We Canadians need this so badly it's not even funny. I would honestly pay for a 5 year long contract as long if that's what it takes.
Google Fiber Plans & Pricing
171–180 of 487 posts
Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
They'll have a hell of a time getting in other cities in the first place. AT&T and the major cablecos typically have an absolute, legally-sanctioned stranglehold on their markets.
But up until now there have been no clear alternatives when citizens try to fight those sanctioned monopolies. If Google is offering 100x the speed in another city, Time Warner, Comcast, AT&T etc. will have a hard time explaining why they should retain their monopoly unless they offered something competitive.
Exclusive franchises, building permits, neighborhood associations, etc. Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and AT&T have been playing this game for a long time. It'll take fighting through tons of telco/cableco-paid for local laws for Google to get in anywhere; just because they've made it in one city won't make the next any easier (in fact, probably harder). I hope Google (or someone else) pulls it off, but it's not going to be easy by any means.
Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing
#173Thank GOD they're disrupting this industry. All the telcos are worthless "Soviet bureaus" that deserve death. It's really sort of amazing to think about. In all my years on this planet I have never been pleased with a telecom company. Never. I have always felt like I was paying far too much for inferior service, contemptible customer support, and endless efforts to further "monetize" me through harassing phone calls…
Be careful what you wish for. I'm dubious of getting any kind of service from a company known for not having any kind of customer service whatsoever.
TelCo call centers are universally useless. Google could have a phone number you call and a robot on the other end that informs you of service disruptions and tells you to turn it off and turn it on again, and they would have better service than most ISPs.
Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing
#174Thank GOD they're disrupting this industry. All the telcos are worthless "Soviet bureaus" that deserve death. It's really sort of amazing to think about. In all my years on this planet I have never been pleased with a telecom company. Never. I have always felt like I was paying far too much for inferior service, contemptible customer support, and endless efforts to further "monetize" me through harassing phone calls…
Be careful what you wish for. I'm dubious of getting any kind of service from a company known for not having any kind of customer service whatsoever.
I actually have some experience with GoogCustSvc now.
I bought a Nexus 7. It has touch-screen problems. They provided a way to contact them here (http://support.google.com/nexus/bin/request.py?contact_type=...).
I talked to the rep (after waiting about 30 minutes). They were helpful, direct, competent, and provided a way for me to contact the person I talked to via e-mail after the call was ended.
They organized a replacement device and even worked through the fact that I'd purchased the tablet from my brother-in-law.
If their future customer service offerings are the same as what I experienced last night, I have no concerns.
Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing
#175Thank GOD they're disrupting this industry. All the telcos are worthless "Soviet bureaus" that deserve death. It's really sort of amazing to think about. In all my years on this planet I have never been pleased with a telecom company. Never. I have always felt like I was paying far too much for inferior service, contemptible customer support, and endless efforts to further "monetize" me through harassing phone calls…
> contemptible customer support Because Google will be so much better? Look, I hate telcos just like the next guy, but the suckage is mostly due to the nature of the business. They form natural monopolies and that sort of thing doesn't lead to customer satisfaction. The only way that sector is going to get truly disrupted is through gigabit wireless internet. You can have multiple competitors in one space with compar…
Plain and simple: Google makes money if people use the internet. Anything that increases the number of times someone views a website makes google money.
It's like a billboard company offering to add free windows to your house so you watch their ads from your living room.
I agree with the motivation of your post. Monopolies are bad and customers have a vested interest in preventing google (or anyone else) from having monopolistic control of consumer internet. Unfortunately this is already true in many parts of the United States (Comcast is the only game in town where I live). At least in the short term Google entering this market should reduce monopolies not create them.
Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing
#176https://fiber.google.com/legal/privacy.html
Read this first, and read it well.
Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep, how much monitoring and data collection is Google doing here? I wouldn't sign up for Google provided internet.
While this would normally be a concern, I don't think many people trust Comcast or Time Warner any more than Google.
Comcast and TWC don't wrap all their services in a single, trackable userID.
Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing
#178While I am super happy that the cable industry is getting disrupted as it deserves to be(the wireless industry sucks too, maybe a tech company can buy TMobile or Sprint), I feel uneasy about the following two points: 1) Profitability: I wonder how profitable and sustainable this is for Google? They can subsidize it for only so long before deciding to discontinue it as has been happening to many of their services rece…
>They can subsidize it for only so long before deciding to discontinue it...
on the pricing page, they commit to providing free service for at least 7 years. So unless google goes belly-up, it won't be discontinued for a while.
Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing
#179Thank GOD they're disrupting this industry. All the telcos are worthless "Soviet bureaus" that deserve death. It's really sort of amazing to think about. In all my years on this planet I have never been pleased with a telecom company. Never. I have always felt like I was paying far too much for inferior service, contemptible customer support, and endless efforts to further "monetize" me through harassing phone calls…
> contemptible customer support Because Google will be so much better? Look, I hate telcos just like the next guy, but the suckage is mostly due to the nature of the business. They form natural monopolies and that sort of thing doesn't lead to customer satisfaction. The only way that sector is going to get truly disrupted is through gigabit wireless internet. You can have multiple competitors in one space with compar…
The free tier? That's $300 up front. I expect some of that $300 defrays their ongoing marginal costs. See also sibling comments by eavc and EthanHeilman.
Free Internet
$0/mo
$300 construction fee
(one time or $25/mo for 12 mo)Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing
#180Kansas, KS and Kansas, MO - what's with the Kansas fixation Google? This sounds good but if they are going to take more than a few years just to move out of Kansas I am not sure if it would even relevant in the grand scheme of things.
Kansas City is partly in both states. Why KC? Google had a competition and they won.