AT&T lowers 1 Gig prices in markets where it faces Google Fiber

AT&T (NYSE: T) continues to lower the prices of its 1 Gbps GigaPower service, particularly in markets where Google Fiber (NASDAQ: GOOG) has established a presence.

According to a report in Consumerist, AT&T prices its 1 Gbps service differently in these areas and the lower rates appear wherever Google Fiber offers its $70 a month service.

In some markets like Nashville and Atlanta where Google Fiber is present, AT&T's 1 Gbps pricing begins at $70, while in Chicago and Miami eligible users have to pay $110 for the same service. Customers in these markets can purchase a lower speed 300 Mbps speed tier for $80.

A similar phenomenon has taken place in Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham where users play $70 per month for GigaPower.

Meanwhile, in other markets such as Cupertino, Calif., where Google Fiber has no presence, customers have to pay $110 for the service. Users in Cupertino who want the standalone $110 a month 1 Gbps sevice have to agree to let AT&T track and sell their browsing data to third-party marketing companies under its Internet Preferences program.

With the Internet Preferences program, AT&T looks at the search terms that a user enters, Web pages visited and what links they clicked on during their browsing sessions. AT&T said that it uses the data it collects from these customers to help advertisers better direct their ads on web pages, email messages or direct mail.

For its part, AT&T continues to roll out new 1 Gbps markets. In its latest network deployment push, the telco launched service concentrating on Tier 1 and Tier 2 markets in Florida, Georgia, and Texas. Among the new market areas are Atlanta, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Kansas City, Kan., Houston and Dallas-Ft. Worth. 

In order to meet its ambitious goal to bring 1 Gbps FTTH service to an additional 11.7 million locations by extending fiber from its existing fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) network that it built out to deliver IP broadband service already to 57 million U.S. locations.

Its 11.7 million FTTP buildout goal is more than the initial plan it revealed last June to upgrade 2 million homes to the fiber-based Gigapower broadband service, while expanding overall broadband coverage overall to 13 million locations.

For more:
- Consumerist has this article

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