-Durham would be the next locations to receive the Fiber service.
Google noted that Salt Lake City is currently in the Design phase as it looks to “work closely with these cities to map out just where to lay our fiber-optic cables” over the coming months:
There’s a lot of work ahead; as the new Associate City Manager for Google Fiber in Salt Lake City, I can’t wait to see what the city does with superfast Internet… Every mile of this super-fast network has to be planned – we can’t just put it anywhere. We use the data shared with us to create a map of where we can build (based on existing utility poles and water, gas, and electricity lines).
After the Design phase, Google will enter construction mode and begin laying down its fiber optic cable before accepting sign ups from customers and starting installation into homes. The company has a webpage tracking progress of Fiber in Salt Lake City here.
