Google Fiber --- pretty crazy stuff

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Azzura

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Topic # 106596 27-Jul-2012 08:50

They are so spoiled over there.

"Available in Kansas City, Google Fiber offers 1Gbps download and upload speeds with no data cap for $120 per month in a package that also includes fiber T.V service (or $70/month sans-T.V). The service also includes 1TB of storage on Google Drive.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/news/with-google-fiber-kansas-city-has-fastest-internet-on-the-continent/

"With Gigabit + Google Fiber TV, Google promised hundreds of channels and on-demand shows, as well as 2TB of DVR storage and eight tuners. Subscribers will get a new Nexus 7 tablet, which will serve as a remote control. The package will cost $120 per month and include a two-year contract unless you pay the $300 construction fee."

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2407681,00.asp

NonprayingMantis

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Reply # 662745 27-Jul-2012 08:59

it's all written in future tense, which means it is just PR spin at this point.

until they actually launch it and people are on the service take anything with a pinch of salt.

Anyone remember when unbundling happened in 2006/7 and ISPs were promising $10 broadband, 50Mbps VDSL for everyone and IPTV galore?

wellygary

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Reply # 662746 27-Jul-2012 09:06

Azzura: They are so spoiled over there.

"Available in Kansas City,

I think your statement should say *only* available in kansas city,

This one city fibre install is a google experiment and generally seen even in the states as offering a great prices, because google are basically subsidising the built costs.....

sbiddle

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Reply # 662749 27-Jul-2012 09:11

Nothing will be live for a least another year.

Good on Google for using all their cash for something. Verizon have spent something like US $20 billion on fibre and pulled the plug on any expansion it because it was nothing but a growing pit that they were throwing more and more money at with no chance of a return.

One thing that people forget about fibre is that deploying a network and installing it comes at a significant cost. Most cost benefit analysis figures both here in NZ, AU and the US put that figure at around NZ$3000 per home assuming uptake hits the high double digits (is around 75%). For a commercial business model to work that cost has to be recovered somewhere.

freitasm

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Reply # 662756 27-Jul-2012 09:23

It's one city, with 500,000 people living there - out of 300 million people in the US. It's an experiment, and they are still deploying it.

A lot of this is just experimental. They would be spoiled if it was a commercial roll out really...

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)

freitasm

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Reply # 662791 27-Jul-2012 09:57

Reading from the Official Google Blog, not a third party:

No more buffering. No more loading. No more waiting. Gigabit speeds will get rid of these pesky, archaic problems and open up new opportunities for the web.

Propaganda. More than anyone Google knows the speed will be always limited by the slowest link - which might as well be the server, not the client.

Kansas Citians will choose where we install and when. We’ve divided Kansas City into small communities we call “fiberhoods.” To get service, each fiberhood needs a critical mass of their residents to pre-register. The fiberhoods with the highest pre-registration percentage will get Google Fiber first. Households in Kansas City can pre-register for the next six weeks, and they can rally their neighbors to pre-register, too. Once the pre-registration period is over, residents of the qualified fiberhoods will be able to choose between three different packages (including TV).

Obviously then the more clued up neighbourhoods will get the benefits first. In New Zealand we saw the government deciding on rolling out a national infrastructure. In Kansas we see Google trying to create a showcase.

... the average Internet speed in the U.S. is still only 5.8 megabits per second (Mbps)—slightly faster than the maximum speed available 16 years ago when residential broadband was first introduced.

This is a great quote, to show to everyone who keep saying "Internet in the US is so much better"... Well, it's not. It may be great in San Francisco or San Jose, but everywhere else it's just as bad as we can remember our own. Just have a look at the Truenet Report (this one for June 2012) to know we are not that bad.

As for broadband cost, compare the US prices from here and you will see again how things really are.

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)

freitasm

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Reply # 683013 8-Sep-2012 09:31

Azzura: They are so spoiled over there.

Well, look at this. The taxpayer is footing a big chunk of the bill... No surprise there.

Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure)

sbiddle

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Reply # 683020 8-Sep-2012 09:49

And only 21000 people registered intererest in the service - around 10% of the people in the area. It's not even enywhere near close to reaching a point where it would even break even.