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It is sad that silicon valley has been so slow to adopt google fiber
It is sad that with all the would-be entrepreneurs flocking to Silicon Valley and looking for startup ideas, they all shy away from 'hard' problems like disrupting the current ISP model.
It is sad that silicon valley has been so slow to adopt google fiber
It is sad that silicon valley has been so slow to adopt google fiber
It's not something an area "adopts" - Google initiates that discussion, as far as I know: https://fiber.google.com/newcities/
[0]: http://crosscut.com/2014/03/04/business/118993/google-fiber-...
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If they invent and implement as many things as Bell I'm almost ok with that. For what it is worth I have seen the effect of google fiber locally (Cincinnati) even though Google has no plans of expanding to here any time soon. Cincinnati Bell recently unveiled a 1Gbps residential plan for $70/mo. This was a response to the city council approaching Google to see what they would need to do to bring fiber here.
> If they invent and implement as many things as Bell I'm almost ok with that. Maybe, but I wouldn't compare Google with Bell Labs directly. Remember that the only reason we had access to so much of what Bell Labs invented (e.g. Unix) is due to a 1958 antitrust lawsuit which resulted in AT&T being prohibited from profiting off of the computer business entirely[0]. As a result, Bell Labs had to license all technologie…
AT&T/Bell Labs was a government regulated monopoly so it is definitely a different situation. AT&T watched very closely what they profited off of and made sure it stayed within the realm of telecommunications for fear of antitrust lawsuits.
Regardless even if no one else can access it for the first decade or two many innovations would still make their way out into other places.
It is sad that silicon valley has been so slow to adopt google fiber
It is sad that with all the would-be entrepreneurs flocking to Silicon Valley and looking for startup ideas, they all shy away from 'hard' problems like disrupting the current ISP model.
The ISP model is hard because it just requires fucking shit tons of money to solve, and there's no getting around the tragedy of the commons problem. With telecom infrastructure, you can either use wired (expensive and with a heavily fragmented regulatory environment) or wireless (expensive with extremely limited spectrum - see the $12+ billion spectrum auction happening now).
Disruption is well and good, but it requires new technology that delivers similar services for a fraction of the cost. Until someone figures out a way to bring the economics of delivering content to end users down by a factor of several hundred, we're stuck with the current ISP situation.
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It is sad that with all the would-be entrepreneurs flocking to Silicon Valley and looking for startup ideas, they all shy away from 'hard' problems like disrupting the current ISP model.
I think that smart people in both business and technology are attracted to hard problems that are intellectually challenging. Dealing with the corruption and the entrenched bureaucracy of local, state, and federal governments doesn't qualify as an "interesting" problem for these types of people. It's why you don't see many scientists in elected office.
The meme that dealing with problems of physics and mathematics is somehow harder or more noble than dealing with problems of people should probably be considered harmful.
Man—was really hoping they'd go for Nashville next!
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AT&T couldn't even roll out U-Verse in San Francisco: http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/att-ordered-stop-u-verse-... , and it's among the hardest cities in the U.S. to build any physical infracture: http://www.citylab.com/housing/2013/10/san-francisco-exodus/... . As demand for housing the bay area rises supply remains constant, leading to dramatic price increases. These are political problems and they have politica…
Interesting. I have U-verse in Soma. Apparently my apartment building has a "deal" with AT&T so that no other TV/Internet providers can work there. And if you're curious, the U-verse Internet plans are awful.
It is sad that silicon valley has been so slow to adopt google fiber
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?