3 ms·

It can be. A cursory search showed that the other fiber competitor in the area is AT&T. Google Fiber was $70/mo and AT&T is $80/mo and that was for the highest

by jetti 8y ago

It can be. A cursory search showed that the other fiber competitor in the area is AT&T. Google Fiber was $70/mo and AT&T is $80/mo and that was for the highest speed offered. With Google exiting the market, the fiber competition is gone and it allows AT&T to raise prices, if they want as there aren't any other options. It puts AT&T back into the fiber monopoly

criddell 8y ago
$70 wasn't a sustainable price. The competition can use Google's withdrawal as a fairly reasonable justification to raise rates to a sustainable level.
- jetti 8y ago
  $70 is typical for Google's Fiber 1000 plan. The reason it isn't sustainable in that location is they did a shitty job installing the fiber and they would have to redo the infrastructure. That doesn't mean that the price wasn't sustainable.
  - criddell 8y ago
    A sustainable price is one that has margins large enough that problems like that aren't fatal.
    - metildaa 8y ago
      Infrastructure is far different than selling widgets. To make a profit, you want to get as many customers as possible even if you have to mix price points. The goal is to maximize revenue per home passed, not get a handful of homes at $20 a month higher price point.
- metildaa 8y ago
  Centurylink is offering gigabit for $65 flat (no taxes or fees) across its footprint, and 100Mbps for $55, 40Mbps for $45. At $70 a month Google was significantly above the average price people paid for internet, but they were offering a premium product (gigabit). Had they offered slower, more affordable tiers to residences that didn't initially jump, they likely could have broken even. The problem with overbuilding is uptake rates, its not good to only capture 28% of the market or similar, you really need 40+% to break even. The City of Tacoma ran into this with their cable network, and so has Google. Webpass is Google's fix for that, only targetting larger buildings where a 10% uptake rate gets them in the green.
  - criddell 8y ago
    > only targetting larger buildings where a 10% uptake rate gets them in the green That's not really an acceptable way to operate what is essentially a public utility at this point. We clearly need better regulation of these companies.
  - owenmarshall 8y ago
    > Centurylink is offering gigabit for $65 flat (no taxes or fees) across its footprint Oh word! They are in Louisville? Where do I sign up? Hint: "average prices" for high speed internet mean very little in the USA as those prices vary wildly. I pay $30 less for 300Mbps service than a remote coworker does for 75Mbps - from the same company.
    - metildaa 8y ago
      Centurylink isn't in Louisville, was just trying to highlight how Google Fiber has encouraged average speed per dollar spent to rise, and how other large providers are getting financially solvent wen running fiber. Most of Centurylink's territory has only halfhearted competition from the local cable company (Comcast, Charter, Wave), and they just recently lost a lawsuit where the state AGs from Oregon, Washington, Minnesota and a few other states ganged up and prosecuted them for hidden fees and malicious billing practices, thus why they are on the straight and narrow now, with the price you see being exactly what you will pay.

by jetti 8y ago

criddell 8y ago

$70 wasn't a sustainable price. The competition can use Google's withdrawal as a fairly reasonable justification to raise rates to a sustainable level.

jetti 8y ago
$70 is typical for Google's Fiber 1000 plan. The reason it isn't sustainable in that location is they did a shitty job installing the fiber and they would have to redo the infrastructure. That doesn't mean that the price wasn't sustainable.
- criddell 8y ago
  A sustainable price is one that has margins large enough that problems like that aren't fatal.
  - metildaa 8y ago
    Infrastructure is far different than selling widgets. To make a profit, you want to get as many customers as possible even if you have to mix price points. The goal is to maximize revenue per home passed, not get a handful of homes at $20 a month higher price point.
metildaa 8y ago
Centurylink is offering gigabit for $65 flat (no taxes or fees) across its footprint, and 100Mbps for $55, 40Mbps for $45. At $70 a month Google was significantly above the average price people paid for internet, but they were offering a premium product (gigabit). Had they offered slower, more affordable tiers to residences that didn't initially jump, they likely could have broken even. The problem with overbuilding is uptake rates, its not good to only capture 28% of the market or similar, you really need 40+% to break even. The City of Tacoma ran into this with their cable network, and so has Google. Webpass is Google's fix for that, only targetting larger buildings where a 10% uptake rate gets them in the green.
- criddell 8y ago
  > only targetting larger buildings where a 10% uptake rate gets them in the green That's not really an acceptable way to operate what is essentially a public utility at this point. We clearly need better regulation of these companies.
- owenmarshall 8y ago
  > Centurylink is offering gigabit for $65 flat (no taxes or fees) across its footprint Oh word! They are in Louisville? Where do I sign up? Hint: "average prices" for high speed internet mean very little in the USA as those prices vary wildly. I pay $30 less for 300Mbps service than a remote coworker does for 75Mbps - from the same company.
  - metildaa 8y ago
    Centurylink isn't in Louisville, was just trying to highlight how Google Fiber has encouraged average speed per dollar spent to rise, and how other large providers are getting financially solvent wen running fiber. Most of Centurylink's territory has only halfhearted competition from the local cable company (Comcast, Charter, Wave), and they just recently lost a lawsuit where the state AGs from Oregon, Washington, Minnesota and a few other states ganged up and prosecuted them for hidden fees and malicious billing practices, thus why they are on the straight and narrow now, with the price you see being exactly what you will pay.