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Google Fiber Draws Startups To Kansas City

Posted by samzenpus on from the doing-business dept.

Google's super fast internet has turned Kansas City into an unlikely incubator for startups and tech entrepreneurs. One small neighborhood where a group is working on their ideas has been dubbed, the "Silicon Prairie." From the article: "The advantage here for startups is simple: A fast Internet pipe makes it easier to handle large files and eliminates buffering problems that plague online video, live conferencing or other network-intensive tasks. Though the Kansas City location presents challenges for startups, including the ability to raise money outside the traditional Silicon Valley venture capital scene, entrepreneurs like Synthia Payne believe it's the place to be right now for up-and-coming tech companies. Payne is one of those entrepreneurs hoping to launch her startup dream — an Internet subscription service for musicians who want to collaborate online — on the cheap. She shares the State Line Road house, known as the 'Home for Hackers,' with other startups under a deal that allows them to live rent-free while they develop their business plans."

13 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. That's the whole point by stox · · Score: 4, Interesting

    By making an example of Kansas City, the rest of the country will demand similar resources. The days of gouging the US public for Internet connectivity may soon be coming to an end.

    --
    "To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
    1. Re:That's the whole point by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The days of gouging the US public for Internet connectivity may soon be coming to an end.

      Not as long as internet connectivity is in the hands of monopolies they won't. Monopolies don't give a toss about what the public demands.

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    2. Re:That's the whole point by schnell · · Score: 5, Insightful

      By making an example of Kansas City ...

      Per story submission...

      an unlikely incubator for startups and tech entrepreneurs

      Why is Kansas City an "unlikely incubator?" Because it's fucking Kansas City (no offense intended). Putting Google Fiber there will not change that. Look, I have been to KC, and enjoyed the hip downtown district thoroughly, etc. - but putting Google Fiber in any given town is not going to make it a good place to put technology businesses! Or has everyone magically forgotten Missouri's attitude towards teaching evolution in schools just because Google bought some fiber there?

      There are lots and lots of other places that have fast, cheap fiber. Slashdotters love to talk about how they have 50 Gbps Internet for $5/month in Sweden or free cloud-based dick-sucking anime robots in Korea or whatever. Yeah, we all get how much broadband access in the US sucks.

      And yet... none of these magical places have somehow displaced the US and its terrible, awful, no-good Internet as the center of the tech world. Silicon Valley is still what it is due to the physical proximity of employers and investors. I love what Google Fiber is doing, but it isn't going to make anywhere else the new Silicon Valley, any more than all the other places in the world with cheaper Internet displaced that region before... which is to say "none."

      Google FIber is not going to magically make anywhere a Mecca for technology. What really makes a place a tech center is a.) the tech companies that are already there are form an ecosystem; b.) the universities or other talent pools to draw from; c.) the local state or country's tax policies for residents/companies + immigration/visa policies for new entrants; and d.) the quality of the cultural, educational and political environment to attract new employees and their families to the area. Sadly, Kansas City does not excel on all four, whether cheap fiber is there or not. And if Google Fiber comes to your hometown of East Dead Cow Skull Texas, it doesn't mean that you will be able to attract tech companies either - sorry but it's the truth.

      --
      "95% of all Slashdot .sig quotes are incorrect or completely fabricated." -Benjamin Franklin
    3. Re:That's the whole point by unixisc · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I don't have strong views either for or against teaching evolution, but how is that attitude even remotely relevant as to whether MO or KS are good places in which to set up tech companies? It's certainly better than the stratospheric costs of the Santa Clara Valley.

    4. Re:That's the whole point by Vintermann · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The whole point of this exercise, from Google's point of view, was to intimidate the monopolies into providing real connectivity. They don't want to be in the ISP business, but they also aren't going to sit idly by when those monopolies choke progress with high prices and poor bandwidth.

      --
      xkcd is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
    5. Re:That's the whole point by maugle · · Score: 4, Informative

      Did you even read his response? His answer was: nothing directly, but educated people tend not to want to move to locations infamous for their lack of education.

    6. Re:That's the whole point by ctrlshift · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The whole point of this exercise, from Google's point of view, was to intimidate the monopolies into providing real connectivity. They don't want to be in the ISP business, but they also aren't going to sit idly by when those monopolies choke progress with high prices and poor bandwidth.

      I don't believe there is any business Google doesn't want to be in.

      And as much as I'd like to believe that Google will save us all from shitty ISPs, I think it will turn out much like it usually does when Google supplants an existing product/service. They bring a bizzare form of destruction that kills the competition but also radically changes consumer expectations of that type of service: i.e. they make everyone think X should be free or ultra cheap. See GMail, see Google Apps, see Google Voice, Books, Maps, etc.

      Pretty much every product they put out makes it harder to convince people that type of prouct is worth paying for. Why pay dollars when you can just pay in privacy and screen-clutter? Google as an ISP is only going to convince people that a) bandwidth is limitless and b) It should cost next to nothing. Pray they don't alter that deal because there isn't anyone to supplant them.

  2. Can you run a business server on this connection? by linuxguy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have been under the impression that Google prohibits business use of these connections. Including running servers. Can somebody confirm or deny this?

    If they allow this, then it would be very tempting. A 1Gbps pipe costs a lot more, even at wholesale prices, from other vendors.

  3. Re:Can you run a business server on this connectio by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    You are correct. The terms of service prohibit running a server unless you get specific permission, in writing, from Google Fiber.

  4. What will they do when Google pulls the plug? by girlinatrainingbra · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The problem with a lot of Google innovations is that Google likes to beta the shit out of it and often likes to call it quits when they figure out that they don't know how to monetize it. What will the entrepreneurs do when Google decides that they do not want to continue dealing with the keeping their black fiber alive in Kansas City?
    .
    Those entrepreneurs will be stuck with zilch or with whatever new price structure is set by google or whomever follows them!

  5. Indiatimes.com didn't credit AP/Maria Sudekum. by Seor+Jojoba · · Score: 5, Informative

    This is actually an Associated Press article by Maria Sudekum. See this link. Indiatimes.com didn't give credit to Maria or AP, which may mean they just snatched and reposted the content. I like to see the original author credited and let her reputation be affected (good or bad) by the quality of her work.

  6. Re:Can you run a business server on this connectio by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Our Terms of Service prohibit running a server. However, use of applications such as multi-player gaming, video-conferencing, home security and others which may include server capabilities but are being used for legal and non-commercial purposes are acceptable and encouraged.

    https://fiber.google.com/help/

    Google Fiber: just keep consuming, consumer.

  7. GF in KC by lionchild · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There are two things about Google Fiber in Kansas City that are interesting to note:

    1.) Kansas City (and the midwest) has a low cost of living, making the idea of boot strapping your own startup without lots of Venture Capital possible.

    2.) Google Fiber isn't available to business at this time, which means that if you're not at a home address, you can't get it. I'm just not sure why that is, since one of the benefits of getting enough people intersted in the project in your neck of the woods means when it comes in, various NPO's such as the KC Public Library or Union Station will get a Google Fiber feed for free.

    --
    Awk! Pieces of eight. Pieces of eight. Pieces of seven... ERROR: General Protection Fault. [Paroty Error.]