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Google Invite Hints Fiber Project Expanding To Austin
New submitter paulbsch writes "With its technology-centric culture, the Silicon Hills of Austin, TX could have been the perfect city for the first iteration of Google Fiber. Austinites will just have to settle with being only the second city to get the ultra high speed service." Right now, this is well-founded supposition, rather than confirmed fact, based on an invitation from Google to a joint event this Tuesday which promises an announcement which will "have a positive impact on Austinites and the future of the city." Another possibility, as PC Magazine points out, is that Google will announce a new Austin office.
So Google are inviting hints now?
Or is it a hints fiber project?
Can we have headlines we can understand please
I think Google may announce that the weed on 6th street is exceptional, but the cover charges at the bars are ridiculous.
you guys get ripped off in the states. even the 300USD fee or "free" internet is kinda pricey. in frankfurt, i pay €30/mo for 50/1 service and 30 720p channels. the 50/1 service is only €19/mo with telephone for free. those prices also contain the 20% sales tax.
as it keeps the riff-raff out. i don't party with peasants.
After years enduring the tender mercies of AT&T and Time Warner Cable, broadband consumers in Austin are feeling reamed. I expect competition will result in improved offerings and lower prices from the existing duopoly, as it has wherever municipal or other alternatives are available.
I recently investigated upgrading my speed and just getting basic pricing information is difficult (AT&T) to impossible (Time Warner). So how much will it cost after the promotional period? "We can't tell you that, sir." Are you fucking kidding me?
out on the northwest side of Lake Travis will still be stuck with dial-up, satellite, or cellular. :(
Will they have CSN Houston? that few systems have? due to the Astros playing hardball over pre sub pricing.
Sports costs are the big driver of prices also big packs of channels as well where you have to have shit like MTV to get comedy central.
Google fiber does not even have HBO or MAX.
like I said, it's a monopoly. personally, i skip all TV expect the very basic package (€17/mo with 25 channels including international news) and just download TV shows as seasons so I can bypass the commercials. in some countries I've lived in, they show the block of adverts with a clock in the bottom corner so I know how I have to take a leak while the block of commercials is playing ... that was quite nice.
Why would you expand your project to a city that won't exist soon?
If Kim Jong Un doesn't like their music, I can't imagine he would spare it because of its internet service.
Given Kim's itchy trigger finger, Google really needs to reconsider. Instead of Austin, they should have their second high speed internet effort here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast as the effect would be revolutionary and bring us from the stone age into the 21st century. Just think what bring Mississippi out of the stone age could do. They could rightfully and proudly boast, "If we can bring Mississippi out of the stone age, just think of what we can do for you!"
Beside, just think, being able to watch as global warming produces the next Katrina live in ultra-high def at 100 Gigabits per second would give advertisers the perfect opportunity to capture hundreds of millions of eyeballs. They would make billions.
I live in Austin, and about a year ago I switched from AT&T DSL to TWC with a decent promo rate of (with taxes & modem lease) $56.66/month for 30 Mbps down / 5 Mbps up. I was expecting the promo rate to expire and my bill to increase by $25, but the other day, TWC sent me a nice letter stating that they are extending my promo rate for 3 months. That really surprised me. No negotiations or threats to switch or bitching. Maybe they heard that Google Fiber is coming to town, and are trying to take preventative measures. The thought of going from 30 Mbps to 1 Gbps for $70+taxes/month has be excited. Come on in, Google. We've been waiting for you.
Google fiber does not even have HBO or MAX.
This is SO FUCKING PERFECT!!!
--Richard
(a non-HBO/non-MAX-watching geek in Austin)
I'm up north of Austin, in Georgetown. The only choices up here are Verizon DSL at 1.5m/700k, or Suddenlink's faster but incredibly intermittent cable internet.
If Google comes to Austin, when my lease is up I will move to wherever they're servicing.
Google hates oklahoma
By the time I'm done with taxes, fees, and the price hike after 3 months it's $95. I guess I can pay $50/mo for over the air if I want.
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While some are rightly pointing out that residential service in Austin is actually pretty quick by US standards (max speeds of 50/5 for ~$115 per month) the real benefactors of this will be business clients. Time Warner Cable charges out the nose and any other orifice they can find if you are not at a residential address. 7/0.768 is priced at $100 per month with a dynamic IP with a 1 year contract!
Also many are accusing Time Warner of not playing nice when it comes to peering and network neutrality, so that could be affecting Google's decision as well. Not to mention that Austin has a name for being high tech now so the publicity is good and uptake will likely be great.
I have gone from Texas.net dial up, to Grande Enterprise class fiber, and been an early adopter the entire way. I certainly hope to get this for my business on Guadalupe, or my home in Allandale near 2222 and Shoal Creek. My sister can get Grande South of 2222 a 5 minute slow walk from my house. 7 years later they have not jumped 2222. South of 2222 you can get it Central, and I currently have Grande at my business Game Republik at 40th and Guadalupe in Hyde Park. I can also get Uverse there, but not at my home. I'll be tracking news of this as it happens in the same manner I have covered AMD since 98. I also worked at an ISP back in the late 90s, and got turned down by Time Warner to work in tech support upon graduation probably because I told the interviewer how bad their support was. Please if you have any Google fiber news in Austin send it my way. I in particular want a good roll out map. http://googlefiberatx.com/
ignorance is bliss. googlefiberatx.com
It really does need HBO. Game Of Thrones is a major hit for the Network.
First Verizon fiber, now Google? What's so damn special about Texas that is gets first launches of fiber networks?
I wonder how this will eventually change the topology of the net. Is Google implementing a new Tier-1 network down the center of the US?
Pure speculation, as I have zero idea what their backend in these cities look like. But I'm hoping by tossing it out, I'll have either confirmation or a fast assessment that it isn't likely.
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
Toward Austin becoming its own state. It is now too cool to exist in Texas.
They started buying it up in 2005 or before, when all the long distance telecoms were going belly up and they could get it for pennies on the dollar of the installation cost. They have also been buying Peering points. This is not just in the US, but globally. In 2010 they were rumored to have more network than all but two global ISPs, and there is reason to believe that estimate was way low.
The point of these purchases was to get out ahead of a deep pocket competitor (guess who) who might try and lock them out of the Internet, drive up their transport costs or otherwise "cut off their air supply". It was defensive insurance, but they use it to keep their network costs down, investing in hardware technologies in-house to the point where nobody moves bits cheaper than Google. They have been wondering what to do with the excess for a long time, since bandwidth of this fiber has increased at a logarithmic rate due to progress in signalling technology and is now many hundreds or thousands of times Google's own considerable needs.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
We have the game of thrones every morning....
Mom, Dad, three kids, and two toilets.