Two-minute impact
John-Michael Cortez, head of Government and Community Affairs at GFiber, said the option for residents to use Google Fiber will add to the community’s overall quality of life.
“For a community that prides itself on quality of life, which you have in abundance here in Shavano Park, this is just another element of that, for people to have choices for internet service that meet their needs in their household or small businesses,” Cortez said.
Cortez said the installation process for Google Fiber is designed to be as minimally disruptive as possible. Using a micro-trencher, construction crews dig a narrow, shallow trench along the curb of the roadway. Behind the micro-trencher crew is another crew that installs the conduit for Google Fiber, and a third crew follows behind to fill up the trench with a formulated global fill concrete. He also noted that the crews install vaults that help establish the signal in the ground at regular intervals. These vaults are designed to blend in and to resemble other utility vaults.
“For residents, they'll experience most of the construction activity in less than a day,” Cortez said. “We may be in that neighborhood for a few weeks [or] several weeks, depending on the size of the neighborhood. But for most folks, the direct impact to them and their property will just be less than a day.”
During the tour of the construction, Alderman Pete Miller said he was impressed with the speed, safety and cleanliness of the process.
“The thing that impressed me the most about this is the fact of how clean [the process is] and no debris is left behind. So it's a very, very clean installation,” Miller said. “[Additionally] the speed that they can do [the installation], and how well this site is controlled for safety and security, is really impressive.”
If there are any issues with construction, residents can call Google Fiber’s hotline at 877-454-6959.
The backstory
Assistant City Manager Curtis Leeth said providing high speed internet to residents is an integral part of the city’s 2023 Town Plan.
“Several years ago, it was noticed that a lot of neighborhoods around us, Stone Oak and other parts of the city, were getting high speed internet directly to their homes, and Shavano Park at that time had no residents that had fiber internet direct to their homes [that provided] those high internet speeds,” Leeth said.
To remedy this issue, Leeth and Miller presented a framework to bring high speed internet to the city during the May 16, 2022 city council meeting.
Afterwards, the city council formed a subcommittee, consisting of two residents, Leeth and Miller, to find the best provider for high speed internet.
“Google Fiber isn’t the only company we engaged with, but Google Fiber was one we have had the most success with, and they have committed to a complete build out here in Shavano Park,” Leeth said.
Going forward
Leeth said current installation of Google Fiber is confined to certain subdivisions, but the plan is to establish the network across the city.
“This year [installation is confined to] certain subdivisions, but [Google Fiber] is committed to [offer service] city wide [and] in every neighborhood,” Leeth said.
Leeth also noted that nstallation east of Northwest Military Highway will utilize aerial connections instead of micro-trenching.
Installation of Google Fiber across Shavano Park is estimated to be completed in 2026.
