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Costly Google Fiber Service Being Scaled Back in Favor of Google Wireless

posted by cmn32480 on Sunday August 28 2016, @06:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the it-was-still-in-beta dept.

takyon writes:

Alphabet/Google's spending on Google Fiber will be scaled back dramatically, due to high costs and the company falling far short of its 5 million subscriber target (there are around 200,000 customers instead):

[The Information] also reports that CEO Larry Page has demanded that Fiber "reduce the current cost of bringing Google Fiber to customers' homes to one-tenth the current level" That should be interesting. Google Fiber will be scaled back to just 500 employees, half its current staffing.

But wait. Wasn't Google "killing any doubts about its national ISP intentions" just two months ago? Sort of. From now on, Google will focus on selective wireless, rather than wireline infrastructure. It's a lot cheaper. The San Jose Mercury was the first to report the scale-back a fortnight ago.

Also at The Information (paywalled), USA Today, eWeek, and Salon. Ars Technica also has an article about Google Fiber doing battle with AT&T over access to utility poles.

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  • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Sunday August 28 2016, @07:54PM

    by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Sunday August 28 2016, @07:54PM (#394312) Journal

    Google will focus on selective wireless, rather than wireline infrastructure. It's a lot cheaper.

    Of course it's a lot cheaper. It's running a slow additional "nothing" to homes and businesses instead of a fast additional "something" (fiber).

    But I am typing this from my 200Mbit down/20Mbit up cable-modem connection, so I am a witness that you can have a pretty fast connection without fiber.

    On the other hand, my ISP's fiber customers can get 1Gbit down/100Mbit up for less than US$200/month.

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