AT&T is thinking about bringing 1 Gbps Internet to 21 U.S. metro areas

[Poke]

Faster is better.

http://www.neowin.net/news/att-is-thinking-about-bringing-1-gbps-internet-to-21-us-metro-areas

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

Hey AT&T,Grovetown-Ft. Gordon is part of the Augusta,GA metro area. If you are going to do this,don't leave us out.

 

[maestro7]

Faster is better.

http://www.neowin.net/news/att-is-thinking-about-bringing-1-gbps-internet-to-21-us-metro-areas

I guess I'm a little confused about all this.

My family and I live on the eastern side of metro Atlanta where -- since the end of last year -- several AT&T reps with whom I've spoke (in person and on phone) had said that the company had lots of intentions to expand their U-verse drops all around the metro area. Yet, when we happened to go with Comcast HSI and then downgraded (and now cut) our DSL from 3Mbps to 768k, not only could we get no more than 1.5Mbps if we ever signed up again, but there are no promises that our last mile would ever get upgraded via VRADs or what not.

So, if it is true that a 1Gbps connection would effectively require fiber to the curb (at least), and talking with Comcast confirms that 100Mpbs is already available with them but higher speeds to require fiber provisioning, and if it's true that AT&T hasn't been very keen on keeping up with their landline business (except for the fact that U-verse is actually a money-maker for them), I'm wondering how AT&T moves from "thinking about" deploying such wide-scale fiber to actually doing it, and doing it in a reasonable time frame to keep folks from going with Google Fiber or Comcast?

Practically, I don't see AT&T being able to go much faster than Google fiber due to permitting processes, much less the amount of money it would take to do such a nationwide deployment, or even if there's a big enough market at a low enough price-point to where this type of initiative would be profitable.

Further, as an AT&T shareholder, I've seen no mentions in their annual report about any other significant projects (outside of Project VIP, which was geared towards widespread distribution of U-Verse, and even that to 75Mbps in some places) that AT&T was throwing billions upon billions of dollars at (which is what it would take).

Maybe someone else has some insight here?

 

[dangue]

I'm all for this. Increased speeds and increased competition are a good thing. If this happens around here (Oakland metro area), it will force Comcast to compete to retain customers like me.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[lern4483]

Ft Lauderdale area! That would be nice!

 

[LER]

I'm lucky, as I live in the Austin, TX metro area, in a new FTTP(Fiber to the premises) area for ATT U-Verse. I have the gigapower internet service, and so far, it's doing what it's supposed to. (Currently 300meg/300meg, with 1G/1G coming this summer, supposedly).

I do hope they expand the footprint

 

[gpollock87]

I wish they would do some upgrades to my area