Confirming rumors that began bubbling forth earlier this week, Google today confirmed that Charlotte, Raleigh Durham, Atlanta, and Nashville will be the next deployment locations for the company's speedy Google Fiber service. According to a Google blog post, the company is also still considering potential deployment to Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Antonio and San Jose.
Pricing has yet to be announced, but you can be fairly certain it will be the same we've seen in Austin, Kansas City and Provo.
$70 a month nets you a symmetrical 1 Gbps connection, while $120 a month nets you a symmetrical 1 Gbps connection and TV service. Users also have the option of a free 5 Mbps tier if they're willing to pay a $300 installation fee (which can be paid in installments).
"Our next step is to work with cities to create a detailed map of where we can put our thousands of miles of fiber, using existing infrastructure such as utility poles and underground conduit, and making sure to avoid things like gas and water lines," said Google.
From there, Google surveyors and engineers will hit the street to analyze these cities further, after which the company says it will design the network (something they say will take a few months) before beginning construction. As with other Google Fiber locations the company will hold "fiberhood" rallies to determine which ares will see construction first.
Charlotte, Raleigh and Durham are a clever choice given AT&T, CenturyLink and Time Warner Cable's dominance of the state, and their use of protectionist state laws to maintain their respective uncompetitive fiefdoms. Atlanta's a more curious choice given it's slightly more competitive, though you'll note note of the cities chosen are what you'd call broadband competition hotbeds.
Sure, Google Fiber will never be a national deployment and these builds tend to be slow going (Google Fiber's five years old and the number of people that can actually get the service remains relatively negligible). Still, the deployments are shining a bright light on the lack of competition and the culpability of state governments in keeping things that way.