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Google Fiber's biggest failure: ISP will turn service off in Louisville
Google Fiber will turn off its network in Louisville, Kentucky and exit the city after a series of fiber installation failures left cables exposed in the roads. Google Fiber's customers in Louisville will have to switch ISPs and will get their final two months of Google Fiber service for free to help make up for the disruption.
Google Fiber went live in Louisville late in 2017, just a few months after construction began. The quick turnaround happened because Google Fiber used a shallow trenching strategy that is quicker than traditional underground fiber deployment and doesn't require digging giant holes. Instead of a foot-wide trench, a micro-trench is generally about an inch wide and four inches deep. In Louisville, Google Fiber reportedly was burying cables in "nano-trenches" that were just two inches deep.
But Louisville residents soon found exposed cables, as a WDRB article noted in March 2018. "When you're walking around the neighborhood, [the lines are] popping up out of the road all over the place," resident Larry Coomes said at the time. "People are tripping over it."
In August 2018, Google Fiber announced a plan to fix the problem, WDRB reported at the time. But Google Fiber never quite got it right, and yesterday the Alphabet-owned ISP announced that it will leave the city in a blog post titled "Saying Goodbye to Louisville."Google Fiber is now in Louisville thanks to new fiber deployment strategy
"As we told our customers today, we will be turning off the network on April 15 and their next two months of service are on us," Google Fiber wrote, pledging to "work with our customers and partners to minimize disruption."
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday February 10 2019, @05:17AM (2 children)
Three feet? Fuck, man, half that is fine anywhere below Kansas. Now if you're planning ahead for pet burial and such, fine, but that's a lot of unnecessary work otherwise.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Sunday February 10 2019, @05:52AM (1 child)
Unnecessary work, maybe. You've got a hundred yards of pipe to put in the ground. You rent a Ditch-Witch, and start the trench. You may, of course, dig any depth you choose, up to the maximum reach of the trenching machine. You can dig that trench as you learned to do in construction, or you can "cheat". I used my experience, and laid that pipe at 3 feet. I didn't fight the rocky spots, a few spots are only 2' 9" or so. But, I'm well below the frost line, even if the climate decides to get colder, rather than warmer.
Something I've noticed at neighbor's and relative's homes. In the summertime, when the temperature is 100 degrees or higher, the tap water is always warm. My tap water remains cool. Certainly not cold, not chilled, but cool. Lower than body temperature - maybe 85 or 90 degrees. Their water is higher than body temperature, and I certainly don't want to drink it. It's like trying to get a drink from a garden hose that has been lying in the sun all day - yuck!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday February 10 2019, @06:13AM
Ditch-witch my ass, those fuckers were trenching with a goddamn rototiller.