Google Fiber Construction Begins in the Triangle (Raleigh, Cary: authority, permits)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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I checked out the Google Fiber shop downtown. The inside was pretty cool and you can demo their internet and TV service. I wasn't able to get more than 350mbps down and 400mbps up over wifi but I would take it in a heartbeat. Don't bother asking about expansions plans because the people there do not know. I heard that questions asked a few times while I was there.
I happily went w ATT. Googles arrogance and lack of detailed updates did them in for me. As soon as ATT Fiber came to market, no brainer. Sorry google, will re-evaluate in a year, but you got beat to market, period, and didn't communicate well enough for me to delay what I can get today w ATT, for your service.
Yeah, the lack of updates is a definite knock on Google. I'm sure they don't want to say they'll be in x area by y day, but they could at least give people a rough idea as I've spoken to several people who wanted to wait for them but signed contracts with ATT instead due to no info.
I happily went w ATT. Googles arrogance and lack of detailed updates did them in for me. As soon as ATT Fiber came to market, no brainer. Sorry google, will re-evaluate in a year, but you got beat to market, period, and didn't communicate well enough for me to delay what I can get today w ATT, for your service.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sherifftruman
Yeah, the lack of updates is a definite knock on Google. I'm sure they don't want to say they'll be in x area by y day, but they could at least give people a rough idea as I've spoken to several people who wanted to wait for them but signed contracts with ATT instead due to no info.
Not being able to get any hard data on availability is very irritating, but
Has any firm, expanding it's physical infrastructure into an area, done better?
I've overseen enough construction to know that weather, labor and equipment schedulling, permits, etc. etc. etc. can make putting things in the ground very hard to forecast.
I actually applaud Google for taking the hits and refusing to give out dates, (that would be low-probability guesses issued to shut people up).
I've been given hard dates from a different installer (in a different city), and it was about 8 weeks off.
I'd rather not be told, until the info was reliable.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ed_RDNC
Not being able to get any hard data on availability is very irritating, but
Has any firm, expanding it's physical infrastructure into an area, done better?
I've overseen enough construction to know that weather, labor and equipment schedulling, permits, etc. etc. etc. can make putting things in the ground very hard to forecast.
I actually applaud Google for taking the hits and refusing to give out dates, (that would be low-probability guesses issued to shut people up).
I've been given hard dates from a different installer (in a different city), and it was about 8 weeks off.
I'd rather not be told, until the info was reliable.
ATT installed fiber in my neighborhood a few months ago. I did not realize they were even coming. I had been waiting for google for some time, and then began hoping that they would arrive soon after ATT (so maybe we would get some better pricing).
I just checked the google site again last week & still no update on the schedule for my location. Then today, while I was getting annoyed by my streaming audio stuttering as I was pulling some data sets for work, the ATT salesman shows up @ my door offering to wave all installation/startup fees.
I signed up for the 1GB svc. Hopefully I will like the ATT svc and Google will also get here soon. If they are good, competition will be the best bet that they stay that way...
Agree to disagree. If they set a reasonable date and conveyed it to me, I wouldnt be an ATT customer, period. Sounds like you wouldnt be either way, so looks like they screwed up.
Instead, Im an ATT customer enjoying 250-500mb down via wifi for months in advance of googles launch.
Bad news for Google Fiber fans… and worse news for employees. Word on the street today is that the division is shrinking even more, sending its workers into other parts of the company and slimming down everything it can.
Wired reports today that a spokesperson for Alphabet Access — known better to the rest of us as the Fiber division at Google — has told them that Google Fiber is shrinking, and “hundreds” of employees will be sent to other roles.
The move does not come as a big surprise to many industry watchers. The company announced last October that it was “pausing” its expansion plans around the nation to re-evaluate its entire business structure and, um, not do fiber anymore.
Cities that already had Google Fiber service, or where construction was already underway, weren’t losing anything, the company stressed at the time; indeed, just this month, the company happily announced that more Raleigh-area customers can now sign up for plans.
But the then-CEO of Google Access, Craig Barratt, dropped a quick, “p.s. I’m out” at the end of that announcement, which also said that layoffs were planned.
On his way out, though, Barratt dropped an important clue about Fiber’s future, saying that the restructuring plan, “Enhances our focus on new technology and deployment methods to make superfast Internet more abundant than it is today.”
That seemed to point to new, high-tech wireless technologies that Google began testing last August. Wireless has a big advantage over physical fiber: it’s a lot cheaper.
Digging holes, climbing poles, and stringing wires through a sprawling metropolis is hard work, with a lot of opportunity for entrenched incumbents to throw obstaclesin the way. That adds up to high costs, mounting quickly, and there’s only so much you can recoup through competitive subscription fees.
I signed up for the 1GB svc. Hopefully I will like the ATT svc and Google will also get here soon. If they are good, competition will be the best bet that they stay that way...
My biggest issue with ATT is that you only get 1GB speeds if you visit their partner sites - everywhere else on the 'net is throttled to ~300Mb. Granted, 300 is plenty fast for what I need but don't sell me on Gb service when it's only part time.
If I want to drive my Ferrari at high speeds I'd like to do it anywhere I want to, not just the track that Ferrari Inc built.
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