Google Fiber is now live in Austin, but the decision on bringing the company's gigabit internet service to San Antonio has yet to be finalized.
Last February, Google Fiber announced to great fanfare that San Antonio would be one of nine U.S. cities considered as the next location to roll out the tech giant's lightning-fast internet service. And City Council has approved measures to accommodate the potential network infrastructure, including agreeing to a long-term real estate contract last March.
The Mountain View, California-based company indicated that it would make a decision before the holidays on which of the nine candidate cities would be the next have Google Fiber introduced in their market. But as PC magazine reported last month, the company is dragging on their decision on which city will be blessed with the super fast internet.
On Tuesday, KENS 5 published a statement from a Google spokesperson about the decision's postponement:
Last year gigabit Internet moved from idea to reality, as mayors and city leaders across America stepped up and made high-speed broadband access a priority for their community. We've been working closely with the City of San Antonio to figure out how we could bring them Google Fiber, and we're grateful for their vision, commitment, and plain old hard work. While we were hoping to have an update for cities before the holidays, we have a bit more work to wrap up; we'll be back in touch sometime early this year.
Google didn't clarify what work needed to be done before they move forward with the announcement of the next Google Fiber cities.
Last week, Google Fiber went live in areas of Austin. The company's plan in the state capitol charges $70 a month for 1,000 MBps upload and downloads speeds, plus 1 TB of storage on Google Cloud. Internet plus TV service costs Google Fiber customers in Austin $130 a month. According to the Time Warner San Antonio website, a 20Mpbs internet plan costs $44.99 a month and includes only 5GB of storage. Time Warner's Preferred TV and Standard Internet Plan runs at $89.99 a month. AT&T Uverse high speed internet currently runs at $29.95 a month for 45Mbps. The Uverse Internet and TV bundle is currently being advertised at $59 a month for only 6Mbps.
We're coming on to a year since the initial Google Fiber announcenment, but for the time being, San Antonio consumers must patiently wait to see if they will be able to purchase the service. Clearly, true high speed internet in the Alamo City actually can come fast enough.
