Google Fiber announced for Provo, Utah • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Fiber announced for Provo, Utah

#211

Post by awaythrowme » Thu, Apr 18, 2013, 2:58 PM UTC

aray wrote: post #208

awaythrowme wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably those competitors won't have access to fiber to the home. Besides the fact that it doesn't make sense to roll out separate fiber for each provider it is clear that municipal owned fiber would decrease barriers to entry and therefore increase competition. You simply cannot expect good outcomes in situations of monopoly/oligopoly regardless of who the monopolists are.

Why would this prevent anyone else from accessing fiber to the home? I thought the whole neat reaction from the Austin, TX fiber announcement was that ATT was planning on doing just the same.

They wouldn't have access to that fiber, they would have to do their own fiber drop and I point out why that's bad in the remainder of my previous post.

Regarding ATT/Texas: Having a competitor is not what economists mean when they refer to competition.

Re: Google Fiber announced for Provo, Utah

#212

Post by awaythrowme » Thu, Apr 18, 2013, 2:58 PM UTC

aray wrote: post #208

awaythrowme wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably those competitors won't have access to fiber to the home. Besides the fact that it doesn't make sense to roll out separate fiber for each provider it is clear that municipal owned fiber would decrease barriers to entry and therefore increase competition. You simply cannot expect good outcomes in situations of monopoly/oligopoly regardless of who the monopolists are.

Why would this prevent anyone else from accessing fiber to the home? I thought the whole neat reaction from the Austin, TX fiber announcement was that ATT was planning on doing just the same.

They wouldn't have access to that fiber, they would have to do their own fiber drop and I point out why that's bad in the remainder of my previous post.

Regarding ATT/Texas: Having a competitor is not what economists mean when they refer to competition.

Re: Google Fiber announced for Provo, Utah

#213

Post by zeroexzeroone » Thu, Apr 18, 2013, 3:36 PM UTC

RKearney wrote: post #173

zeroexzeroone wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and I pay around 80 in TN for 25 mbps

Seriously? I'm paying $70/month (no modem rental fee as I own my own) for this http://www.speedtest.net/result/2652775120.png in the Nashville area. What part do you live in? I think they're upgrading everyone? Or maybe it was just the middle Tennessee area. Either way, the $70 I'm paying is 10 times slower than the internet Google Fiber users get for the same price so even $70 is still grossly overprices for what I'…

wow...im in Mid TN, the Smyrna/Murf area. I am not in the Metro area at all.

I also use my own modem. My speeds are nowhere near your results, it is actually closer to 15-20mbps down and 2-4mbps up.

I need some more info from you on this, I'd love to find out where they have this speed out here...

I only pay for internet and regularly go over my 300GB/month data cap as well

Re: Google Fiber announced for Provo, Utah

#214

Post by wwweston » Thu, Apr 18, 2013, 6:29 PM UTC

WestCoastJustin wrote: post #8

vyrotek wrote: post #3

Today we announced that we hope to purchase iProvo, an existing fiber-optic network owned by the city of Provo. As a part of the acquisition, we would commit to upgrade the network to gigabit technology and finish network construction so that every home along the existing iProvo network would have the opportunity to connect to Google Fiber. Our agreement with Provo isn’t approved yet—it’s pending a vote by the City C…

Nice way to gather support for the tuesday meeting ;)

Even better for support gathering purposes is that they didn't mention that they're buying the network for $1 and not assuming any of the $39 million in debt the city has from rolling out the network so far:

    http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/56168330-79/google-network-fiber-provo.html.csp

    http://transmission.xmission.com/2013/04/18/the-1-fiber-optic-network

    http://www.freeutopia.org/2013/04/17/i-was-wrong-about-google-fiber-but-this-isnt-a-golden-deal-for-the-city-either/

I appreciate the fact that Google would be making an investment in the network, and that local Provo business or technical leadership apparently cannot manage the project on their own. But taking a public asset -- one that's becoming a key public utility -- and turning it into a wholly private one while assuming none of the costs of the existing investment doesn't seem like a balanced deal.

I think Google should either assume some portion of the debt, or they should agree to the same conditions of letting others provide services over the network that was the vision of the network in the first place.

Re: Google Fiber announced for Provo, Utah

#215

Post by fnordfnordfnord » Thu, Apr 18, 2013, 7:26 PM UTC

eco wrote: post #143

fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #11

Cue AT&T announcement in 5... 4... 3...

The telco is CenturyLink in Utah.

My comment was a tongue-in-cheek snipe at AT&T for the way they handled Google's Austin Fiber announcement; and for continuing to extract rent from their shabby old infrastructure when there is clearly a demand for more data services.

Re: Google Fiber announced for Provo, Utah

#216

Post by RKearney » Thu, Apr 18, 2013, 9:27 PM UTC

zeroexzeroone wrote: post #213

RKearney wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously? I'm paying $70/month (no modem rental fee as I own my own) for this http://www.speedtest.net/result/2652775120.png in the Nashville area. What part do you live in? I think they're upgrading everyone? Or maybe it was just the middle Tennessee area. Either way, the $70 I'm paying is 10 times slower than the internet Google Fiber users get for the same price so even $70 is still grossly overprices for what I'…

wow...im in Mid TN, the Smyrna/Murf area. I am not in the Metro area at all. I also use my own modem. My speeds are nowhere near your results, it is actually closer to 15-20mbps down and 2-4mbps up. I need some more info from you on this, I'd love to find out where they have this speed out here... I only pay for internet and regularly go over my 300GB/month data cap as well

I live in Cool Springs. I had the 50Mbps service which they recently doubled to 100Mbps (with the same 300GB cap unfortunately). They had been playing advertisements on the radio about doubling speeds and someone in my area mentioned they power cycled their modem and got the new speeds, which worked for me.

I don't have TV or Phone service from them, only Internet. I'm not sure if it's a promo or not, but that's what I've been paying since January 01 when I cut my TV service.