With robust signups exceeding expectations, AT&T announced this morning that its GigaPower tier, which will hit speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second later this year, has been expanded to reach twice the number of households in Austin this year.
The all-fiber network is currently provisioning a symmetrical 300 Mbps service in Austin prior to the 1 Gigabit deployment. Customers who sign up for the 300 Mbps service will be upgraded to the 1 Gig speeds when they become available at no extra cost. AT&T announced in October that GigaPower would launch in Austin in December.
“Austin’s response to our blazing fast broadband and enhanced TV services has been incredible and validates why we decided to roll this out in Austin first,” said Dahna Hull, vice president and general manager, Austin, AT&T Services Inc. “Austinites consume data at rates 15 percent to 20 percent higher than the average U-verse user, and the overwhelming adoption of our new U-verse High Speed Internet 300 broadband service confirms that this community also values time and speed.”
With the initial launch, AT&T said GigaPower is now available to “tens of thousands” of customer locations in Austin and surrounding communities, including parts of Bastrop, Cedar Park, Dripping Springs, Jollyville, Lakeway, Leander, Pflugerville, and Round Rock. Within the city, the services are available in neighborhoods like Bryker Woods, Cherrywood, French Place, Mueller, Old Enfield, and Tarrytown.
Planned expansions in 2014 include areas of Zilker, Homestead, and North Lamar, among many other neighborhoods throughout the city.
Like Google’s strategy with its fiber rollouts, AT&T is allowing consumers and business owner to vote on where the service should initially be deployed in Austin.
The GigaPower Premiere tier features the 300 Mbps service for $70 a month and waives fees for equipment, service activation and installation. Customers who also select U-verse TV will receive free HBO and HBO Go for 36 months, and HD service for $120 per month with qualifying TV services.
The Standard tier has the same speeds but costs $99 a month. GigaPower customers that also select U-verse TV will get U-verse’s largest storage capacity DVR while GigaPower subscribers that are also AT&T wireless customers will get 50 GB of free cloud storage.
Google Fiber plans on offering its 1 Gbps service this year in Austin while Time Warner Cable has been adding in Wi-Fi hot spots in Austin to keep customers. Time Warner Cable’s fasted residential service in Austin is 50 Mbps, and it offers up to 10 Gigabits for businesses via its dedicated fiber services.
