Fiber Competition and Timing (Cameron: houses, promotional, neighborhood)

[gopack85]

1. Google Fiber is already live in some spots of north raleigh
2. ATT Gigapower no longer has a data cap.

[OlderHome]

Originally Posted by gopack85

1. Google Fiber is already live in some spots of north raleigh . . .

Which neighborhoods, pray tell?

- Phil

[pierretong1991]

Originally Posted by gopack85

1. Google Fiber is already live in some spots of north raleigh
2. ATT Gigapower no longer has a data cap.

Where? I haven't heard where Google Fiber is live in North Raleigh.

[nash04]

Google is here off Page rd and TW Alexander but we can't get it since we live in an apartment complex and they have a contract with TWC. This is what I was told by the management.

[cchampagne232000]

I'll be in same spot as op. Moving into Kitts Creek in January. Neighborhood is already wired w/google fiber but not the new sections. Might end up double dipping if the timing fails.

[OlderHome]

Got the U-verse upgrade and added wired receiver for the TV today. Spend some time speaking to the tech about networking and future availability of Fiber 1000 (formerly Gigapower). Said fiber was only a few blocks away on several sides and the fiber "box" from which the individual homes will be connected is already on our block. He estimated that fiber within 6-8 months for Cameron Park (evidently Cameron Village already has it).

He was very helpful and informative. Terminated some Cat6 into a RJ45 for the TV connection and we talked about my plans for a fiber feed gigabyte network for the old home.

He thought Google fiber was years away, given the problems they were having laying fiber. A biased view perhaps.

So perhaps AT&T fiber in a half year. If Google Fiber surprises, it is a $15/month fee to terminate early.

- Phil

[Sherifftruman]

ATT has had all the same issues running fiber that Google has had, at least as far as running into every utility currently in the ground.

[OlderHome]

Originally Posted by Sherifftruman

ATT has had all the same issues running fiber that Google has had, at least as far as running into every utility currently in the ground.

Yes, I suspect that is true (he blamed Bechtel as Google's contractor). But provided he is truthful (and I do believe him) about areas a few blocks away have fiber and the fiber box already on our street, at least for those of us near NC State, the build-out in much closer to being done.

- Phil

[Bio-Tech]

We just got Google TV + Fiber Gigabit installed at our house near Davis Drive and Morrisville Parkway.

Unfortunately I don’t know much about Google Fiber timing near NC State as OP requested, however I can definitely confirm (via NextDoor) that several neighborhoods in Cary/Morrisville already have Google Fiber fully installed within their homes…and most people seem fairly satisfied with their service.

In our situation, Google was ready to install 15 months after they first started digging in our neighborhood. So Google is definitely making progress in the Triangle- although much more SLOWLY than they might be willing to admit.

Here is breakdown of the overall installation timeline for our neighborhood…

Aug/Sep 2015:
Google contractors (S&N/Bectel) installed fiber and underground "utility boxes" in front yards throughout the neighborhood.

Sep 16, 2016:
Received "door hangar" advertisement from Google offering to “sign up” for Google Fiber online, which I took action on immediately via http://google.com/fiber/getmyhomeready, paid $10 sign-up fee.

Oct 29:
Google contractors (Tyarks Cabling) installed Network Interface Box on the exterior of our house, in close proximity to exterior Time Warner Cable box. About 100 feet of fiber cable was buried underground between the street and the Network Interface Box. The box looks EXACTLY like this one… https://support.google.com/fiber/answer/3093465?hl=en

Nov 8:
Google sends email “We're now ready for you to set up your installation appointment. Sign in to the Fiber website and pick an available appointment time that works best for you”. So we picked a date in December.

Nov 19:
Google sends email “Get ready for Google Fiber in your home! We're looking forward to meeting you at your in-home installation appointment on: Monday, December 12, 2016 at 8:00 am. Your appointment will take 3 hours and 20 minutes. Please have an adult present during your entire appointment. This will be the day Google physically brings fiber inside the house, installs a Fiber Jack Ethernet adapter, and hooks up additional equipment (such as whole-house DVR, WiFi, Digital Phone and all setup TV control boxes) "

Dec 12:
Google (contractor) came out and installed the entire system, took about 3.5 hours for 5 TV’s, Phone and WIFI. The technician installed about 30 feet of fiber optic line from outside of house to the Fiber Jack in the basement, which coverts the Fiber signal to Ethernet. All TV's in house hooked together using existing cable TV lines using Multimedia over Coax (MoCA), this was a snap...nothing to do but hook Google TV box to old cable TV outlets throughout the house.

Pro’s so far:

• Download speed hovering between 920-930 Mbit/s and Upload solid at 950 Mbit/s, upload will come in handy for online cloud backups!
• Ping is solid at 3-5 milliseconds vs 20-30 milliseconds with TWC
• DVR can record 8 channels at same time
• Cable channel lineup is just as good or better than TWC, it also includes local RDU TV stations
• Each TV box acts as WIFI access point, so the whole house has great WIFI coverage, even the basement (mesh network)!
• TV remote controls use Bluetooth signals to communicate with the boxes, so you do not have to have a direct line of sight to the box in order to change the channel – no more pointing and praying you hit the IR sensor on the cable box. The downside is that you can't move remotes from one TV to the other, they are "locked" to a specific TV box.
• Digital Phone has lots of cool features, like “do not ring/disturb” at specific hours
• Most calls to US and Canada are FREE
• You get 1 TB online storage in Google Drive for FREE...nice for online backups of critical data

Con’s so far:

• Overall monthly cost is about the same as Time Warner with exact same setup (except slower 200 Mbit/s DOWN, 20 Mbit/s UP)
• TV Guide is rather basic, difficult to navigate
• WIFI speed is rate limited to about 300-400 Mbits/s DOWN+UP, but this is not Google's fault...it's the max limit of WIFI standard 802.11ac !!

For anyone wanting to find out more about Google Fiber, you can talk with someone in person by visiting the Google Customer Service Center at 3605 Davis Drive, Suite 208 in Morrisville, or call Google at (866) 777-7550.

[pierretong1991]

I personally don't expect Google Fiber to be better than AT&T and Time Warner Cable. Competition will be a good thing though when it comes to negotiating and getting good rates. I've definitely heard of Google Fiber having their fair share of problems in other cities so it's not going to be perfect either.