Google is preparing to announce this week that Austin will be the next major city to see Google Fiber. Though Google has yet to announce anything officially, local ABC affiliate KVUE has been told by "sources" that the Austin announcement is a done deal. Seemingly confirming that report, a portion of Google's website late last week briefly and inadvertently scooped Google's own announcement with a banner reading "Google Fiber's Next Stop: Austin, Texas."

Google Fiber offers users in Kansas City symmetrical 1 Gbps fiber connections for $70 a month, or symmetrical 1 Gbps fiber connections and a full array of television content for $120 a month. Users in targeted neighborhoods also have the option of paying a $300 up front fee to have their home connected, then getting free 5 Mbps service for as long as they'd like.

However delicious such pricing and speeds may be, national deployment continues to remain unlikely. Google Fiber remains sort of a strange public relations experiment and new technology testbed more than a serious entry into the broadband market. The effort allows Google to collect real-world network data on residential broadband networks (which ISPs fiercely protect), while testing next-generation video advertising technologies.

As an added bonus, Google gets an endless stream of positive national press attention for deploying the kind of low-priced, ultra-faced services that have yet to materialize in the uncompetitive United States broadband market.

However, estimates peg a full national Google deployment at somewhere around $140 billion, with less than half of the country costing around $70 billion. Those are numbers even Google won't want to eat. It remains most likely that Google Fiber sees deployment in only a handful of cities, making those cities selected all the more fortunate.

A significant outage is impacting Time Warner Cable Digital Voice customers from North Carolina to California, according to user posts in our Time Warner Cable forum. According to the company, 911 voice calls are still being completed, but all other services do not work.

As noted recently, the Hulu board is looking for buyers for the company's streaming video service -- albeit a buyer who doesn't care that after paying a huge up front sum, they'll have to renegotiate nearly all of the content licenses since they're about to expire. It appears that the board may have found their man, with Reuters reporting that former News Corporation Peter Chernin has bid around $500 million for the company. Follow up reports suggest that the $500 million bid doesn't even include all current programming rights. Hulu has long flailed courtesy of traditional media owners that really didn't want to product to disrupt the traditional pay TV apple cart -- and therefore to truly succeed.

AT&T is just one of several broadband ISPs who are making a major push into home security and home automation, and the company says their new Digital Home platform will be expanding into several unspecified new markets shortly. Digital Home was unveiled back at this year's CES, with a press release stating the service would be launching in March. With March approaching its end, the company has now issued another press release only saying the service will launch "this Spring," but doubling the initial launch markets from eight to fifteen. AT&T says they have the goal of offering the service to 50 markets by year's end and has a website where you can sign up for launch notifications here, though the company still hasn't announced pricing for the service.

• Next stop for Google Fiber; Austin, Texas [landoftechnology.com]
• BT defends against monopoly claims [expressandstar.com]
• NBN Co continues to defend 'Rolls-Royce' satellite strategy [zdnet.com]
• AT&T Binges On LTE Buildout Chasing [forbes.com]
• California court rules checking smartphone maps while driving is illegal [digitaltrends.com]
• Window Is Closing on the Next Wireless Land Grab [fool.com]
• Streaming Sites and the Rise of Shared Accounts [nytimes.com]
• Facebook Voice is what telco barons should fear - not a Facebook phone [theregister.co.uk]
• U.S. Cellular to let select customers 'test drive' network before signing contracts [fiercewireless.com]
• It's time to take another look at cell phone radiation [fiercebroadbandwireless.com]

Open thread for the masses!

Over the air streaming video provider Aereo won their second major legal victory against the broadcast industry yesterday when an injunction was denied and a court again declared the company's $12 a month broadband streaming service does not violate copyright. Obviously the fight is long from over, and according to the Wall Street Journal, the company has been holding talks with pay TV operators including AT&T and Dish Network. Publicly, Aereo will only say the company is looking at developing partnerships related to content, devices or distribution that will "help increase the choice and flexibility for the consumer."

"After more than two weeks of dismemberment, disembowelment, and all-around good family fun, this year’s Worst Company In America tournament nears its finale, with only four contenders remaining with a chance at claiming the ultimate victory and clutching the Golden Poo," proclaims the Consumerist website. The site's Worst Company in America award has come down to Comcast, Ticketmaster, EA, and Bank of America. For the second year running, AT&T has caught a break by being matched up against the even-more-disliked EA, who could be propelled to victory this year on the back of their SimCity DRM launch debacle. AT&T's decision to hang up on DSL users and con several states into becoming broadband backwaters apparently isn't quite the same headline grabber as crappy game DRM and obnoxious in-game microtransactions.

A group of annoyed users have recently launched a Time Warner Cable spoof website that takes aim at the company for poor customer service. Videos posted to the website (like this one) involve the folks behind the website going around New York asking locals what the company can do worse -- as well as rather concise fake letters from Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt (whose $17.4 million in 2012 compensation likely dulls the blows received from such critics substantially).

The last few months have seen several leaks that suggest the next Xbox will require an "always on" broadband connection as a way to counter both piracy and used game sales. Microsoft isn't commenting, but the news -- if true -- is angering a lot of possible customers with they botched launches of Diablo 3 and SimCity (both requiring always-on connections) freshly in mind.

While Google's principles may have slid sideways in recent years (their selling out on net neutrality being exhibit A) the company does appear to be putting up a good fight against the government's use of national security letters (NSLs). We've covered for several years the growing use (or in a significant number of proven cases, the abuse) of NSLs, which allow the government to obtain personal user records from ISPs (or banks and other companies), then involve a gag order against the company preventing them from ever mention it -- all with no judicial review.

AT&T's video streaming services have been decidedly "me too" affairs, ranging from a video portal that was effectively a Hulu clone to the U-Verse Screen Pack, which was touted as a "Netflix killer" but suffers from a limited catalog and is only available to U-Verse users for an additional $5 a month. However, a new survey being sent to U-Verse customers indicates AT&T is pondering expanding these options. Variety notes that the survey hints that the service might not be directly run by AT&T:As we noted recently, U-Verse users currently aren't being charged for overages but AT&T DSL users are. AT&T's curiosity in such a project comes after Verizon recently launched a streaming video service in conjunction with RedBox.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Apple is getting ready to fire up production of two new iPhone models: an updated successor to the iPhone 5, and a smaller, cheaper iPhone to be aimed squarely at more cost-conscious users. Details are scarce, though sources tell the Journal the iPhone 5 successor (iPhone 5S?) should start production in the second quarter for a summer launch. The less-expensive iPhone also being produced may come in a variety of colors but will likely use "a different casing from the higher-end iPhone" and possibly come in a variety of colors.

• Another Internet is Possible [counterpunch.org]
• AT&T Ponders Life Outside the U-verse with Broadband TV [variety.com]
• LightSquared showdown looms [bizjournals.com]
• France Telecom CEO: iPhone too pricey for Europeans [cnet.com]
• For labels, Apple's iRadio deal could be sweeter than Pandora [cnet.com]
• Google Fights U.S. National Security Probe Data Demand [bloomberg.com]
• Defending Honor of Web, Rackspace Sues ‘Most Notorious Patent Troll’ [wired.com]
• Charter Communications Refuses To Air Antenna Manufacturer's Ad [techdirt.com]
• T-Mobile USA Opens Pre-Orders For iPhone 5 Starting At $99.99, Shipping April 12 [techcrunch.com]

• FCC releases broadband survey form to seek info on prices, including usage-based, speeds and more for urban broadband service to establish benchmark for rural subsidies [broadcastingcable.com]
• Massachusetts lights first section of statewide broadband connection [bizjournals.com]
• New York testing way to lay more fiber cable for broadband services without tearing up streets and disrupting traffic [informationweek.com]
• T-Mobile debuts data plan specifically for Audi connected cars [fiercewireless.com]
• AT&T has small cells in the lab that combine 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi; gearing up for nationwide launch of technology [lightreading.com]
• Tablet shipments to outstrip PCs by 72% in 3 years [networkworld.com]
• Wi-Fi Above 10,000 Feet: Which Airlines Provide Best Connection? [readwrite.com]
• Verizon Considering Dropping Contracts Following T-Mobile’s UnCarrier Plans [ubergizmo.com]
• Are You Ready For The Wireless Revolution? [tmcnet.com]
• Apple increases lead as top US smartphone maker, Samsung gains; Android down second month in a row [thenextweb.com]
• Investor Offers Clearwire $240M Alternative to Sprint’s Money [wirelessweek.com]

Our friends over at TMONews point out that T-Mobile will be sending out an over-the-air update from Apple that will provide LTE connectivity for unlocked iPhones on T-Mobile's network starting on April 5. According to the leaked internal screenshot, the over-the-air update will also provide those users with other awaited functionality like visual voicemail and MMS.

Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam today stated the company is watching T-Mobile's no contract pricing with great interest, and that Verizon will offer no contract wireless if consumers start clamoring for it. T-Mobile is offering users less expensive data plans but no phone subsidies -- users for example paying $100 down for the iPhone 5 and an additional $20 per month for 24 months.

According to documents obtained by CNET, the DEA is upset because the encryption used by Apple's iMessage foils their ability to snoop on those communications. Even with a warrant (increasingly seen as optional these days by law enforcement and intelligence agencies) and the fact that carriers let the NSA snoop on everything in real time, "it is impossible to intercept iMessages between two Apple devices."

Well not entirely impossible; the memo notes that sometimes interception is possible, but it would require the government to conduct man in the middle attacks using spoofed cell towers, something the feds just got busted for using for years without properly informing Judges.

The FCC still has around $185 million out of the $300 million broadband funds available from phase one of their Connect America Fund, dedicated to shoring up broadband coverage gaps. While companies like Frontier took $71.9 million to wire some 92,000 homes, other companies like Windstream balked at taking full funding, saying that getting $775 per install wasn't enough for their liking.

Time Warner Cable hasn't been exactly what you'd call a hero when it comes to furthering national broadband deployment. The company was behind bills in both North and South Carolina banning or hindering towns and cities from deploying their own broadband, even when nobody else will.