Comment by kyrra | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kyrra | Hacker News Reader

For those wondering where Google will roll out, we don't have exact details, but we have some information.

1) They said they will stick to Austin City Limits, which means within these boundaries [1].

2) For those that followed up with how KC operated, Google runs their lines on electrical poles and all places the city power company has lines. This is one of the big things KC and Austin have in common: city owned electric utility. With that google can run all their lines much easier. So, if you get electricity from Austin Energy, you will likely be eligible to get Google Fiber at some point.

3) Beyond that, it will be up to people like us to advocate in our neighborhood to get people to sign up for the service. Whatever areas have a large # of people pledge to sign up will be more likely to get it. To me this means south and east Austin. But at the same time, north austin has a lot of tech employees from Dell, Freescale, PayPal, and other large companies (though many of those people may live in Round Rock).

[1] http://www.zipmap.net/Texas/Travis_County/Austin.htm

[1.1] (easier on the eyes map) http://www.maptechnica.com/us-city-boundary-map/city/Austin/...

I spoke with someone in Grande's (competing ISP) network planning division and he explained that getting into new buildings downtown was very expensive / difficult given Austin's telco requirements (have to dig up streets, etc.). Is this also the case for Google's fiber layout, or is there any speculation that buildings (condo and apartment) downtown will see this service?

what's expensive to the local isp is probably not to google.

It's really the landlords who want to be paid.

> To me this means south and east Austin.

Why is that?

Thinking about it now, I'd say south Austin more than east.

Check out the population density map of austin (PDF): http://www.austinchamber.com/do-business/files/maps/PopDensi...

If I were google, I would want to deploy to the more dense places (that could afford the service).

South Austin seems to be the more "hip" place to live, and I think people in their 20-35 age range would be more likely to want to jump on Google Fiber. I could be totally wrong, but it's just a guess.

I'd guess north and west myself. Some south. The hipster parts of east.

Austinite here. East of I35 is commonly known as the "wrong side of the tracks". If Austin is wiring up for business and residential focus, they'll do west, some limited up north, downtown, and down Congress Avenue & First Avenue. They might extend to the west of MoPac (Loop 1, follows the old Missouri-Pacific line) but I'm not sure that the neighborhoods there are officially part of Austin or incorporated as a small suburb community.

Your parent comment said the hipster parts of east Austin, so we're not talking about rundberg and the areas that the cops are swearing they'll clean up. There are parts of the east side that are friendly and cheap. There's a nice pocket of neighborhoods around 51st street that's low on crime and just a long bike ride from downtown.

East of I35 hasn't really been known as the "wrong side of the tracks" for several years now. It's changed tremendously since what it was like in the late 1990s/early 2000s.

I work with what I know. Sorry for the misidentification. Some friends of mine just north of Lady Bird Lake had their door kicked in a few months back by a few neighborhood kids. My opinion of the area was informed by old history and that incident.

Yeah...I'm an Austinite, too.

Mueller and on down through 2nd Street out to about Chicon east of 35 (an a bit beyond) is full of 20-30 something professionals. It will likely see some action. Maybe Riverside because of the college students but I kinda doubt it. Zilker, SoCo, and Travis Heights have a good shot down south. All of the neighborhoods around downtown and UT are almost certain to see it first. I gotta believe from there they'd just work their way up Burnet, Guadalupe and Lamar until they hit 183 (Though that process make take five years). Tarrytown up to Far West on the West side of Mopac is a pretty good bet too.

Notable neighborhoods that might be out of luck for awhile: WestLake...too far out, too spread apart. South East from Oltorf on down is probably not going to see it for a while. South Lamar is probably a no go (not enough residences or tech businesses) and so Westgate and Manchaca on South and West (Circle C and environs) are probably out of luck too. The Arboretum area might get lucky but I doubt it and I think further west and north of that is pretty unlikely in the next few years unless Google is happy having disparate clusters. I think that area would lap it up but I don't think it is close enough to the downtown/UT epicenter where this is likely to spread from.

If I were Google, I'd pick three different clusters to spread and meet. One at UT/downtown to spread in all directions but particularly North, one at the Arboretum to spread West and North and one somewhere around Westgate to spread West, East and South.

In addition, I'd run it up 360. In my understanding there are a number of tech businesses/business parks out that way.

I'd be surprised if they go as far north as Wells Branch, though the infrastructure along the rail line leading along MoPaC is certainly available.

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