Thank You For AT&T, Google.

     Recently AT&T announced that they would be bringing their new Gigapower service to the Nashville metropolitan area.

First things first, YAY!!!

     However, in our rush to congratulate ourselves on our good fortune of now having not one but two fiber based internet providers setting up shop in Nashville, let's not forget that we have Google to thank for this.  Sure, AT&T had U-Verse available around here already, but while it's great and all, it's no competitor for Google Fiber.  AT&T didn't even have a Gigapower service until recently.  That new higher tier of speed 'mysteriously' started appearing in markets where Google Fiber was either available now, or coming soon.  Even though I distinctly remember an early press release where AT&T stated that they weren't just now releasing Gigapower as a response to Google Fiber, that's pretty clear that's exactly what's happening.  However they want to spin the project, I'll be happy to take advantage of it.  There's not a lot of specifics, but I can wait for now, since they are slowly but surely making good on their promised expansion.

     AT&T has officially gotten Gigapower up and running in Austin, TX.  It's a pretty big jump when, for a short period, there was a lot of speculation that there would not even be a Gigapower.  AT&T had sent out a flurry of press releases about the many areas they would be expanding this amazing service to, but showed no signs of investing any capital into network infrastructure in those areas.  True, what they've delivered so far is not the 1Gbps that both the name and AT&T themselves promise it will be yet, but progress is being made.  I have seen and heard a lot of people giving AT&T flack for not hitting the ground running with the Gigapower service delivering, well, gigapower.  To that I say, at least some effort is being made, unlike Comcast.

     Comcast seems content to stick their head in the sand and continue to try and strangle every last dollar out of their customers before their business model collapses in on itself.  No doubt in a decade or so, we'll see the company fall apart much like Enron did, leaving the board of directors with well lined pockets living in houses serviced by Google Fiber and the rest of the rank and file scrambling to find a job and rebuild their 401ks.  Comcast is trailing along behind with their highest tier offering up to 108Mbps, about one third AT&T's official starting line with Gigapower and about one tenth of Google's best offerings.  On top of that, they are now introducing data caps top out at 300GB on all their plans, including the aforementioned 108Mbps.  This means that if you actually get the speed promised on your plan, and you were to max that speed out, you could blow through your entire month's allowance in a little more than six and a half hours.

     Bashing on Comcast aside, I have one last thought I want to share about broadband.  It's great that Nashville and Austin are getting some great internet options thanks to Google dragging our country's internet forward kicking and screaming into the 21st century.  A lot of our country is still living in the dark ages of the internet, though.  I want to send a message out to the city councilmen and mayors of the smaller metropolitan areas and townships (whom I'm sure all eagerly await my blog updates): throw money at this problem.  This is one situation I advocate lots of government spending.  Creating a high speed internet infrastructure can bring tech businesses into the region and means a lot of local people can remain local with telecommuting to increase their income.  Higher income means more service based businesses to cater to that income which means more tax revenue flowing in.

     Telecoms want the network to be profitable immediately, and who can blame them?  They aren't in this game for charitable reasons.  A government subsidized utility can afford to take a loss here, when it can result in significant gains elsewhere, and doesn't answer to short sighted investors looking for quick returns over long term viability.  Don't let big companies bully you with threatening to pull out.  Call their bluff.  If they do pull out, that just means increased subscription rates for the municipal network.  Chattanooga has their own internet provider and it's working great for them so far.

     So let's all thank Google for entering this highly uncompetitive market and shaking things up, but let's make sure we're doing what we can from our side to shake things up.  Remember, nothing says your opinion louder than where you spend your money.

Update:  Apparently, since I originally wrote this Comcast, Time Warner, and Century Link have all announced plans to roll out increased speeds.  None of which is to try to keep up with Google Fiber of course.  It's just a coincidence that they are starting their massive speed increases in areas where Google is currently operating or has announced that it will be expanding.  Also coincidence: that they have all started these plans after Google Fiber took off.  They were all totally planning this before now.