Google Fiber

[Kchrpm]

Google Fiber is looking to expand into 34 new cities across 9 metro areas. None of the areas are guaranteed to get it, they need to work with the local governments to make sure it's feasible.

https://fiber.google.com/newcities/

Arizona
- Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe
California
- San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto
Georgia
- Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, College Park, Decatur, East Point, Hapeville, Sandy Springs, Smyrna
North Carolina
- Charlotte, Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham, Garner, Morrisville, Raleigh
Oregon
- Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Gresham, Lake Oswego, Tigard
Tennessee
- Nashville-Davidson
Texas
- San Antonio
Utah
- Salt Lake City

[Random]

At this point, google seems like the only company willing to compete with the cable providers. :|

Hurry up and come to Davis!

[Kchrpm]

Cincinnati Bell was rolling out fiber in Cincinnati (predictably), but I think they've stopped.

[Random]

Verizon has reportedly stopped rolling out FioS, too.

[21Kid]

I wonder why? Wireless?

[Kchrpm]

I found a site that shows detailed maps of what types of internet are available where, annoying seeing the blue "fiber" area surrounding my neighborhood.

http://www.broadbandmap.gov/technology/fiber-to-the-end-user

[overpowered]

Fuck Time Warner.
Fuck Time Warner.
Fuck Time Warner.

[Jason]

Choice in the internet market? Can't have that. Wonder how many governments will be paid off my ComcastTimeWarner

[Kchrpm]

Right now Comcast and TimeWarnerCable don't overlap in any markets, so no one will be losing out in choice. Unfortunately that is one of the reasons it might go through.

[Alan P]

Just got my Fibre optic, 40 down and 10 up installed. No installation or setup and £10 per month. Working for your ISP has benefits. :)

Regarding the big court case thingy from a 25 odd years ago that I've seen referenced about Networks lobbying Congress (I think) and succeeding at removing access to their own networks, anyone got more info on that? Here in the UK the big Telco had a virtual monopoly for years. In some ways they still do. They have a nationwide network (Admittedly a nationwide network in the US is an impossibility) and any Internet provider with spends billions running their own network (and it's nearly broken several companies that tried it so they ended up merging) or uses this network and the charges that come from using it.

[Godson]

They are currently putting in new poles in the area to handle the weight of the Fiber cables. Shouldn't be too long before I can get it.

[FaultyMario]

http://blog.netflix.com/2014/03/internet-tolls-and-case-for-strong-net.html

Not entirely sure it fits here, but it kinda does.

I couldn't decide on one snippet to quote. It's a really good entry from one rich dude.

[Drachen596]

i think Verizon quit rolling Fios out anywhere new years ago.. they sold to Frontier here and Frontier basically killed Fios TV service a while back, they've started to offer it again but did their best to boot all their tv customers over to satellite. return on investment plus new service/construction teething issues. (here at least)

their rollout and sell out all happened while i was still working at Comcast. it seemed like they offered stupid low rates to get customers then couldn't deliver the service quality they advertised based on what customers coming back to cable were telling me.



i just wish for the day when ALL tv services work like on demand or netflix. none of this set packages crap. it sucks to want a single channel but have to get a 20 buck a month package with 30 other channels in it.

[Godson]

Fiber lines are being ran in my neighborhood as we speak.

People have already pledged to sign on.



The end is near!

[Kchrpm]

i just wish for the day when ALL tv services work like on demand or netflix.
So you want them to work where you pay individually for every episode or movie you watch, or where you get everything, even stuff you will never ever watch, for one flat rate?

The first one is available through stuff like iTunes, the second is basically what cable is except cheaper and with an unlimited space cloud DVR.

[Drachen596]

Flat rate or even a flat rate per network assuming you could do it by parent company. So like 10 bucks gets you every network/channel owned by fox or nbc universal and the respective shows.Hell even with ads like fox does now on demand would be okay.


Media companies will never go for it though.

[Jason]

They'll do whatever gets them profits.

Easiest is to not support digital much OR make it only available if you have a cable subscription. Then cable companies can squeeze from the other side. Make internet prices higher, etc.

Oligopolies are fun.

It's funny that I hope Google gets into the internet connection game nation wide... because they have a relative monopoly in other areas of tech. But hey, gotta choose your battles.

[21Kid]

They seem less evil though... :|

[Godson]

So you want them to work where you pay individually for every episode or movie you watch, or where you get everything, even stuff you will never ever watch, for one flat rate.

Heh... I don't even need to mention it....

[21Kid]

It's pretty much a given at this point, isn't it?

[Godson]

Just glad I am not the only person thinking about it.

[Kchrpm]

Rumors/leaks are saying that Google wants to offer mobile service in the areas where they offer Google Fiber.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/03/google-phone-service-leak/

[JoshInKC]

I would not mind that at all. Here in KC there is no wireless provider that anyone rates as better than about 4/10.
You'd really think that with Sprint being ostensibly headquartered here, that they'd have a good network. That thought would be wrong.

[Godson]

Sprint is a joke in and of itself...

[JoshInKC]

Yeah, its actually pretty funny how terrible sprint's network is here. My wife used to work on what had been the sprint headquarters campus in a heavily poulated area of town. Often, she couldn't even get 1 bar standing outside the building. They don't even slightly care what connectivity is like.

[Godson]

Yeah.

In Google news. Parents signed up for Fiber yesterday. I move out in August, but have talked to my landlord and told him I'd pay for the hook-up fee ect as long as he gets it going.



I NEED something good and reliable. ATT has been shitting the bed on the internet the last 2 months, and this week is getting worse with each passing day.



EDIT: to the point that I cannot access sites that I don't visit on a regular basis, this goes for videos on youtube also. Not just my computer, but brother and dad having issues with it also. Fuck AT&T. I can pull 5mb/s now with a good ping, but the internet connection is sporadic at best and they seem to not really care.

[Godson]

To further laugh at the pathetic nature of how the competition is handling google fiber, I now I can't log into the schools ecollege to aid in organizing my workload.

It is almost like they are trying to mess with us. Router and modem have both been reset, along with the laptops being re-booted. Nothing is wrong on my end near as I can tell.

[Yw-slayer]

100/100 fiber at work and 1000/1000 fiber at home both working spiffily.

What is it you guys like to say? Oh yes.

"Just sayin'."

:assclown: :finger:

[Godson]

I find it odd that I am almost restricted to certain sites. It's boggling really.

[21Kid]

:rawk: Freedom!!!!

[Godson]

Cheap fuckers in my neighborhood didn't have enough sign-ups.


Fuck this town.

[21Kid]

You have some dumb neighbors... :(

[Alan P]

It was just announced in the UK that the City of York is getting Fibre to the Home by the end of 2015 with speeds of 1Gig each way.

[TheBenior]

Cheap fuckers in my neighborhood didn't have enough sign-ups.


Fuck this town.

Well, shit.

[Godson]

I am moving to the northside in August anyways to a neighborhood that is going to have it.


The issue is where I am at, there are a lot of rentals who haven't even been here a year. I have no idea on the size of the area they were testing for, but within a few blocks has some section 8 areas. I guess the chance of getting it was lower than me not getting it.

[21Kid]

AT&T Eyes 100 U.S. Cities and Municipalities for its Ultra-Fast Fiber Network (http://about.att.com/story/att_eyes_100_u_s_cities_and_municipalities_for_its _ultra_fast_fiber_network.html)


April 21, 2014 - AT&T* today announced a major initiative to expand its ultra-fast fiber network to up to 100 candidate cities and municipalities nationwide, including 21 new major metropolitan areas. The fiber network will deliver AT&T U-verse® with GigaPowerSM service, which can deliver broadband speeds up to 1 Gigabit per second and AT&T’s most advanced TV services, to consumers and businesses.

AT&T will work with local leaders in these markets to discuss ways to bring the service to their communities. Similar to previously announced metro area selections in Austin and Dallas and advanced discussions in Raleigh-Durham and Winston-Salem, communities that have suitable network facilities, and show the strongest investment cases based on anticipated demand and the most receptive policies will influence these future selections and coverage maps within selected areas. This initiative continues AT&T’s ongoing commitment to economic development in these communities, bringing jobs, advanced technologies and infrastructure.

The list of 21 candidate metropolitan areas includes: Atlanta, Augusta, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Fort Worth, Fort Lauderdale, Greensboro, Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Oakland, Orlando, San Antonio, San Diego, St. Louis, San Francisco, and San Jose. With previously announced markets, AT&T now has committed to or is exploring 25 metro areas for fiber deployment.
:D competition!!!

[Alan P]

How does that list compare to the Google Fibre rollout? Surely at least a couple of Internet companies can come up with a joint effort where they can then both offer services. Half the costs (or spread the network further for the same cash) and then give consumers proper competition. Potentially more customers and (usually) cheaper pricing. Win/Win all round?

[Godson]

I bet I will still get skipped over :(

[21Kid]

:lol: I mean. :(

[Godson]

Well, there may be hope.


ATT stopped by today to say they have been running fiber lines in the area, too bad I don't pay the bill to let the know what is up.

[Godson]

Just received an email from google saying we reached our goal :?


I guess ATT announcing fiber lines in the area motivated them after all. Who knows.

[Yw-slayer]

Good on ya mate. Once you go fibre and 4G, you never go back (sadly, doesn't rhyme very well).

[Godson]

Good on ya mate. Once you go fibre and 4G, you never go back (sadly, doesn't rhyme very well).


(assuming you are talking about 4g for phone use) I have had 4g on my cell phone for over 2 years now. So now I really can bitch about 1st world problems.

[Godson]

And apparently the e-mail saying we were going to get Google Fiber was sent in error.

[21Kid]

:o OOOOoooohhhhh..... :finger:

[Kchrpm]

https://fiber.google.com/newcities/

Four new cities announced: Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Nashville

Still on the potential list: Phoenix, San Antonio, San Jose, Portland, Salt Lake City

[Random]

San Jose would be kind of a big deal. :up:

[Kchrpm]

Google has confirmed they are working on an MVNO-like service, but it sounds to me like they want to offer VoIP phones to their Google Fiber customers, with the added capability of being able to leave the home and still use them. So rather than a standalone, nationwide service, you get it with your Fiber account, and it's therefore only available to Fiber users.

http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/02/google-virtual-cellular-network/

[Kchrpm]

Salt Lake City is next, Portland is unlikely due to a tax on a corporation's value.

http://www.slashgear.com/google-fiber-hits-slc-extremely-unlikely-for-portland-right-now-24375081/

[overpowered]

Might get it in San Diego after all:

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/San-Diego-May-Get-Google-Fiber-326504511.html

https://fiber.google.com/cities/sandiego/

[Kchrpm]

http://googlefiberblog.blogspot.com/2015/10/exploring-gigabit-speeds-for-three-new.html

Next three cities they're exploring (work with city leaders to see if they want to do a rollout) are Oklahoma City, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville.

[21Kid]

... waits patiently...

:p



HURRY UP ALREADY!!!! :mad:

[Freude am Fahren]

Getting closer...

[21Kid]

:D

Google Fiber eyes Chicago and L.A. (http://www.computerworld.com/article/3012971/networking/google-fiber-eyes-chicago-and-la.html)

I think it would make a lot of sense in Chicago with how dense the population is.

[21Kid]

Google Fiber said on Monday that it plans to bring its gigabit Internet service to Huntsville, Alabama. But instead of laying its own fiber, Google will offer service over a network that is being built by the city-owned Huntsville Utilities. Huntsville will lease space on the network to Google so it can offer Internet service. But it's not an exclusive deal, so other Internet providers could offer broadband over the same fiber. Huntsville, a city of nearly 190,000 residents, has been planning the fiber build for more than a year.Why don't more cities do this? Sounds like a win-win-win to me.

[Kchrpm]

Money? In all its forms and sources.

[21Kid]

Good point. :D

[21Kid]

Google taps San Francisco for high-speed Internet (http://www.cnet.com/au/news/google-to-expand-its-high-speed-fiber-service-to-san-francisco/)

To speed up the rollout, Google will use existing fiber rather than build a network from scratch. But that means only certain neighborhoods will be eligible.
As part of its San Francisco rollout, Google aims to offer free gigabit Internet access to residents at some public and affordable housing properties. There's affordable housing in SF?

[Kchrpm]

http://sfmohcd.org/affordable-housing-developments-san-francisco


Bayview: 350 Friedell, San Francisco, CA 94124 (Pacific Point) - 59 affordable units renting for $$964-$1178 per month. Household income must not exceed 50% of the Area Medium Income.

[21Kid]

I was being facetious...

As of January, 2016, average apartment rent within 10 miles of San Francisco, CA is $3484. One bedroom apartments in San Francisco rent for $3058 a month.



Am I always that serious that I need to add a ;) all the time?

[Kchrpm]

I wasn't. I was in agreement with your facetious statement, I thought there was no affordable housing in San Francisco, based on how people talked about it.

[21Kid]

Okay. :)

Income limit = $35700/12 = $2975 month gross (maybe $2200 net)
rent = $964 - 33% of gross income (maybe 44% net)
plus utilities, for 616 sq ft

geez. Even with the discount, that seems steep.

[21Kid]

Comcast is afraid of Google Fiber (http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/17/11256318/comcast-is-afraid-of-google-fiber)
Because Comcast is afraid of competition

Comcast is worried that real competition is creeping in on its markets, so the company is offering customers in Atlanta a new choice as part of its gigabit internet trial: sign a three-year contract, or pay twice as much with a data cap. Comcast's promotional price of $70 is the same as Google Fiber's regular price, but locks customers in for two years longer than what Google is asking.

The move is clearly designed to deny Google Fiber customers as it enters Comcast's turf, and Comcast hasn't been shy about it; the ISP has been dumping flyers that say "don't fall for the hype" on Atlanta residents, and even set up a website that offers silly cherry-picked facts about how the services compare.

But Comcast conveniently neglects to mention Google Fiber's real competitive advantages in its chart, which are the only ones that really matter: the price customers have to pay and the quality of service they get. Fiber is cheaper, doesn't lock customers into a 36-month contract, and is actually faster, since Comcast's gigabit plan only offers 35Mbps upload speeds. To get symmetrical speeds, customers would have to opt for Comcast's "Gigabit Pro" service, which offers 2 gigabit upload/download speeds. That plan costs $299.95 a month.

Comcast is afraid of Google Fiber because it's afraid of competition, which is why it tried to buy Time Warner Cable instead of competing with it. When you're faced with real competition, customers have the option to say no to craven cable company shakedowns. Comcast, for instance, recently invented new data caps so it could charge people $30 to get rid of them. Coincidentally, Comcast has also been experimenting with its own streaming internet TV service which is excluded from those data caps. Like other monopolistic incumbents, Comcast prefers to rig the market in its favor.

[Godson]

Fuck Comcast.

[21Kid]

Google Fiber could use high-speed Wi-Fi to connect to homes (http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/9/11893474/google-fiber-gigabit-wi-fi-millimeter-wave-eric-schmidt)

Google parent company Alphabet is actively exploring gigabit Wi-Fi technology, Chairman Eric Schmidt said on a shareholder call this week. Also known as millimeter wave technology, the system would serve as a replacement for otherwise expensive infrastructure connecting Google Fiber to individual homes and businesses, a process Schmidt described as "cheaper than digging up your garden." Schmidt said he met with Larry Page and Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat on Tuesday to discuss the technology.

[21Kid]

Google Fiber may go wireless for LA and Chicago launches (http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/15/12492890/google-fiber-wireless-plans-la-chicago-dallas)

The company intends to set up wireless transmitters throughout major cities and use them to deliver residential internet, according to The Wall Street Journal. Los Angeles, Chicago, and Dallas are reportedly on its list, with current plans to reach about a dozen new cities in total.

It's possible the rollout will ultimately be much larger. Regulatory filings recently revealed that Google Fiber is looking to test wireless transmitters in 24 locations around the US. It's unclear if the wireless service would offer speeds comparable to the gigabit service that Google Fiber's actual fiber lines offer; it's looking to test wireless service at frequencies slightly higher than what traditional Wi-Fi operates at. Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt has also suggested that Fiber could use much-faster millimeter wave technology.

One clue as to what the service could look like lies in Webpass, an internet provider Google Fiber bought back in June. Webpass is able to provide gigabit internet wirelessly and is currently operational in about 10 cities, including San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago. Regarding the wireless tests, Google told the Financial Times that "the project is in early stages today, but we hope this technology can one day help deliver more abundant internet access to consumers."

[thesameguy]

Pretty sure they are going wireless so they can access your thoughts directly rather than skimming your email and search engine traffic. "Google Fiber Wireless" is just a coverup for Googe Psy Ops.

[Kchrpm]

If Google could just start suggesting new Instagram models to me based on the ones I think about the most, that'd be great.

[Kchrpm]

http://gizmodo.com/google-fiber-got-kicked-in-the-nuts-by-alphabet-1785764632


According to a new report from the Information, Alphabet CEO Larry Page recently passed down some strong recommendations to Google Fiber leader Craig Barratt: slash his staff numbers in half and drastically reduce installation costs. The report also notes that Barratt toyed with the idea of leaving the project altogether, supposedly due to shifts at Alphabet.

These belt-tightening moves come on the heels of reports that Alphabet is planning on turning to wireless technology rather than fiber optic cables in order to reduce costs and time. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company has stopped work in San Jose and Portland as a result.

[21Kid]

Google pressed “pause” on rolling out high-speed fiber across more US cities. In an announcement, Google Fiber said it was delaying fiber-to-home service in eight cities, including Dallas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix:(

[TheBenior]

No big loss to me. AT&T offers gigabit Internet in my NW side neighborhood for the same price as Google in KCMO.