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To try and hijack the top post with some of the comments I've scattered across this thread: Google did a remarkably poor job in Louisville, and it's absolutely
by owenmarshall 8y ago
To try and hijack the top post with some of the comments I've scattered across this thread:
Google did a remarkably poor job in Louisville, and it's absolutely no surprise to me that they're giving up.
Google's strategy was to build a FTTH network with microtrenching. In practice, this meant cutting a 2" deep groove in city streets, placing a fiber optic cable in it, and using an expanding rubber gasket material to cover the groove.
This failed in spectacular fashion. One of the best pictures was this: https://www.wdrb.com/news/belknap-neighborhood-residents-concerned-over-sloppy-installation-of-high-speed/article_4bc2a61e-8640-57f0-aba9-3dd4cb3d39e5.html https://www.wdrb.com/news/belknap-neighborhood-residents-con...
... a fiber optic cable, barely buried under the surface of the road, exposed after a few freeze/thaw cycles.
If you click on no other link about Google Fiber in Louisville, click on this one. This scene is repeated all over the city.
There won't be much in the way of "dark fiber left behind" because most of the Google Fiber rollout was FTTH done ridiculously poorly.
And for the customers? The only company competing for residential gigabit service is AT&T, which (wisely?) rolled out their service to high density apartment areas and wealthy condos; for most residents, Spectrum or Uverse DSL are the only real competitors.
Some cites:
https://www.techrepublic.com/pictures/photos-how-google-fiber-is-using-shallow-trenching-to-outbuild-its-gigabit-rivals/18/ https://www.techrepublic.com/pictures/photos-how-google-fibe... -- Microtrenching will save Google!!
https://www.wdrb.com/news/google-fiber-announces-plan-to-fix-exposed-fiber-lines-in/article_fbc678c3-66ef-5d5b-860c-2156bc2f0f0c.html https://www.wdrb.com/news/google-fiber-announces-plan-to-fix... -- uh oh, things aren't so good...
https://9to5google.com/2019/02/07/google-fiber-closing-in-louisville/ https://9to5google.com/2019/02/07/google-fiber-closing-in-lo... -- we give up, 2" of trench won't do it.
- Jhndb 8y agoFor my GDPR friends: >https://www.wdrb.com/news/belknap-neighborhood-residents-concerned-over-sloppy-installation-of-high-speed/article_4bc2a61e-8640-57f0-aba9-3dd4cb3d39e5.html https://www.wdrb.com/news/belknap-neighborhood-residents-con... https://outline.com/etFHuX https://outline.com/etFHuX >https://www.wdrb.com/news/google-fiber-announces-plan-to-fix-exposed-fiber-lines-in/article_fbc678c3-66ef-5d5b-860c-2156bc2f0f0c.html https://www.wdrb.com/news/google-fiber-announces-plan-to-fix... https://outline.com/nxZPBa https://outline.com/nxZPBa
- owenmarshall 8y agoPeople downvoted this but apparently the local news provider is throwing HTTP 451s for Europeans, so don't.
- oh_sigh 8y agoIs outline.com GDPR compliant or do they just not care?
- robk 8y agoNo one really knows what's compliant
- jefe_ 8y agoLooks like some really bad business practices all around, from planning to execution to ultimately telling the customers they're not worth the investment. It seems, having gashes in the road, exposed to salt and wear, will increase rate the roads require maintenance. These cities need to monitor and ensure Google is paying those bills.
- oflannabhra 8y agoWow, thanks for linking all of this. Key quote: > We would need to essentially rebuild our entire network in Louisville to provide the great service that Google Fiber is known for, and that’s just not the right business decision for us.
- dhimes 8y agoYes- the whole thing was an experiment, and it failed. Now they are moving on.
- dylanz 8y agoThis is absolutely incredible. Did they not weather test it before rolling this out across the city? Did city workers know what what these marks were so as to not to cut across these lines doing routine road work? I wonder if any of these removal/repair costs are going to fall on the city or if Google is taking care of it? This is a pretty amazing story.
- ken 8y agoI think this city was their weather test. Kind of like how Gmail was "beta" for over 5 years. In the Google model, everyone is a potential tester.