Superfast fiber cyberspace — foretell download speeds of a 1000 megabits per second — is a tantalizing but far - off aspect for many people , and even those who hold up in major cities often ca n’t access it . It ’s exciting , then , when news comes along that a cock-a-hoop cyberspace service provider will expand its fiber access .
To smidgin : AT&Tannouncedyesterday that it will thrive its fiber - to - the - home servicing in 17 metro domain , adding 50 new cities to the mix . newfangled urban center admit Tuscaloosa , AL , Escondido , CA , and Bloomington , IN . The fiber bundle in San Diego and New Orleans willstartat $ 80 a calendar month , rising to $ 119 after the first year .
AT&T ’s expansion is particularly notable given that Google , one of its main competitor , has beenretreatingfast on its fiber plans — it’sreassigning workers , for example , and putting expansion planson hold . Just this week , it emerged that Kansas City resident who had beenpromisedGoogle Fiber will no longer get the service of process . The company later assure the Kansas City Star that it would be “ retard mental synthesis in some areas until we can layer in the unexampled deployment models we ’re grow . ” ( In an added tongue - twist , AT&T willexpandinto an sphere of Kansas City — the first city to receive Google Fiber service — that Google currently does n’t serve . )
https://gizmodo.com/google-fiber-halts-operations-in-ten-cities-1788214992
So why do n’t we all have fibre , and why is it address as such a gift from our corporate gods when new expanse finally get access ? Above all else , fiber is atrociously expensive to deploy . To get those gigabit speeds , supplier need to prod trenches to scarper their own cables to each home , which mean getting a lot of permit to dig those trenches . BothGoogleandAT&Tare experiment with ways to reduce these problems , like wireless fibre , which reduces the cost of bringing roughage directly to mass ’s homes ( the so - called “ last mile”problem ) .
Of course , AT&T has something of an an reward in all broadband deployment matters , thanks to the advantages of term of office : notably , it has a head - start in both physical infrastructure ( owning utility perch ) and political clout . It ’s also get out of its way to make it harder for new providers to vie . In Nashville , for instance , AT&Tsuedthe metropolis over a Google - backed policy to speed up the unconscious process for deploying fiber to utility pole by allowing one contractile organ to make all necessary change on a pole . Under the former policy , each company had to send off its own locomotive engineer to move its own wires , which is part of why Google was only able todeployto 33 Pole out of 88,000 by September last year . ( That case is still ongoing . )
When reached by email , a Google spokesperson declined to comment on AT&T ’s newfangled design . When reporters ask Google about their fiber plan , the companionship take a firm stand that it ’s still consecrate fiber , such as inLouisville , another city it announce it would expand into last year , and is only changing how it deploy the overhaul .
The independent question with AT&T ’s expansion plans , at least , is who these newfangled build - outs will serve . This is n’t the first time AT&T hasannounceda braggart new expansion and come up short in terms of in reality reach young customers . There was no news in this promulgation of whether AT&T would be amplify its fiber service in poorareasof Cleveland , for example , which are desperately underserved . Let ’s hope the raw inspection and repair in places like New Orleans , with itsstaggeringincome inequality , is n’t as dramatically divided as it is in Cleveland .
AT&TGoogle
Daily Newsletter
Get the good technical school , skill , and polish word in your inbox daily .
News from the future , delivered to your present .
Please take your desired newssheet and submit your email to upgrade your inbox .
You May Also Like
