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Google Fiber Austin

fiber.google.com

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Re: Google Fiber Austin

#111

Post by runeks »

wmf wrote: post #63
josu wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any evidence that they are operating at a loss? For 2013 Comcast reported 13.5 billion operating income on 64.6 revenue [1]. This means that they could potentially lower their prices 20% without incurring in losses. If we assume that Google is able to operate more efficiently, which isn't such a bold assumption, they could potentially undercut prices even more. On top of that, we could also assume that in te…

Everybody other than Google reports that installing fiber costs over $1,000 per home, but Google is selling it for $300 and saying "trust us".

You can't really generalize about per-installation costs. Digging fiber out to several houses is much more expensive than digging over to a 200-apartment complex, which lets you split the bill for laying fiber between 200 people.

In Copenhagen, Denmark, my apartment complex just got connected for 3800 DKK per apartment. And that's in a country with fairly high wages and 25% VAT. For similar apartment complexes (large ones, close to each other), in the US (where labor is cheaper and there isn't 25% VAT), I imagine Google can easily do less $500 per apartment, and possibly reach $300.

Provided Google doesn't have to pay a tonne in fees to get to lay fiber in the ground (which is probably why it's only available in select locations).

Re: Google Fiber Austin

#112

Post by gtaylor »

teekert wrote: post #100

Here in the Netherlands we also have this but from more companies. A lot of cities now have fiber to the home, I have 50/50 + tv for 50 euro (100/100 would be 55). Some cities also have Gigabit, for about 100 euros/month ( http://www.tweak.nl/consument/fiber/productoverzicht.html ) Google fiber doesn't seem so special to me. Maybe I should read into how the money from the fiber network is made here. I think there are…

> A lot of cities now have fiber to the home, I have 50/50 + tv for 50 euro

I have 50/25 or so plus TV for about the same price in southeastern US. It's not fiber, but I end up with about the same service as you. At the level of service you and I are getting, fiber isn't necessary.

> Google fiber doesn't seem so special to me.

Probably not if you only have 50/50 for 50 euro. That's not nearly as great a value as Google Fiber, in my opinion. For that same amount, you get symmetric 1000/1000 with Google Fiber. Blows the kind of service that you and I are getting away, bigtime.

Re: Google Fiber Austin

#113

Post by lziz »

jobu wrote: post #84
pretz wrote: post #70

While I'm excited to see Google Fiber push into Austin, I've been very happy with my 110 mbps down / 11 mbps up from local company Grande: http://mygrande.com/internet/compare . Austin is lucky to have actual competition among cable and ISP providers, unlike many other cities.

It's surprising and unfortunate that they chose Austin then. There are so many other large cities out there with limited choices for fast internet.

From Google Fiber's FAQ on "Why have you chosen this list of cities?"

> These cities are led by people who have been working hard to bring faster Internet speeds and the latest technologies to their residents. We believe these are communities who will do amazing things with a gig. And they are diverse -- not just geographically, but in the ways they’ll give us opportunities to learn about the wide range of challenges and obstacles that communities might face in trying to build a new fiber network.

So it sounds like a combo of local government initiative & geographic diversity. But yeah - unfortunate in the respect you said

Re: Google Fiber Austin

#114

Post by freeasinfree »

infocollector wrote: post #93
wmf wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BTW, speaking of gigabit disruption in San Francisco: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/gigabit-wireless-to-the-h...

This is full of problems as far as i understand. Google and read more about it?

What problems?

Re: Google Fiber Austin

#115

Post by pixl97 »

rayiner wrote: post #79
josu wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any evidence that they are operating at a loss? For 2013 Comcast reported 13.5 billion operating income on 64.6 revenue [1]. This means that they could potentially lower their prices 20% without incurring in losses. If we assume that Google is able to operate more efficiently, which isn't such a bold assumption, they could potentially undercut prices even more. On top of that, we could also assume that in te…

Comcast is reporting 20% operating income for a network that is largely already paid for . There's reasons to believe that Verizon isn't doing a great job recouping it's up-front costs on FiOS: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_13/b42210461... . For the FiOS rollout, the capital costs alone are $1,000-2,000 per house: http://nypost.com/2010/04/01/why-i-think-verizon-had-to-pull... . There's no reason to…

How is that income figured exactly. I mean, doesn't every major movie seem to lose money even after raking in billions? I just don't trust any number from Comcast without a large volume of information on how those numbers were calculated.

And at that, that doesn't explain how Comcast even stayed in business till that point? Were they allowed to install their networks at a loss? Are there costs artificially high? Are they claiming TV programming costs in their figures?

Re: Google Fiber Austin

#116

Post by driverdan »

jobu wrote: post #84
pretz wrote: post #70

While I'm excited to see Google Fiber push into Austin, I've been very happy with my 110 mbps down / 11 mbps up from local company Grande: http://mygrande.com/internet/compare . Austin is lucky to have actual competition among cable and ISP providers, unlike many other cities.

It's surprising and unfortunate that they chose Austin then. There are so many other large cities out there with limited choices for fast internet.

Actually it's fortunate for Austin. It has pushed the other companies to offer much more bandwidth. Before Fiber was announced the max you could get was 50Mb down.

Re: Google Fiber Austin

#117

Post by pixl97 »

cthalupa wrote: post #110
discardorama wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Whenever there's a comparison of our pathetic speeds with those in Korea/Japan, people claim "the US is a huge country", etc. However, San Francisco's density (6600/km^2) is higher than that of Tokyo (6000/km^2); why doesn't SF have FTTH?

Where is the majority of Japanese internet traffic going? Where is the majority of San Fransiscan internet traffic going? There's more than just population density to take into account. It makes a big difference when you don't need nearly as much long haul backbone capacity because almost all of the destinations for the traffic are close to the subscribers.

No, not really. The US has had a massive amount of backhaul fiber, huge amounts of it stayed dark for years. That in turn dropped transit prices to almost nothing. Bandwidth at data centers and other places near transit hubs is very cheap. The U.S. problem is a last mile problem.

Re: Google Fiber Austin

#118

Post by driverdan »

oimaz wrote: post #3

It is sad that silicon valley has been so slow to adopt google fiber

I'm in SoMa right now. No Comcast / cable, AT&T DSL maxes out at 6Mb / 0.8Mb. My Clear hotspot outperforms DSL. The city is so backwards, I don't understand why people clamber to live here.

Re: Google Fiber Austin

#119

Post by adventured »

runeks wrote: post #111
wmf wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everybody other than Google reports that installing fiber costs over $1,000 per home, but Google is selling it for $300 and saying "trust us".

You can't really generalize about per-installation costs. Digging fiber out to several houses is much more expensive than digging over to a 200-apartment complex, which lets you split the bill for laying fiber between 200 people. In Copenhagen, Denmark, my apartment complex just got connected for 3800 DKK per apartment. And that's in a country with fairly high wages and 25% VAT. For similar apartment complexes (large…

Labor is cheaper in the US? Can you provide some data on that, I understood labor was cheaper in Denmark. From what I've seen the median income in the US is about 20% higher than in Denmark.

Re: Google Fiber Austin

#120

Post by wmf »

exelius wrote: post #98
jmsduran wrote: post #89

I have been living in Austin for roughly 4 years, but after checking the map it looks like my area may not get fiber for some years to come, as well as much of the greater Austin city limits, based off the progress I see from Google's initial Kansas rollout. The one thing I hope that comes out of this, and the one thing I believe will benefit all Austin residents, would be the ability to negotiate for a lower monthly…

In April 2015, you won't be calling TWC, you'll be calling Comcast. Pretty sure they don't give a fuck about the price of a product you don't have access to - if you can't cancel your service, they don't care.

Fortunately TWC already upgraded everyone in Austin by 5x.
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