AT&T has been stringing fiber for months and today my regular Uverse service was finally converted over to the Gigapower version with lightning fast speeds. Below is a comparison of my line speed before and after installation.
The price is a bit more than I was paying previously but the productivity gained on large uploads should cut my processing time way back. I hope it comes to your neighborhood soon as I am told that it is just a matter of time and unlike other fiber providers, I believe this service is also available to business customers too.
Finally I have received a bunch of questions asking, how do I know if fiber was strung on the poles in my neighborhood? Well, here is what my pole looked like in June after line installation was strung on the poles.
22 comments:
We tried to get it in our new subdivision (in city of Dunwoody), but got nowhere with it. Seems that they won't do anything for you unless you have enough immediate neighbors also doing it to make it worthwhile for them to run the fiber.
I installed this Giga Power, my name is Matthew text me your info so I can see if it is available in your area. Cell 4046603663
Matthew,
At&t's website indicated that it's available in my neighborhood, but when we tried to set up a service call for installation a month ago, the result is that it wasn't available in our neighborhood. Thus, we went with comcast and have a contract for another 11 months or so.
Do they have data caps?
Jay, not sure what neighborhood you are in (doesn't really matter) but a few years back when we were looking to have the City's first major home development put in I attempted to work with the various builders & utility companies to assure that fiber was put in the ground but I discovered that I was overstepping on the boundary of interference to the developer who contracts for the service lines to be laid. Jay having options is a wonderful thing and it is my hope that this will be a option for everyone soon as I know it takes time to install the infrastructure.
Yes Sight Edman, AT&T has a monthly data consumption policy for GigaPower that caps usage at 1-terabyte before charging $10 for each additional bucket of 50 Gigabytes, with a maximum monthly overage charge of $30. I believe this is similar to other data providers?
My question is if AT&T is still hanging fiber on the pole, then which company buried fiber in our neighbor, North Springs? It looks like Verizon is/will be using that fiber for their small cell phone towers that are sprouting up on telephone poles throughout Dunwoody, but will that buried fiber be used by another provider?
Yes, Comcast imposes and has begun enforcing data caps on non-business accounts with Biz and Teleworker programs exempt. Charter (in Athens) does not appear to impose/enforce caps and bitrate/$ is much better.
AT&T (actually their subcontractors) dug up our front yards. Apparently horizontal boring can only do so much damage. They damaged at least three (out of 16) driveways, did a number on some of the finer lawns (not mine) and installed a pedestal right in front of a fire hydrant. Those with damaged driveways do not seem to have obtained acceptable recovery with at least one still a broken concrete/gravel mess.
I cannot imagine a developer accepting a dark fiber mandate and it seems highly unlikely that the City would create a public utility. However Chattanooga is an existence proof that it can be done though they have geographic and demographic advantages.
John,
I'm so glad I saw this post. Beyond checking my address in AT&T's site, is there any other way to get updates as to when and where they are rolling this out in the rest of Dunwoody?
Jeff, register your contact information on the Gigapower request page and you will be notified when available and please have your neighbors do the same. In the coming months I am expecting an official roll out announcement from AT&T at City Hall and it would be my hope that availability details and implementation plans would be available for a majority of the city at that time.
Thanks John. Still nothing from AT&T. I've got a decent offer from Comcast business for 250/25, but with a 2 year contract. I'd much rather have Google Fiber or AT&T gigabit, but I think we all need to understand the timelines. Do you have any contacts with AT&T to follow up with directly?
Hi chiming in here. We had the conduit run (all the digging) on our street back in the fall with the rest of Vernon North area (Vernon Way, Vernon Ridge, etc...) and i saw them pull the primary fiber on the poles on Vernon Ridge in the summer but GigaPower is still not available here and no one that I can talk to knows when it will be. They continue to try to sell me on standard uVerse. They claim I can upgrade to GigaPower from uVerse without penalty if I switch to it but I am dubious. Work at home and really need this... Also getting pretty frustrated with my jealousy!
Any info you can get as councilman is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Mark
Mark / Jeff & others, I have reached out to the Regional AT&T contact that I have been dealing with and made her (as well as City staff & Mayor) aware of the requests (& jealousy). I have been requesting a formal roll out announcement from AT&T which should include a proposed coverage map and roll out schedule. Until that happens, I hope that the installers are working diligently to offer the service to every resident on the City of Dunwoody. Sorry I don't have more information at this time.
http://www.tennessean.com/story/money/tech/2015/05/13/att-rolls-gigabit-internet-service/27229945/
John, thanks for the reply and follow up. I will keep watching your blog for updates. Appreciate your work on our behalf!
I just spoke with an AT&T tech who came to my house near DHS - he stated that even though GigaPower is installed along Womack that none of the houses on either side of Womack would be getting it because there was no demand. To me this seems to be incredibly short sighted on AT&T's side since it is inevitable that high speed internet will be demanded as Dunwoody's older citizens move on and are replaced with young families. I am also very concerned that as a homeowner in the area that our home values will be significantly depressed compared to those with access to Gigapower. Pretty much the first or second thing out of any young person(s) buying a home is what types of internet are available. No one likes Comcast or AT&T Uverse because of the price gouging and the data caps.
I am am example of said young family moving into Dunwoody. I have been touring properties with my wife and we can't find a house with decent internet service. I currently have ATT GigaPower in Lawrenceville, GA. This is very important for me and my job.
Unfortunately there have been no changes to this critical simple utility in my neighborhood by Dunwoody High School. It's really crippling trying to work from home. AT&T U-Verse is literally slower than the service I had in the 90's. Comcast, though significantly speedier than AT&T, suffers from constant outages, fee gouging, and inconsistent ever changing 'data usage' plans. It's not much fun being a customer of a monopoly that consistently rates as having worst customer service. Google Fiber is not coming to Dunwoody. I am definitely in favor of a Dunwoody municipal internet; if installed it would be significant positive differentiator but I have not heard of any talk or efforts to create it. Right now I'd suggest (albeit against my better interests of decreasing my own home's value) looking at Brookhaven or Sandy Springs or other areas that have true competition.
AT&T dug up my neighborhood to lay the fiber months ago. And the Gigapower service is still unavailable.
Why did the city let AT&T rip up our yards with no commitment from them that the people of Dunwoody would actually benefit?
I have Comcast now but would like to try AT&T (more bang for the buck). But AT&T is simply not competitive with their local internet offering and I need the bandwidth for work (work from home, large file transfers etc).
Are there any updates on this situation?
I live just off Mt. Vernon and my AT&T GigaPower install is scheduled for Friday morning. I'm sorry to breed more jealousy, and this does nothing to help those who live in an area without substantial demand, but there is at least some progress. I do know that myself and many of my neighbors registered with both AT&T and Google Fiber to get updates as to when our addresses will get service.
I agree with the other sentiments on here regarding the importance of truly high speed internet access and a competitive landscape for the telecommunications providers. If a municipal network is what it takes to drive competition and progress from the existing monopoly, then I would support it, but that is definitely opening a whole new can of worms.
For what it's worth - today AT&T is stringing up GigaPower fiber to my pole in my neighborhood just off Womack near the High School. The technician stringing it says it will be a couple more months before they get the necessary permits from the city of Dunwoody before they can offer service?!?! Is this really correct that the city of Dunwoody is now holding up my ability to get GigaPower after more than a few years of waiting? Also the technician says that all connections to the home will be aerial (above ground) which seems like a stupid way of doing it now that Comcast is doing all under ground connections (much easier on the eyes and not subject to damage from most weather events - seems like a no brainer) - is there some mandate or requirement that the city can pass to at least allow for an underground connection option? Might raise the property values and digest....
It's been over 5 months since AT&T ripped up my lawn to add another staunchion to supposedly prepare the pole for the increased burden of GigaPower/Fiber wires but I still don't have service and AT&T won't say when it will be available. At this point I've had enough of this slow roll out nonsense - can't the town court Google Webpass wireless highspeed internet service to come to Dunwoody and be done with all of this wired mess, slow speeds, and torn up lawns? It would be nice to lead rather than to follow especially given Dunwoody's demographics, population density, and location. Not to mention how nice it would be to never have to deal with Comcast ever again...
Chriva, I am very sorry that you are unhappy with the lack of AT&T service availability at your address and please know we have no mandate on how they provide service not do I believe there are issues with permitting. If you email me your name and address we can look into it and have a service representative personally call you at a time it is convenient to you. Please email me how we can be of service, your contact information including your best phone number and I will try to do what I can from my end. Thanks John.Heneghan@Dunwoodyga.gov
For your consideration.
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