For Austin, the broadband hits just keep on coming: Time Warner (News - Alert) Cable is wiring up the city with Wi-Fi—or should that be unwiring?

Hot on the heels of both Google and AT&T announcing that they will deploy 1gbps fiber to the city, TWC said that its plan for a citywide Wi-Fi hotspot that’s free to its home and business broadband Internet customers.

“We’ve been rolling out our free Wi-Fi network across our footprint for some time now, as part of our larger strategy to offer significantly more value to our Internet subscribers,” the company said in a blog. “Austin was in the game plan for 2013. But Google’s (News - Alert) recent announcement encouraged us to deploy our network more aggressively now. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we’re ready to compete.”

The deployment is underway; customers can already access hotspots around the Barton Springs/Zilker Park area. TWC is plotting “hundreds” of other sites it said, to be introduced at popular locations “where residents eat, live and play, like Lamar, Congress, [and] 5th and 6th Streets.”

Google recently announced that it would be bringing its IPTV (News - Alert) and broadband offering to Austin beginning in 2014.

"Austin is known globally as a Mecca for creative and entrepreneurial people, including musicians, artists, tech companies and the University of Texas and its new medical research hospital to name a few," Google said in announcing the plan. "High speed ubiquitous connectivity can make an immediate impact on the work of all of these groups."

It added: "When we were originally choosing where to bring fiber in 2010, Austin had one of the most enthusiastic responses. Austin city leaders have worked hard to make this possible, and we're excited to be here."

However, homegrown telco AT&T (News - Alert) is planning a fight. It was swift to announce that in conjunction with its previously announced Project VIP expansion of broadband access, it plans to build an advanced fiber optic infrastructure in Austin, also capable of delivering speeds up to 1Gbps. Its plans “anticipate it will be granted the same terms and conditions as Google on issues such as geographic scope of offerings, rights of way, permitting, state licences and any investment incentives,” the company said.

"Most encouraging is the recognition by government officials that policies which eliminate unnecessary regulation, lower costs and speed infrastructure deployment, can be a meaningful catalyst to additional investment in advanced networks which drives employment and economic growth," said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO, in a statement.

And so, enter TWC with a pot-sweetener for its Internet subscribers. To access the Wi-Fi, MSO subscribers can use the same username/password combo that they use sign log into MyServices to manage their TWC account. TWC is also offering a free trial and prepaid access starting at $2.95 per hour to those not qualifying for free access.

The cableco has also launched the free TWC Wi-Fi Finder app available in Google Play and the Apple (News - Alert) App Store to help subscribers sniff out the free access.

In tandem with the Austin announcement, TWC said that its Internet customers also have access to the national cable-led Wi-Fi hotspot network, with over 100,000 hotspots, offered via the CableWiFi network name. The network enables TWC Internet customers to access the hotspots operated by TWC and other cable companies in major cities across the country including New York City; Los Angeles; Chicago; Philadelphia; Atlanta; Baltimore; Boston; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Orlando; Tampa, Kansas City, Charlotte and more.