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Google Fiber Is Now a Fiber and Wireless ISP (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the two-in-one dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Google Fiber today said it has completed its acquisition of Webpass, a wireless Internet service provider that will figure prominently into its plans for deployment of high-speed Internet. But the Alphabet division is not giving up on fiber, saying it will use both wireless and fiber networks to compete against cable companies and telcos. Google Fiber revealed its plan to buy Webpass in June, and the company said in an announcement today that Webpass "is now officially part of the Google Fiber family." The Webpass site has been updated to call the service "Webpass from Google Fiber." Webpass uses point-to-point wireless technology that's useful for connecting businesses and multi-unit residential buildings in densely populated areas. It hasn't been financially feasible for Webpass to bring its high-speed network to single-family homes, so it can't fully replace Google Fiber's wired Internet service. "[O]ur strategy going forward will be a hybrid approach with wireless playing an integral part," Google Fiber President Dennis Kish wrote. "Going forward, Webpass will continue to grow and scale their business with point-to-point wireless technology, including expanding into new cities. And for our part, Google Fiber will continue to build out our portfolio of wireless and fiber technologies, to bring super fast Internet to more people, faster." Existing Webpass customers will see no change to their service, he wrote. Webpass's residential service offers speeds of up to 1Gbps for $60 a month in San Francisco, San Diego, Miami, Chicago, and Boston. There's no word yet on where Webpass will deploy next.

12 of 21 comments (clear)

  1. No excitement until it is available by ArtemaOne · · Score: 1

    I'm happy for those in the few locations that this is relevant, but they're not a major player in the USA yet. I would love to use their services, but I'm stuck with Comcast until someone brings in some competition.

    1. Re:No excitement until it is available by dimko · · Score: 1

      Two words for you brah, low latency. For a gamer, mobile is a no go. Add traffic cap on top of that cherry. So I believe this poor sap.

  2. Well crap. by sims+2 · · Score: 1

    How long until they decide to halt their fiber rollout to concentrate on the more profitable wireless service?

    All the cool kids are doing it.

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    1. Re:Well crap. by Ingenium13 · · Score: 1

      It's not wireless in the same sense as cell phone carriers. It's just point to point fixed microwave. Webpass used it so they only had to get fiber backhaul to one building, then they could quickly deploy it to nearby buildings with line of sight. From the microwave dish on the building roof, it fed out via cat5 I believe to the individual units.

      I almost pulled the trigger and switched to Webpass when my building got it, but that was right when they apparently ran out of IPv4 addresses... each new building seemed to only get a single IPv4 address and used NAT from my understanding (plus IPv6). That was a deal breaker for me, I needed to be able to remotely access my home network. I have a feeling that isn't a problem for them now with Google's IPv4 address space.

    2. Re:Well crap. by A5un · · Score: 1

      Why not use IPv6? Webpass has already supported IPv6 for a while and I can verify that it works well.

    3. Re: Well crap. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I keep forgetting my ipv6 address. Every time I try, I get a nose bleed.

  3. I predicted this in 2012 by birukun · · Score: 1

    https://slashdot.org/comments....

    I called out Google as eventually becoming an ISP and media provider, making your Internet provider and cable provider unneeded. One service to rule them all.

    They will also become a cell provider - only primarily using WiFi. Google Fi is a step in that direction. I was surprised when they bought Motorola Mobile and then sold them, I expected them to manufacture handsets in house. I imagine they took some intellectual property and then sold it off, opting instead for other companies to compete for their business in the Nexus line.

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    Self Defense - A Human Right www.a-human-right.com
    1. Re:I predicted this in 2012 by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Technically it will not be Google but Alphabet and Google fibre will do a brand shift, once they have gotten as much out of the Google branding they can, now not worth as much after the big shit and alphabet co were exposed using search to dick around in politics, the brand has lost a loft of shine as a result and those executives should be penalised for screwing around with company capital assets and worth to feed their own personal political egos. Could google or alphabet or what ever new marketing name they come up with be trusted as you sole communications provider, absolutely not, they have already been busted big time screwing around with democracy, so really super evil right off from the get go.

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      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    2. Re:I predicted this in 2012 by birukun · · Score: 1

      Yeah I used to believe in that do no evil thing - now I am off GMail etc

      1984 probably still an accurate prediction, just a few decades off

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      Self Defense - A Human Right www.a-human-right.com
  4. Webpass stinks by jtara · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sorry, but Webpass stinks, particularly in multi-unit installations. No way can/do they deliver the bandwidth that they promise, particularly in multi-unit housing.

    OK, not really STINKS, but "meh", except when it isn't working for a few days.

    That said, they do deliver fiber to some buildings - the ones on which they site their antennas. They are probably OK in those buildings. But of course, then they are/were no different than the original Google Fiber concept.

    A friend who owns apartment buildings put in WebPass and gives his tenants free Internet. I made him under-promise, so his rental listings only claim 50mbps. He is happy, his tenants are happy, as he only has about 40 units, and his tenants aren't expecting the 500mbps that they can't deliver to every one of them at peak times. They get free basic Internet, and as many of them then won't want/need cable, it saves some wear/tear on move-ins/move-outs with no need for the Cable Guy.

    They will double-up transceivers in a larger installation if they get complaints.

    1. Re:Webpass stinks by A5un · · Score: 3

      I have anecdote the other way. My rental unit was promised 200Mbps by Webpass and I can attest that I can get 500Mbps up and down easily.

      One thing to remember is that those older wireless routers such as the venerable WRT54G or even the Linksys WRT610/E3xxx CANNOT handle such high speed. It's likely the router that is the bottleneck. I just realized this a while ago and had to get a higher end AC wireless router and voila, 500 Mbps without any problem, whereas previously the older wireless routers tops up at 150-200 Mbps.

    2. Re:Webpass stinks by xeno42 · · Score: 1

      I've had Webpass for over 8 years; they've been the best ISP i've ever had, by far.

      Extremely reliable, tech support that knows what they're talking about and consistently delivers the full 100Mbit up & down that I pay for (alas the 20 year old wiring in my building won't support anything faster). This is in a 400+ unit apartment complex, so there's definitely a lot of other people sharing the connection.