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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday September 11 2018, @11:58PM   Printer-friendly
from the depends-on-your-definition dept.

Why Google Fiber Is High-Speed Internet's Most Successful Failure (archive)

In the Big Bang Disruption model, where innovations take off suddenly when markets are ready for them, Google Fiber could be seen as a failed early market experiment in gigabit internet access. But what if the company's goal was never to unleash the disrupter itself so much as to encourage incumbent broadband providers to do so, helping Google's expansion in adjacent markets such as video and emerging markets including smart homes? Seen through that lens, Google Fiber succeeded wildly. It stimulated the incumbents to accelerate their own infrastructure investments by several years. New applications and new industries emerged, including virtual reality and the Internet of Things, proving the viability of an "if you build it, they will come" strategy for gigabit services. And in the process, local governments were mobilized to rethink restrictive and inefficient approaches to overseeing network installations.

[...] Google went about announcing locations, and incumbent broadband ISPs, including AT&T, CenturyLink, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable, would quickly counter by promising improved pricing, faster speeds, network upgrades or some combination of the three. A "game of gigs" had erupted. In the end, Google announced plans to build in 34 cities, playing a kind of broadband whack-a-mole game. Incumbents, who initially dismissed the effort as a publicity stunt, accelerated and reprioritized their own deployments city by city as Google announced follow-on expansion.

As the game of gigs played out, city leaders were forced to offer the same administrative advantages to incumbents as they had to Google Fiber. Construction costs fell, and the speed of deployments increased. Only six years after Google's initial announcement, according to the Fiber Broadband Association, 30% of urban residents had access to gigabit Internet service.

Related: Movie Studios Fear a Piracy Surge From Google Fiber
Google Files Letter with FCC Showing Positives of Title II for Broadband Providers
Google Fiber Announces Next 4 Cities to Get 1Gbps
AT&T Charges $29 More for Gigabit Fiber that Doesn't Watch Your Web Browsing
Austinites Outraged as Google Fiber Tears Up Texas Capital
Google Fiber Buys Webpass ISP
After Years Waiting for Google Fiber, KC Residents Get Cancellation E-Mails
FCC Gives Google Fiber and New ISPs Faster Access to Utility Poles


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Snotnose on Wednesday September 12 2018, @02:11AM (1 child)

    by Snotnose (1623) on Wednesday September 12 2018, @02:11AM (#733440)

    I've got 3 choices for internet/TV. Uverse, who raised their prices for years until I could no longer see the value in it. But they don't support DOCSIS so if I want to cut the cord they aren't an option. Directv, who has good rates but 2 big shortfalls: 1) where I live, I can't put an antenna to see them; and 2) lag means a lot to me, going from me to a satellite to a ground station to whereever, and back again, results in lag I can't deal with in about 50% of my internet usage. Finally 3) Cox cable Got rid of Uverse last May, switched to Cox. It's fucking unreliable. I'd say, on average, once a week I get "this website cannot be reached", or I'll be watching TV and get the loading icon.

    So, Ajit thinks I have 3 suppliers of broadband, when in my mind I only have 1 that works for me.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Wednesday September 12 2018, @01:16PM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday September 12 2018, @01:16PM (#733580) Journal

    Starlink is our only hope now.

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