Gigapower – SomeGadgetGuy

December 7, 2015

AT&T to Launch Gigabit Internet Service in Los Angeles

Competition folks. I want more competition. AT&T is pushing forward with their GigaPower fiber internet roll out, and it looks like a major ISP finally has their sights on the Los Angeles Metro area.

“Fast, affordable Internet is essential for today’s cities,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “Having high-speed digital communications infrastructure is as important as ensuring that we can efficiently deliver electricity, transportation, clean water, and lighted streets to Angelenos. The ultra-fast AT&T Gigapower service will help L.A.’s students, entrepreneurs, and families succeed and help our city’s economy grow.”

Starting with West Palm Beach, Big Blue will be expanding their gigabit footprint over 2016 for businesses and residential areas. This expansion follows their merger with DirectTV which U-Verse customer can subscribe to for multimedia content.

It’s exciting news for those of us in Southern California. Hopefully soon we’ll have more competition for faster broadband services. You can read the full press release below. Continue reading “AT&T to Launch Gigabit Internet Service in Los Angeles”

February 17, 2015February 16, 2015

AT&T to Match Google Fiber Speeds and Pricing in Kansas City

I’ve said it before. I’ll say it again.

The fastest way to improve an industry’s service or pricing is to introduce more competition. For the broadband industry, we’ve been watching traditional cable and DSL providers scramble to improve their offerings in areas where Google or publicly funded efforts are rolling out fiber to home internet.

AT&T has announced plans to match Google’s price and performance in areas around Kansas City. Gigabit broadband will cost $70, and combined with a basic TV package will increase that rate to $120.

It’s interesting to note that AT&T will also be courting businesses as Google currently only offers their fiber solution to residential areas. AT&T is already operating their “Gigapower” version of U-Verse in Austin, and there has been talk of expanding to more areas around the country this year. Moving to Kansas City is a clear shot at the area Google started their fiber roll out.

With Google announcing more cities on their list for gigabit internet, it would seem the broadband market might be heating up a bit, especially as cable providers like Time Warner and Comcast seem ill-equipped to offer competitive speeds and pricing compared to fiber providers.

You can read AT&T’s full press release below.

Continue reading “AT&T to Match Google Fiber Speeds and Pricing in Kansas City”

April 21, 2014

AT&T Looking to Bring 1Gbps Fiber to 21 Major Metro Areas

Competition is good.

AT&T is looking to bring 1Gbps fiber internet connections to over 100 cities and municipalities. On the list are 21 major metropolitan areas including my current home city Los Angeles.

“Californians are inventing and adopting new technologies every day. With today’s announcement, we stand ready to work with local leaders to bring AT&T U-verse with GigaPower to our state. This incredible technology will enable California entrepreneurs to innovate like never before and will give consumers the choice of an ultra-fast fiber network connection,” AT&T’s California President, Ken McNeely said.

Comcast has been upgrading connections to 100Mbps (one tenth the speed of gigabit fiber), Verizon has been stagnant with its FiOS offerings, but apparently the slow pressure building from Google Fiber was enough to move Big Blue to start offering up “GigaPower” to more consumers and businesses.

Whoever can run a line to my house first wins my business and some fresh baked brownies. You can read the full press release below.

Continue reading “AT&T Looking to Bring 1Gbps Fiber to 21 Major Metro Areas”

April 10, 2014

AT&T to Beat Google in Offering Gigabit Fiber in North Carolina

Competition is good. Even the threat of competition from companies like Google is spurring more traditional carriers and ISP’s to step up their game. Pricing is getting better in “threat” areas, and speeds are starting to improve. Google doesn’t even need their own Fiber service to be profitable for this experiment to be successful, so long as potential Google customers have access to the next generation of web, media, and advertising services.

Case in point, AT&T is already putting out rumblings of offering their GigaPower Fiber to another community outside of Texas. Residents in North Carolina might soon their broadband increase to 1Gbps over the next two years. This investment should also improve their LTE and WiFi hotspot offerings in the area.

Coming on the heels of Google’s announcement that they were examining expanding Fiber to 33 new cities over the coming years, traditional ISP’s are starting to take the threat seriously. It’s no longer a passing oddity, and are starting to proactively respond. Consumers only stand to benefit so long as competition is increased.

Full AT&T PR below.

Continue reading “AT&T to Beat Google in Offering Gigabit Fiber in North Carolina”