Articles about Google Fiber

Google is scaling back a project because it's too expensive for the company. No, really, something is too expensive for Google. The project in question is Google Fiber, the fiber-to-the-premises service currently being developed and deployed in the US.

According to a report by The Information, Google has basically failed -- it only has 200,000 subscribers at the time, and knowing that it set a goal of five million by the end of 2015, it's obviously not enough. Instead of fiber, the company will shift its focus towards wireless technology, as it's much cheaper. It was also said that the unit, previously called Google Fiber, and now called Access, will have to cut its staff in half, from 1,000 down to 500.

Continue reading →

Google has its tentacles wrapped around many things. Not only does it dominate search, and provide the most popular mobile operating system with Android, but it is also an ISP with Fiber and a cellular provider with Project Fi. If it involves the movement, collection, or analysis of data, the search giant seems interested.

With so many people owning smartphones nowadays, you'd expect landline service to be going the way of the dodo bird, but there are many reasons to have it, such as dependability in an emergency. Today, Google is surprisingly entering the landline business with the VoIP-powered Fiber Phone. No, it is not an early April Fool's Day joke, folks -- it is the real McCoy.

Continue reading →

Please take my money, Google. Tap the vein right here if blood is the currency you need. I am ready, willing, and over-excited. If you disappoint, I understand, though. My city is a brick wall when it comes to new commerce. It's regulation central. So good luck to you.

This afternoon I received email from the Google Fiber team that stopped my heart: "We wanted you to be among the first to hear the news. Today we announced we're exploring bringing Fiber to San Diego". Hell, yeah, baby. Sign me up. Which up-for-reelection-politician needs me and other native and transplanted San Diegans to be thorns in the butt? Give us more speed than we possibly need for prices we probably can't afford.

Continue reading →

Everyone wants access to high-speed internet, as it seems to feel like a human right these days. Sadly the US lags behind other nations in this department, but things are slowly improving, thanks in large part to Google introducing its own broadband in the form of Google Fiber.

That offering is now expanding to new markets, with Google announcing four locations set to have their internet speeds increased dramatically. Thus far, the service has existed in Kansas City, Provo, and Austin.

Continue reading →

You can't throw a rock without hitting someone who's fed up with their ISP. Services like Comcast are becoming an increasingly worrisome problem in today's world. Google provides its own ISP, but it is sadly only available in rather limited markets. And by limited, we are not kidding, there only three -- Kansas City, Provo and Austin.

However, those cities won't be able to feel special for much longer, because the search giant is considering more locales for its high-end ISP service. "We want to help build more ultra-fast networks. So we’ve invited cities in nine metro areas around the US -- 34 cities altogether -- to work with us to explore what it would take to bring them Google Fiber", states Google's Milo Medin.

Continue reading →

Many people considered this company irrelevant and dead years ago. Yet with nearly three million paying Internet service subscribers still, this provider is anything but dried up -- yet. Internet access, among other subscription services, makes up a clear majority of its continuing sales and its greatest chunk of profits as a whole. Subscriber growth peaked off back in 2002, but for this aging Internet heirloom, at this point they will no doubt take what they can get. Who the heck am I referring to?

Don't choke on your coffee, but it's none other than AOL. Namely, their dialup Internet service division. It's hard to believe that in the year 2013 any company has more than a trickle of subscribers left on dial up, but this attests to the sad state of broadband adoption in the United States. Of the estimated 74 percent of Americans who have internet access in their homes (2010 figures), a full 6 percent of those are still on dial-up service. There are a myriad of issues affecting broadband adoption, including things such as lack of access, pricing, reluctance to switch, etc.

Continue reading →

Residents of the Kansas City metropolitan area are close to having access to super-fast Internet as Google unveiled its fiber-to-the-home service on Thursday. For as little as $70 per month, Google will provide 1 Gigabit Internet service to customers in both Kansas City, Mo. and Kansas City, Kan.

The service will also include a television component for an additional $50 per month. Deployment depends on the number of consumers that pre-register in a specific area: Google will only complete runs of fiber-optic cable to where the demand is highest.

Continue reading →

As Google moves ever closer to its fiber-optic network plans, it has hired networking engineer Milo Medin to oversee its rollout. Medin is widely viewed as an expert in Internet networking, and is credited with pushing TCP/IP in the 1980s as a standard for Internet connectivity.

Medin will manage the fiber team and serve as vice president of access services. Google said in February that it planned to build its own fiber network. Hundreds of communities nationwide have vied to be the location where the planned 1 gigabit network will be built -- Google says it will announce a winner early next year.

Continue reading →

Early in 2010, Google announced it was looking to build and test a 1Gbps fiber-to-the-home network in a couple of U.S. cities. Hundreds of interested cities made attempts to convince Google they would be ideal candidates for the new fiber optic network.

Today, Google Product Manager James Kelly announced the first field trials of the fiber technology Google might use in its community deployments
will be built at Stanford University's residential subdivision in early 2011.

Continue reading →

Google announced today that it is planning to build and test broadband networks in several trial deployments across the US which promise to be "100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 Gbps fiber-to-the-home connections."

A careful read of that line suggests that Google is promising 1 Gbps fiber, which is 100x faster than the average broadband user's transfer rate, as opposed to a 100 Gbps pipeline. The company says the service will reach 50,000 people initially, with a potential reach of up to 500,000, the company announced.

Continue reading →