A lot of North Carolina residents started jumping for joy when Google announced that Charlotte and the Raleigh-Durham area were among the 34 cities it selected for an expansion of its 1 gigabit Google Fiber internet service. Customers can opt for a TV/internet bundle for $120, an internet-only bundle for $70, or a free internet bundle. While Google is still in the planning stages at this point, AT&T has already reached an agreement with the city of Winston-Salem to deliver a 1 gigabit network. AT&T says that its U-verse with GigaPower service is 10 times faster than the internet speeds currently available in Winston-Salem, which is the home of Wake Forest University.
Google has been making headlines with its high-speed Google Fiber network, but today AT&T is grabbing the spotlight with a new promise to bring GigaPower network to Winston-Salem in North Carolina. The company’s plan was ratified by government officials on Tuesday, paving the way for high-speed 1 gigabit per second Internet. Work on the GigaPower network will begin in the near future, though AT&T hasn’t said when it expects to complete the project. The carrier’s high-speed Internet service is alreadyavailable in Austin, Texas, while Google’s competing network has been steadily expanding. For now the two companies haven’t competed directly in any city, though both have expressed interest in expanding to Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte in North Carolina. Google Fiber is a serious attempt to compete with major Internet-providers and it’s certainly putting pressure on companies like AT&T and Verizon. That strategy appears to be working, however, and the increase in gigabit competition should help pave the way for faster internet across the country. We hope.
