Google, Tulsa, Oklahoma is waiting with open arms.
Google Fiber’s Next Stop: Austin, Texas
51–60 of 137 posts
Re: Google Fiber’s Next Stop: Austin, Texas
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know, my Comcast offerings got substantially better over the last few years before I moved, going from 6/1Mbps to about 20/5, and I could have had well beyond 100Mbps down by the end if I felt like paying for it.
FiOS clocks in at 150+ Mbps and starts at 25/25 Comcast is the prime offender in the you have no other options game.
I'm quite aware in both cases, as I have FiOS now, and Comcast was the only game in town at my old place.
My point, which you seem to have missed, or at least not addressed, is that Comcast did substantially improve their offering while Verizon was rolling out FiOS, even though they remained the only real broadband provider in my area.
Re: Google Fiber’s Next Stop: Austin, Texas
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
The great thing about working for an Internet company (I'm assuming you do since you've been on Hacker News for a while) is that you can really live anywhere. I moved my most recent startup to Austin after living in the Valley for 10 years and SoCal for 2. I'm already ridiculously happy with the move. And it seems like much of California is following me here--we are even getting an In-N-Out Burger this year! Austin i…
I live in Dallas and I like the lower cost of living and everything. But now I wish I lived in Austin. :) The thing I hate about both Dallas and Austin is driving. I used to live northeast and could walk everywhere much easier. Austin seems to be pretty bike-friendly though, and Dallas is becoming more so.
The city proper not so much, but the immediate northern suburbs are increasingly bike-friendly.
The necessity of driving is also one of my biggest issues with the area. My list is quite a bit longer than that, though. I would already rather be in Austin, and this announcement just makes that worse.:)
Re: Google Fiber’s Next Stop: Austin, Texas
#54For those wondering where Google will roll out, we don't have exact details, but we have some information. 1) They said they will stick to Austin City Limits, which means within these boundaries [1]. 2) For those that followed up with how KC operated, Google runs their lines on electrical poles and all places the city power company has lines. This is one of the big things KC and Austin have in common: city owned elec…
> To me this means south and east Austin.
Why is that?
Re: Google Fiber’s Next Stop: Austin, Texas
#55> Our goal is to start connecting homes in Austin by mid-2014. The timeline Google's followed in Kansas City suggests it will be another year until service is available to a significant chunk of Austin, and likely well into 2016 or beyond before the whole city is hooked up. Fiber to whatever suburbs are invited to the party will likely follow after that. But hopefully the build-out gets ramped up, both in Austin and…
This is how it goes with most service roll outs. If the people in the suburbs are really miffed that they aren't one of the first areas picked for Google Fiber, perhaps they should consider the downsides of living in the sprawl. Congrats to any Austin HNers on your freedom from [insert Austin cable monopoly here]
>perhaps they should consider the downsides of living in the sprawl.
I'm sympathetic to this point of view, but in many places it's not possible for everyone to live in the city center because of development restrictions that drive up prices (see here: http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/05/face... one discussion that I've posted before, albeit about California).
Re: Google Fiber’s Next Stop: Austin, Texas
#56Now AT&T is announcing that they are building a 1Gbps fiber service in Austin as well. http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/09/att-1gbps-fiber-internet-...
AT&T and existing telcos need to announce these kinds of initiatives before their crappy service invites competitors, not after.
Re: Google Fiber’s Next Stop: Austin, Texas
#57I realize this is very much a "first-world problem," but I find it infinitely frustrating that Google Fiber will probably never be available where I live (Long Beach, CA). Apparently this is because the various environmental regulations in California make it prohibitively expensive to deploy it here. On the one hand I like the environment. On the other, I'm on DSL. :(
The great thing about working for an Internet company (I'm assuming you do since you've been on Hacker News for a while) is that you can really live anywhere. I moved my most recent startup to Austin after living in the Valley for 10 years and SoCal for 2. I'm already ridiculously happy with the move. And it seems like much of California is following me here--we are even getting an In-N-Out Burger this year! Austin i…
>And it seems like much of California is following me here--we are even getting an In-N-Out Burger this year!
California has been driving people away for decades: http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_71.htm#.UWRs1Bkhf... . My own family moved out of CA when I was 10 for the usual reasons: high housing costs and long commutes. Housing costs have stayed high and so have commutes; consequently, a lot of people are leaving for the usual places: Phoenix, Austin, Seattle. . .
Re: Google Fiber’s Next Stop: Austin, Texas
#58I realize this is very much a "first-world problem," but I find it infinitely frustrating that Google Fiber will probably never be available where I live (Long Beach, CA). Apparently this is because the various environmental regulations in California make it prohibitively expensive to deploy it here. On the one hand I like the environment. On the other, I'm on DSL. :(
What environmental regulations?
CEPA, the California Environmental Protection Act, is the most obvious, and IIRC the most onerous state-mandated environmental act in the country. It's (one) part of what makes building in CA so difficult.
Re: Google Fiber’s Next Stop: Austin, Texas
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
I imagine they're aiming for a high multiplier effect, too. Even if Google Fiber never reaches a large percentage of the American public, its mere existence may spur action on the part of other ISPs. For every Fiber customer Google signs up directly, they might indirectly obtain much better internet (and thus more advertising revenue) for maybe 10 other people using other ISPs.
but what do you do if that multiplier doesn't appear ? From what I have seen even when Verizon started a massive rollout of FiOS it didn't spur other ISP's to offer a competing service, they just relied on the fact that rolling out to _every_ market would be cost prohibitive. It looks like with Google Fiber the existing ISP's are taking the same track.
Actually, the Cable companies selectively pushed out much faster speeds in markets where FIOS was being rolled out, to suck the oxygen out of the water in those places.
Re: Google Fiber’s Next Stop: Austin, Texas
#60Now AT&T is announcing that they are building a 1Gbps fiber service in Austin as well. http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/09/att-1gbps-fiber-internet-...
I've heard a lot of things from AT&T customers, and "satisfied" is never one of them. This is too little too late, and I'm pretty sure that most of their current customers can't wait to jump ship -- regardless of whatever carrots that they bring out at the last minute.
Uverse has been solid for me. I've had them for 4 years now and they've had very limited downtime (a lot less then I had with TimeWarner). I'll happily move to Google Fiber, but Uverse has treated me just fine. While I wish their upload speeds were faster, but I haven't really had any options that were faster.
What issues have you had with them exactly?