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Where Will Google Fiber's Backbone Be?

Courtesy Google Fiber
Google Fiber van

San Antonio city staff recently presented to City Council a map of the fiber-optic cable route the tech giant was installing.

Light on detail, the map left many neighborhood members wondering where the cable would be laid, and how it would impact them.

"It's a good map, but it's not as detailed as I was looking for," Douglas Boom said.

Boom is 59 and a resident of Hill Country Village, which is within 1604 along Highway 281. He said the city-issued map had few landmarks or street names and he worried if the initial fiber backbone would include access for his area.

Credit City of San Antonio
From the November Council Presentation

Boom is excited about the high speeds Google will offer and said he would welcome the inconvenience from trenching and burying cable that many property owners are complaining about.

"It's gonna happen, whether it's utilities or other infrastructure improvements. And I consider this an infrastructure improvement," he said. "It's a slight inconvenience for a short period of time."

Google has declined several interviews and clarifying details on the city's map shown above. The yellow ring is the fiber backbone and is currently under construction. The red would increase coverage and had yet to begin in November.

  • MAP | Google Fiber's March 30 proposal to city staff

An open records request for emails between Google and then city Chief Technology Officer Hugh Miller produced the March 30 proposal on the Google Fiber backbone built in Google Earth.

Neither the city nor Google has confirmed it as the "final" route, but it bears a striking resemblance to the map the city released.

 

Credit City of San Antonio
The city map close up shows the one big difference from the March 2016 proposal being on the far west side, having added a leg to close the loop

Paul Flahive can be reached at paul@tpr.org or on Twitter @paulflahive

Paul Flahive can be reached at Paul@tpr.org