Google Fiber is coming to Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville and Raleigh-Durham

Post by adventured » Tue, Jan 27, 2015, 8:51 PM UTC

res0nat0r wrote: post #60

evanm wrote: post #54

I'm fully aware of the extreme cost of rolling out a fiber infrastructure in new locations, but I still wonder why Google isn't more aggressive with their expansion. While the upfront costs are great, they more or less have guaranteed success in most major cities. Nobody likes the incumbent telcos--they're hated all over the US. I just dream of a world in which we aren't getting raped by Comcast, TWC, and Cox. They a…

Google has only been expanding to cities that give them extensive tax breaks and other perks that haven't been afforded to most other companies. This is a good thing as it allows Google to expand, but they would never do this unless they got these incentives, plus the guaranteed number of users pre-signed up for the service so that they can guarantee some sort of ROI.

Post by rayiner » Tue, Jan 27, 2015, 8:55 PM UTC

adventured wrote: post #122

rayiner wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no money in building "dumb pipes" to the internet. Verizon's wireline margin over the last couple of quarters has been under 5% ( http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/01/verizon-nears-the-en... ). Note Google has never revealed how much profit Fiber actually makes. The existing networks are fast enough to service what makes the money: video services. The cable companies will only upgrade the pipes to the exte…

Walmart has 3% net income margins; Costco has 2% net income margins; Target has 3% net income margins; BestBuy in its best days had 4% net income margins. By that premise, nobody should have ever built grocery stores or most retail outlets.

Post by mabbo » Tue, Jan 27, 2015, 9:02 PM UTC

samelawrence wrote: post #113

rkalla wrote: post #6

For anyone interested... the whole motivation of Google Fiber to motivate ISPs to stop gouging us does exactly what it is designed to do. Cox, in Phoenix, miraculously doubled everyone's speeds > 100mbps last year because they were concerned with our general happiness levels and wanted to show their affection. Nope... that's not it. Ran into two leads at Smash Burger in June of 2014 and asked them on the spot "When a…

Also worth noting that Google isn't doing this because: 1) They want to be an ISP 2) They feel bad for America and want us to enjoy faster internet. They're doing it because they have plans for products which necessitate nationwide high speed internet. I don't know what those plans are... maybe making YouTube the everything-video-delivery-system, maybe massively collaborative work tools as they expand Google Docs et…

Post by jmilloy » Tue, Jan 27, 2015, 9:03 PM UTC

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #103

CapitalistCartr wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what happened when GMail offered 2 GB inboxes. The competition got serious.

> The competition got serious. It's interesting how pure competition and "rational self-interest" got us the likes of Comcast and Cox and Verizon and all these other awful, awful companies. They quickly locked up the market, injected their own lobbyists into Washington, and then were content to provide a poor service for a lot of money. What is shaking them out of their complacency now is not "the market" or "competi…

Post by TorKlingberg » Tue, Jan 27, 2015, 9:04 PM UTC

dingaling wrote: post #41

nostromo wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Friendly local government is a big factor. For example: Google looked at Seattle's NIMBY laws regarding utility boxes on sidewalks (each requiring a lengthy community approval process) and said, "Nope!" Seattle's new mayor is now looking how to streamline the process to make the city more Google friendly, should the opportunity arise again.

> Google looked at Seattle's NIMBY laws regarding utility boxes on sidewalks (each requiring a lengthy community approval process) Which is good, as sidewalks are for walking, not utility installation pads. In much of the UK outside conservation areas BT has powers to install cabinets as it sees fit. Combined with utility poles there are now some pavements on my town impassable to prams.