Seems Google is banking on SpaceX and Starlink. I think this is a better outcome than continuing to invest in the last mile to homes.
Eight Years On, Google Fiber Is a Faint Echo of the Disruption Promised
211–220 of 333 posts
Re: Eight Years On, Google Fiber Is a Faint Echo of the Disruption Promised
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
> but its hard to blame AT&T for not wanting Google contractors to touch its infrastructure Exactly -- AT&T thinks it's their infrastructure, but it's not. It's ours.
"We" (the government) didn't build it or pay for it. Even back in the AT&T monopoly era it was always private infrastructure.[1] AT&T got certain rights ( e.g. easements) but that also came with a lot of strings attached (they had to build in a bunch of rural places they never would've built otherwise). Public ownership of the wires was never part of the bargain. [1] The same is true for power lines. They're mostly p…
> We" (the government) didn't build it or pay for it.
This is not and has not ever been true.
Here [1] is an open auction with ~$2 billion in federal aid attached - "a total of $1.98 billion for 10 years." This was last updated just over a week ago. I would dig further back for other subsidies, but it is not necessary. Through tax breaks and subsidies we (the government, tax payers, etc) have certainly aided infrastructure build out for telecom cos.
Re: Eight Years On, Google Fiber Is a Faint Echo of the Disruption Promised
#213As you can surmise by reading this article, the rise of the wireless ISPs (or WISPs) is not because the wireless technology is better or drastically cheaper. It's because in so many places, the incumbents are able to prevent you from building out fiber. They simply haven't developed the weapons to destroy the WISPs yet, but unless the political climate in states/cities changes, they will. It is tough for WISPs to com…
Any thoughts on Starlink?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_(satellite_constellat...
Re: Eight Years On, Google Fiber Is a Faint Echo of the Disruption Promised
#214Earlier quoted context omitted.
"We" (the government) didn't build it or pay for it. Even back in the AT&T monopoly era it was always private infrastructure.[1] AT&T got certain rights ( e.g. easements) but that also came with a lot of strings attached (they had to build in a bunch of rural places they never would've built otherwise). Public ownership of the wires was never part of the bargain. [1] The same is true for power lines. They're mostly p…
I would wonder if the subsidies and tax breaks that have been given over to these companies by the government over the years would count towards the idea us having paid for it. There's always that scandal from decades ago that comes up from time-to-time.
The government can't just go and deem something it's property after the fact, even if "we paid for it".
Re: Eight Years On, Google Fiber Is a Faint Echo of the Disruption Promised
#215Earlier quoted context omitted.
While I absolutely agree with you, that setup would have been untenable. I had an ATT line hanging about 6 feet off the ground(in Louisville, pole neighborhood). Took ATT multiple calls and visits, a total process of about a month, to adjust that one line on one pole. Now imagine a citywide rollout.
I think the FCC should impose a nationwide “one touch make ready” regulation. Federal law already requires non discriminatory access to utility pole, and the FCC already has limits on how long utility line owners can take to do pole adjustments. The FCC has been considering taking that further.
That would be a massive grab of both state and private rights, mostly for the sake of a single company that has asked for it, which is already a monopoly in several other markets and does not need special government favors to help it achieve more.
Re: Eight Years On, Google Fiber Is a Faint Echo of the Disruption Promised
#216Our city just built a fiber network and GF was the first to offer service. Since they have come to town, ATT has installed their own fiber network in our neighborhood and Comcast has increased their speeds. I consider our local area disrupted. And I feel no matter what happens with GF, we’ll have faster internet from now on. BTW: cut the cord. GF 1Gb plan with DirecTV Now and YouTube TV.
I'm happy for you, but I think you have to realize that you're in the minority in this country with the levels of choice and competition you have.
Re: Eight Years On, Google Fiber Is a Faint Echo of the Disruption Promised
#217Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Exactly. Fiber to the home is the only fiber than really matters. If there is fiber but my last mile is old copper, then that doesn’t do me a lot of good does it? I wouldn't go quite that far e.g. let's say you're my parents in a village of 300 (and as many cows) with the DSLAM >5km away, the best DSL you can get is 1024k on a good day (and on average closer to 512k with pings in the half-second range), my understa…
But how would you carry a model like that over to a place as big as the USA? Montana, Wyoming, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and just about every state that isn't on the East/West coast would have an incredibly difficult time executing this kind of plan because of the distance between communities. I'm not saying that a similar model wouldn't be easy to implement in the boroughs of New York, Boston, SV, Austin, etc., but w…
This is something Australia tried to tackle with the NBN, and I would guess that Australia is far more rural and less densely populated than the US. In Australia the solution was a mixture of fibre (FTTP then FTTP), fixed wireless, and then satellite.
Re: Eight Years On, Google Fiber Is a Faint Echo of the Disruption Promised
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
A lot of states are the same size or smaller than France and none of them has achieved to get the same internet price/quality so far. Not to mention the the US has a more concentrated population than most of Europe so it's even easier.
You can’t compare what a state can pay for with what a federal government can pay for - the difference in taxation alone makes that laughable...
It's probably unproductive to compare state vs federal budgets across different countries due to the drastically different funding modal different countries use.
Re: Eight Years On, Google Fiber Is a Faint Echo of the Disruption Promised
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
You could say that Google Fiber was a response to Comcast's announcement of its intent to acquire NBC in December 2009. Google makes no money if they can't show ads to people, and at the time Comcast and friends controlled Google's access to a majority of US audiences that Google's customers (advertisers) wanted their ads in front of. Advertising in the US was more than half of Google's revenue then. Comcast had the…
> Google makes no money if they can't show ads to people I'm really, really hoping that changes drastically in the next decade. It would be really nice if Google started making the majority of their money from compute cloud offerings (a little out there, but that sector is growing much faster than their general business). I think it's essential if Google's ever going to gain some independence from the perverse incent…
Personal CRM.
Re: Eight Years On, Google Fiber Is a Faint Echo of the Disruption Promised
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would wonder if the subsidies and tax breaks that have been given over to these companies by the government over the years would count towards the idea us having paid for it. There's always that scandal from decades ago that comes up from time-to-time.
The government can't just go and deem something it's property after the fact, even if "we paid for it".
It can be "ours" without being government property.