Google Fiber Plans & Pricing • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing

#351

Post by Tuna-Fish » Thu, Jul 26, 2012, 10:21 PM UTC

stephengillie wrote: post #319

adolph wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment reminded me of: I can send an IP packet to Europe faster than I can send a pixel to the screen. How f’d up is that? From: http://superuser.com/questions/419070/transatlantic-ping-fas... There is user-side latency and there is server-side latency. In multi-player games it may be preferable to have less latency within the game between players than in the players' view of the game.

You can send a packet to Europe and have it return faster than your fingers can respond to something your eyes just saw.

Note that this doesn't mean the latency is irrelevant. All latency is additive. Unless it's zero, matter how low it is, shaving away another millisecond is always worth it.

Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing

#352

Post by ars » Thu, Jul 26, 2012, 10:21 PM UTC

guelo wrote: post #244

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm actually somewhat content with my broadband options. No, I'm not ecstatic and am glad this is happening but PLEASE someone disrupt the damn cell phone business. My ISP doesn't install software on my computer, doesn't hit me with mystery fees, and doesn't tell MS or Apple what to do, but cell carriers do all these things and more. >and endless efforts to further "monetize" me through harassing phone calls trying t…

Google tried to disrupt the cell phone industry by bidding $4 billion on the old TV frequency auction but they were cockblocked by the shitty Bush-era FCC and collusion between ATT and Verizon. Makes you wonder how things would have been different, would Apple have sold the iPhone on the Google network?

As I recall they were simply outbid - and by a lot.

Refresh your memory:

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iMbsPSv2vatAVvbz_8n0xU3M...

The FCC did everything google wanted, and there was no collusion.

Are we reading the same news articles?

Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing

#353

Post by nathansobo » Thu, Jul 26, 2012, 10:27 PM UTC

mythz wrote: post #348

Tloewald wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah google has a nice motto.

It's the worst company motto of all time! They seemingly can't make any pro-company decision without being accused of consorting with the Devil. In contrast everyone knows Apple just cares about Apple. Whenever they do something evil, it just gets labelled as "Oh, that's just Apple being Apple".

I think Apple may end up eventually paying for their treachery.

Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing

#354

Post by gddr » Thu, Jul 26, 2012, 10:33 PM UTC

neurotech1 wrote: post #187

maratd wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

"That free tier? That is outright illegal and its sole purpose is to eradicate all competition." Why don't we sue Google for providing free WiFi in Mountain View? And Google Fiber isn't free - its $300 to cover the equipment costs. I'm pretty that 12 months of basic DSL for less than $300 anyway, installation included. Some neighbors will "freely" share their internet, should incumbent cable co sue them aswell for un…

It's funny, because in my (shitty) country, we have a "communications industry regulator" that basically does only this: sue people who give free internet.

Well I get 30Mbps for less than 40€/month, so I can't complain I guess...

Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing

#355

Post by Kell » Thu, Jul 26, 2012, 10:54 PM UTC

As a matter of comparison. Here a regular situation in France :

I pay 63€ for a nominal 100MBps fiber connection + free calls from my landline (to other landlines in most of the world (more than 100 countries, and all the big ones (but neither Africa nor the Middle East)) and mobile phones in France and US), plus 170 televion channels (that I don't watch anyway), plus a femtocell device, plus a smartphone subsidized (2 years contract) with illimited calls to other mobiles or landlines in France, free SMS and MMS, 1Gb of "high speed" (in average 2Mbps) 3G , after 1Gb it switches to low speed (512Kbps). Oh, and I get Spotify Premium. All that for 63€ a month (That's 78 american $) (but I'm in a 24 months contract) It's quite the usual "quadplay" offer (Television + Phone + Internet + Mobile Phone) here in France. There are cheaper ones.

So yeah, at 200$ there is somebody being ripped off. But the Google 120$ option doesn't seem too bad, it's a little less than twice the price I pay here in France, but with great goodies like the tablet, and an incredible 1Gbps... Ten times my official speed. So the markup is deserved.

To French people, I have the SFR MultiPack offer with the Carré Web + the Spotify Premium at 5€ option, and the Classic Fiber option (not the Evolution one) cf. http://www.sfr.fr/mobile/multi-packs-de-sfr-mobile-et-adsl.j...

Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing

#356

Post by lwat » Thu, Jul 26, 2012, 10:54 PM UTC

mahyarm wrote: post #242

pavel_lishin wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which requirements are you talking about, specifically?

Airlines enforce minimum check-in times of 1.5 hrs before domestic flights and around 2.5hrs for international flights. With international flights, they love to have you wait in line to check in and get your ticket with an actual person. They won't let you print off your ticket online, or when you purchase it half the time with international flights. They do this because they know that people can be stuck for 30-60 m…

> Airlines enforce minimum check-in times of 1.5 hrs

Holy shit that is insane! Here in Australia I just get there 20 mins before take-off and pretty much walk straight onto the plane. They xray my hand-luggage and I walk through a metal detector on the way but that never takes more than a couple of minutes.

Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing

#357

Post by jjolsen » Thu, Jul 26, 2012, 10:54 PM UTC

api wrote: post #29

Thank 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…

In business school I read a study showing that for a few industries (telcos & utilities among them) there is an inverse relationship between customer satisfaction and profitability.

Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing

#358

Post by algorias » Thu, Jul 26, 2012, 10:55 PM UTC

antimatter15 wrote: post #332

ferongr wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not until we can push data across distances faster than the speed of light. The input and video latency makes it impractical for all but the slowest-paced of games.

Probably with a gigabit in bandwidth, it's possible that OnLive could use some kind of predictive modeling based on what you're currently doing and what you've done in the past to see what actions in the future are likely. It could then run (in parallel) all the likely actions and send them down simultaneously (example: simultaneously send what would be displayed if you panned right, left, up and down one or more fra…

And then a cheating client will be developed that uses the information in these "alternate timeline" frames to alert you of enemies around the corner, etc.

I'm not saying that's catastrophic, but I think the impossibility of cheating is one of OnLives clear advantages. Sure you can write a bot, but it will only have access to the same information a human player does.

Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing

#359

Post by _nist » Thu, Jul 26, 2012, 10:58 PM UTC

Read through a couple of comments and all I see is people bitching about phone and cable companies.

The problem is, you can only get Google fiber if you get enough people in your neighborhood that want it and you meet a preregistration goal. Then you can choose the DSL crappy free internet, or the gigabit one for 70/month which is comparable to the Comcast rate, except faster speeds. Of course, the more people that choose Gigabit, the more demand there is to justify a price increase.

And, to be honest, my employer is running on fiber with a link speed of 1 Gbps and there isn't that much of a difference between Internet browsing at home.

Re: Google Fiber Plans & Pricing

#360

Post by sciurus » Thu, Jul 26, 2012, 11:00 PM UTC

mekoka wrote: post #322

ferongr wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not until we can push data across distances faster than the speed of light. The input and video latency makes it impractical for all but the slowest-paced of games.

> Not until we can push data across distances faster than the speed of light. Ok, how is that possible? I genuinely am curious about the science. Feel free to provide links.

I'm pretty sure that was sarcasm.