AT&T Fiber Network Coming: 'GigaPower' Beats Google Fiber In Ultra-Fast Internet Battle In Austin

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) finally revealed on Monday the details of its long-rumored fiber network for ultra high-speed Internet connections. AT&T will launch "GigaPower" in Austin, on Dec. 1, beating Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) planned Google Fiber network to the punch in the Texas capital.

AT&T and Google are both promising that their services will offer users Internet connection speeds of 1 gigabit per second. At first, GigaPower will only run at 300 megabits per second before AT&T upgrades next year, but that is still about 40 times faster than the average home connection in the U.S.

Google Fiber is already available in Kansas City, and Google is now running ads for the service in Provo, Utah, where it will launch in mid-October. The service has generated a lot of buzz, and AT&T is hoping that it can overcome some of this in Austin by coming out first.

AT&T said GigaPower will be included in its U-Verse bundle of services but did not disclose how much a GigaPower connection will cost.

Google Fiber costs $70 per month for Internet service and $120 per month with a TV bundle. For comparison, Verizon’s 500 megabit-per-second service is only available for homes in a phone and TV package for $309.99 per month.

Google may have an advantage with Fiber by starting from scratch and installing a brand new fiber optic network. This allows all Fiber customers to experience the same speeds. AT&T will instead by tapping into an existing network of fiber optics and copper lines, meaning that not everyone will get the same speed.

AT&T said this is just the start of its super high-speed services, but did not state where it plans to go next.