AT&T to begin deploying fiber network in Austin, Texas to compete with Google Fiber

AT&T has announced that they will be bringing their fiber network to Austin, Texas later this year to compete with Google’s own fiber network. AT&T’s network matches up with Google’s fairly well, offering up to 1 gigabit-per-second speeds. AT&T is hopeful that this deployment will bring their network to tens of thousands of people in the area by the end of 2014. The CEO of the wireless network operator seems to think that the costs associated with deploying fiber optic cable has come down enough that it’s a smart financial decision to start aggressively pushing this new network, and that he hopes to see more companies expand fiber networks into new markets in the next few years, and hopefully he’s right. Increased competition in the fiber market would mean better prices for consumers and faster internet connection speeds. It’s a win-win situation.

T-Mobile bringing Classic plans to an end at national retailers

T-Mobile has issued a new directive to their employees informing them the company is putting an end to Classic plans at national retailers. Earlier this year T-Mobile commenced their Uncarrier strategy to start moving to unsubsidized devices and Simple Choice plans for service. Buyers who were interested in T-Mobile but wanted a traditional, subsidized device for a set contract period could avoid the new Uncarrier philosophy by purchasing their device through a national retailer like Best Buy. It is not clear what T-Mobile may provide to the national retailers as a replacement, unless they are just going to expand the Uncarrier and Simple Choice options beyond their own web site or other T-Mobile owned channels. DroidStars.com