Google Fiber: Why Traditional ISPs Are Officially On Notice

MojoKid writes "A few years ago, when Google was determining which city to launch its pilot Google Fiber program, cities all over the country went all-out trying to persuade the search giant to bring all that fantastical bandwidth to their neck of the woods. And with good reason: Google Fiber offers gigabit Internet speeds and even TV service, all at prices that meet or beat the competition. In fact, the lowest tier of Google Fiber service (5Mbps down, 1Mbps up) is free, once users pay a $300 construction fee. If ISPs were concerned before, they should really start sweating it now. Although Google Fiber looked like it would whip traditional ISPs in every regard, with Time Warner Cable cutting prices and boosting speeds for users in Kansas City in a desperate attempt to keep them, surely other ISPs were hoping the pilot program would flame out. Now that Austin is happening, it's clear that it's only a matter of time before Google rolls out its service in many more cities. Further, this jump from legacy Internet speeds to gigabit-class service is not just about people wanting to download movies faster; it's a sea change in what the Internet is really capable of."

Comments

Gigabit connection: Sonic offers it in parts of SF

[Animats]

Sonic.net offers gigabit fiber connections in Sebastopol CA now, and they're expanding next to the Sunset District in San Francisco. They may have more real paying customers on fiber than Google does. They're a small ISP and don't want to overextend themselves, so they're deploying slowly.

Re:Oy.

[postbigbang]

State regulation is what gives the telcos tacit monopolies, and inability for regional and local government to manage their own communications utilities. Think of how free public wifi has been outlawed in numerous states after telcos effectively bribed the legislatures.

I'm in no way an anarchist, but the TCA was designed to yank as much state authority over datacom regulation and give it to a federal level. Look at how well that's worked in the US. The landline "owners" sell crappy DSL derivatives. Comcast/Xfinity & TW/BrightHouse get fat and happy, and offer tiered levels of crap. Verizon and a few others offer fiber, which uses passive 90/10 ratios so that users cannot become "dealers" in services. Google comes along and gives people raw fiber (90/10) and with breathtakingly little effort, scares the crap out of the in situ last-mile purveyors.

State regulation is BOUGHT and PAID FOR by the providers. Consumers were not the ones that made the purchase. I'm no libertarian, but truly, state regulation isn't the answer because the legislators are too easily bribed with campaign contributions, soft money, and other greasings of the legislative wheels.