Editor's Letter: The fiber fight for Austin's future

In each issue of Distro, editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news.

There comes a time in every modern geek's life when they seriously consider moving to Kansas City, simply to gain access to the wonder that is Google Fiber. This week, would-be bandwidth pilgrims gained another potential destination: Austin, Texas. Yes, the increasingly trendy SXSW locale has officially signed on with Google to start rolling out the connectivity in 2014. Sadly, we're told to not expect much in the way of access until the summer of next year, which seems like ages, but that should give you plenty of time to save up for a down payment. Austin housing rates are soaring of late.

Not wanting to be left out of the party, AT&T promptly announced its own initiative to bring high-speed fiber connectivity to Austin just hours after Google. Ma Bell is promising 1 Gbps speeds and the same sort of accessibility and contracts as Google's service, thus creating a very interesting battleground for high-speed connectivity. It's the sort of fiber-optic gluttony that we'd all like to indulge in some day, and if Google can keep pushing AT&T like this, perhaps some day we actually will.

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