Google Fiber Has Comcast’s Attention

Comcast already tangles with Google Fiber in Provo (UT) so it knows what it’s up against as its emerging rival begins to encroach on another Comcast market, Atlanta (GA). Comcast has been sending around a flyer with the warning: “Don’t fall for the hype. Google Fiber can’t deliver what Xfinity can.” That’s followed by a checklist in which Comcast touts the speed of its in-home Wi-Fi, vault of free video-on-demand content, the ability to take DVR recordings on the go, and the company’s new X1 voice remote. Word of the flyer comes soon after Google Fiber began to make services, including its 1-Gig broadband service, available to a few apartment buildings in the Atlanta suburbs. Google Fiber is in network construction-mode in the Atlanta area, but is using some existing fiber infrastructure there to accelerate its ability to offer services there -- an approach that Google Fiber might try to replicate in other markets.