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Google Fiber Reminds People It's a 'Real Business' (dslreports.com)
An anonymous reader writes: While Google Fiber gets a massive amount of media hype (justly based on its disruptive speed and price point), the reality is that despite numerous city "launches" -- not that many people can actually get the service. But while many ISPs and analysts have dismissed Google Fiber as an adorable experiment that will never impact them, many of these folks have been forced to changing their tune as Google Fiber's list of planned launch cities grows larger. In a profile piece over at USAToday, the company once again notes that while Google Fiber may have begun as a PR exercise, it's now dead serious about being a large, nationwide disruptive kick in the ass for incumbent broadband providers. "It is indeed a real business, and it's serving to increase competition as well, and that's something that we don't mind," Google Fiber boss and former Qualcomm exec Dennis Kish tells the paper. "We think it's healthy for the market and for consumers."
Then again, I live in Chattanooga, so what the fuck do I care?
It's a subsidiary of a real business, a business with billions of dollars in liquid capital that is currently sitting around doing nothing. They're only going slow because it's a strategy intended to force municipalities to carve out subsidies and dig the trenches for them.
until I can get it...
just sayin'
Sig Follows: "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain
actually now that I think about it, why did this need to be pointed out? Did people think it was going to be temporary or something?
I live in a town of ~10,000. My great grandchildrens generation might see Google Fiber here.
--- Keep the choice with the user..
Is having Google be your ISP just asking for absolutely everything to be spied on?
If I get it, I'm thinking of renting a cheap VPS and running all my traffic through that over an encrypted tunnel. How bad would latency be? Other thoughts?
One of my small clients was able to get Small Business Google Fiber installed this last year. After the struggles of getting the physical installation going, things have been very nice. They like it very much, the way they expected it. However...
Recently Google has contacted us to say our "introductory rates" will be ending the middle of 2017. They're moving to a 3-tier model for their fiber speeds. For $250 you can keep your 1 gigabit speed, for $150 (I think), you an go down to 250 megabits, and for $75 (or $100 maybe), you can go down to 100 megabits. If we don't update our choice by the end of July, 2017, they'll kick us down to 250 Mbps automatically.
So, with the price change, that means we'll have to pay, basically, double to maintain our 1 Gbps, otherwise we lose 75% of our speed to pay the same price.
Welcome to the "business."
Awk! Pieces of eight. Pieces of eight. Pieces of seven... ERROR: General Protection Fault. [Paroty Error.]
Until it is in my town, it doesn't exist.
I don't really believe they are a real business. I mean, in the sense that, if you live in those places, you can get amazing fiber, and then everyone else suddenly shifts to compete, sure. It's real.
But I don't live there. I *do* live in suburbs just outside of a city, a major metropolitan area. But no google fiber. Because their total deploy is so damned low, my area could reasonably be next (so in the next couple years) or very far out (long enough not to matter).
So to me, no, they aren't real. No one I talk to in real life has google fiber. It may as well be a European nation with good internet- it's got about the same level of meaning to me.
"have been forced to changing their tune"
Ugh, hire a fucking editor, please. Just one would make all the difference.
I don't see Philadelphia in the list of future or even potential cities for expansion. Shit, not even a single city within a six-hour drive. Nothing in the Northeast. The closest seems to be Raleigh-Durham. At this rate, it just looks like yet another half-assed Google project ready to go on the chopping block.
In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
And yet it's all just talk until you actually start getting serious about serving places. Six current cities and four upcoming cities is not a serious business. 12 potential cities? That's great. I've read they primarily select cities based on where dark fiber is already heavily available, which is fine from a cost point, but it doesn't necessarily get them customers.
Besides, I'm likely to pass unless I can get something between the "free" and $70/month plan cause 5 Mbit isn't enough and 1 Gbit is way more than I need. The only perk would be competitors offering lower rates to fill the gap. I hate Comcast but I imagine they're more likely to meet me in the middle and that fine by me. And given Google isn't touching New England with a pole of any size, I don't expect to see any better service any time soon.
You're our only hope!
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
I switch seasonally from a town in the SF bay area that has multiple options in ISP's and a very fast home service of 100mbps to Yuma AZ where I can barely get 15mbps from the only show in town for more money. While it pales in comparison to Gbps service just the addition of another competitor drove down the cost and increased bandwidth in the existing Comcast offerings. BTW I've mentioned before I love Astound/Wave communications, and TWC/Charter to be known as Spectrum communications SUCKS donkey genitalia.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Out here in rural America (I'm near Lake Tahoe), we hear nothing but Big Business Buzz. I've got the best there is in the County Seat: 12 Mb/s, barely enough for my small business...but nothing near what it would take to attract significant business growth, because we're not "visible" enough, and the Republican congress has made sure there's been no money (even though most rural areas are as Red as Hell) for broadband through the Rural Utilities Service, or other federal medium.
Google could create a massive economic boom in rural America...but "shareholder return" is more important to them than trying to help solve economic problems outside big cities. But, even Jack Welch, the original progenitor of "shareholder value" has now called it "the dumbest idea in the world."
(See http://www.forbes.com/sites/st...)
Even the Tennessee Valley Authority spawned the USDA's Rural Electrification Service to bring electricity to rural areas...back when politicians still gave a damn about their constituents' needs.
So, Google, why won't you return my phone calls about serving rural markets? Are citizens in rural areas less VALUABLE to our Country, in your eyes? Where does YOUR food come from?
In my neighborhood, the options were city owned cable internet at 30mbps, Comcast at "50mbps" (we all know how accurate THAT really is), or Centurylink at only 3mbps!
Thanks to the push of Google Fiber elsewhere in the country, the local ISP and Comcast have increased their speeds to about 150mbps, and Centurylink has pushed Gigabit Fiber, which I've been greatly enjoying since the beginning of the year. The only downside is that my monthly bill is roughly double that of Google Fiber in other cities. But considering it is only about $30 more than I was paying for the 30mbps down (and 6mbps up), the symmetrical gigabit connection has been more than worth the extra fee!
Having had GF since their initial KC installation my bill has been raised almost $70/mo. When I couldn't route to various entities through their pure IPv6 system there was absolutely no help from customer service or engineering.
Google Fiber isn't a business, it's an arm of Google to extend into the home. It's a shit service and you'd be better off using a local competitor. And there are plenty.
Of course it took well over a year longer than expected, and my apartment complex was recently bought and are going to be kicking out all current tenants in order to renovate, but it's nice. For now.
that it's a Real Business too.
Except that when FiOS rolled out here, Verizon didn't try to undercut Comcast's prices.
I'll keep waiting for the Googs to get here, but I'm not holding my breath.
As a techie who actually has Google Fiber, it's been amazing. The first couple weeks were really rocky--random internet outages which were unexplainable.
They sent a tech out, who'd never seen anything like it, and he's like "well, I guess I'll replace the network box, because I have no idea what it is." Worked great ever since.
The only major disadvantage is they don't want you running your own router, and have actually hassled me for doing so. They offer just a fiber jack to businesses, but don't offer it for residential customers. Residential customers HAVE to use their "network box" (router). There are actually howtos on the internet of plugging into the fiber jack, if you have a managed switch and set the VLAN tags right.
My speeds:
I get 400 Mbit up/down over wireless (my own router)
I get 900 Mbit up/down wired
Speeds are constant, regardless of time of day, and no weird latency issues at all. I get a reliable 1ms ping to a friend who also has Google Fiber 15mi away, and I get very low pings to the rest of the world. It's hands down the best internet I've ever had. Customer service is friendly, too.
-=Lothsahn=-
All of the Alphabet child companies have to be self supporting. I don't recall if the deadline has past yet or not. Which is why - if you've been paying attention - some things have already been divested, such as Boston Dynamics robotics.
Sure it is. How is that Austin rollout going Google? I only ask because I live there and at the rate I'm seeing, I'm gonna get it around the year 2525. If man is still alive.
major space flight, technology, and oil and gas hub and we're not even on the roadmap for future deployment according to the pictures in that article.
I have a hard time thinking of Google Fiber as a serious business if they're ignoring us.
Now if they were ignoring us but they were intentionally targeting places like Jal NM, Pecos TX, Nome AK, Vale OR I would consider them serious. SInce they're just cherry picking mid-sized to large cities that already have reasonably good infrastructure - likely loads of dark-fiber - but ignoring large cities and bergs I can't take them seriously.
Also I know plenty of people in Austin that can't get Google fiber because "they're only near the capital, downtown, and college". Hard to take them seriously.
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
to offer better service and prices. Google mainly want a big, affordable pipe to everyone. If they can get the existing service providers to do that, great, if not, they'll do it themselves. I've noticed that areas where Google announces that they are thinking about entering seems to suddenly get better prices and faster speeds from the people already in the area.
The more Google fiber rolls out, the less the otherwise monpolistic broadband can gouge us for! Bring on Google!
Just out of curiosity...
Does anyone have references for general ballpark figures to build out a mile (or ten) of high speed internet access (say, 5/1 per account), and how many accounts per mile are generally required before a cable company will install the infrastructure?
Love sees no species.
Seriously, living in a place like highlands ranch, which is loaded with well-to-do techies, and having other communities around here, it sux waiting for Google to get here.
Come on Google, work with netflix, amazon, etc and spread out faster. All it takes is a bit of money from all of you to really his this hard.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
why is google fiber ignoring the mid-atlantic? looks like no plans for anything north of Raleigh. Charlotte was a good choice though.
Google should start "tricking" existing service providers into thinking they might enter every market, then..... Force their competitors to make that investment in EVERY potential market, to gain maximum leverage...
If Google fiber wanted to be a real isp they would have a privacy agreement that kept them from selling user data as marketing research to third party's.
Remember as with any of Google's projects when you use them you're not the customer, you're the product.
I've been waiting for an installation (not the freebie, a real paid one, $300 install and competitive to cable rates / month) for 2 years 1 month in Kansas City.
I've banged on them several times of course. No install yet.
Also, they have not come up with commercial installation rates that make any sense either. At least last time I bothered (given their rapid response rate it's been a while), they had a "no commercial" rule.
So spare me the "real business" nonsense.