[Dig1t]

Google Fiber had the same effect in Austin, it's so awesome.

There are no data caps on any providers because Google Fiber doesn't have them. Everyone upgraded their service to try to match Google's speeds, so Gigabit is easy to get pretty much anywhere in the city. Google is offering up to 8gb now and ATT is trying to match those speeds.

Company reps regularly knock on doors trying to get people to switch to their service offering deep discounts for 1 year+.

[vyrotek]

I'm watching this happen right now in Mesa, AZ. We just got Google Fiber a few months ago. All of a sudden there are more choices and better prices.

[extraduder_ire]

Is google fiber still expanding and taking on new customers? I was sure I saw it on that killedbygoogle site ages ago.

Are they still reusing ghost fibre and doing micro-trenching, or are they taking a different angle now?

[vyrotek]

Yep, they're still expanding! It was all brand new fiber installations across several neighborhoods here. Dug up the streets everywhere for a few months. Mesa just opened up access to anyone that wants to install fiber. I know of different 3 vendors in the area who installed their own new lines.

I was surprised they jumped to our neighborhood so soon. I don't live near downtown Mesa where they started. But I am near a lot of new datacenters.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

Yes, it's a triumph of capitalism that we have to waste the energy and materials to build out the infrastructure N times before competition kicks in to give us prices that were apparently possible (but not offered) all along!

[lotsofpulp]

It's a failure of democracy. Voters are not smart enough to understand the utility of ubiquitous fiber to the home as a utility, so they do not vote for leaders who prioritize that.

[usefulcat]

Can confirm. Where I live in Austin I have a choice of no less than 4 different ISPs, two cable and two fiber. Not even counting wireless options, which probably also exist.