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Google Fiber has such limited availability. The promise of widespread bandwidth has not met the hype. For those who have it I'm sure it's good. But like Google

Google Fiber has such limited availability. The promise of widespread bandwidth has not met the hype. For those who have it I'm sure it's good. But like Google Glass, this has somewhat limited appeal to the "rest of us"

johnghanks 6y ago
Competition in those areas is still good for the rest of us.
kevincox 6y ago
Just it existing is a threat to the other providers. I agree that it would have been nice if it spread faster. But I think slow and steady is probably actually the best strategy here. Serve your customers really well, then expand as it makes sense. If the other providers get their act together then you don't need to expand, if they don't show them how it is done.
- apohn 6y ago
  >Just it existing is a threat to the other providers. In my area (a suburban area near Raleigh) it seemed like AT&T really got moving and deployed Fiber after Google put out the "coming soon" flyers. I hope Google keeps pushing forward, even if it's very slow. This will force other providers to improve.
  - blacksmith_tb 6y ago
    Similar for me, Google never ended up coming through, but just having 'started talks' with the local authorities caused CenturyLink and Comcast to both roll out gigabit connections magically.
thetinguy 6y ago
IMHO google fiber is the reason isps in the us offer gigabit.
- dylz 6y ago
  Unfortunately most cable providers offer "gigabit" where upstream is sub-5 to 10 Mbit
  - space_ghost 6y ago
    I've had AT&T gigabit fiber in Louisville for four years now and it's fully symmetric. I frequently run speed checks and I always see uploads close to 1gbit.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - richiebful1 6y ago
      I was amazed to see gigabit AT&T in the Red River Gorge (Stanton, KY) when I was there last month. I have a feeling the public-owned fiber backbone (Kentucky Wired) has something to do with that level of accessibility
    - zbrozek 6y ago
      I lust after such a thing. But here only AT&T copper is available, with a max speed of 20 mbps, and apparently they're no longer accepting new accounts: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2020/10/03/att-dsl-internet-digital-subscriber-line-outdated/5880219002/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2020/10/03/att... This leaves me with zero options for wired broadband.
  - ethanwillis 6y ago
    Recently I got an advertisement from t-mobile (as one of their customers) about their home internet offering. I currently have gigabit service through comcast/xfinity. Tons of stability issues, but that aside even in the best of times it's as you say.. super low upload bandwidth. And even worse they still impose a terabyte bandwidth cap on me unless I pay them an additional $30/mo. Well, I looked into the t-mobile internet. It's an LTE router, no bandwidth cap, a flat $50/mo total... and the upload bandwidth I get is around 40-60Mb/s. Download bandwidth between 60-100Mb/s.

johnghanks 6y ago

Competition in those areas is still good for the rest of us.

kevincox 6y ago

Just it existing is a threat to the other providers. I agree that it would have been nice if it spread faster. But I think slow and steady is probably actually the best strategy here. Serve your customers really well, then expand as it makes sense. If the other providers get their act together then you don't need to expand, if they don't show them how it is done.

apohn 6y ago
>Just it existing is a threat to the other providers. In my area (a suburban area near Raleigh) it seemed like AT&T really got moving and deployed Fiber after Google put out the "coming soon" flyers. I hope Google keeps pushing forward, even if it's very slow. This will force other providers to improve.
- blacksmith_tb 6y ago
  Similar for me, Google never ended up coming through, but just having 'started talks' with the local authorities caused CenturyLink and Comcast to both roll out gigabit connections magically.

thetinguy 6y ago

IMHO google fiber is the reason isps in the us offer gigabit.

dylz 6y ago
Unfortunately most cable providers offer "gigabit" where upstream is sub-5 to 10 Mbit
- space_ghost 6y ago
  I've had AT&T gigabit fiber in Louisville for four years now and it's fully symmetric. I frequently run speed checks and I always see uploads close to 1gbit.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - richiebful1 6y ago
    I was amazed to see gigabit AT&T in the Red River Gorge (Stanton, KY) when I was there last month. I have a feeling the public-owned fiber backbone (Kentucky Wired) has something to do with that level of accessibility
  - zbrozek 6y ago
    I lust after such a thing. But here only AT&T copper is available, with a max speed of 20 mbps, and apparently they're no longer accepting new accounts: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2020/10/03/att-dsl-internet-digital-subscriber-line-outdated/5880219002/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2020/10/03/att... This leaves me with zero options for wired broadband.
- ethanwillis 6y ago
  Recently I got an advertisement from t-mobile (as one of their customers) about their home internet offering. I currently have gigabit service through comcast/xfinity. Tons of stability issues, but that aside even in the best of times it's as you say.. super low upload bandwidth. And even worse they still impose a terabyte bandwidth cap on me unless I pay them an additional $30/mo. Well, I looked into the t-mobile internet. It's an LTE router, no bandwidth cap, a flat $50/mo total... and the upload bandwidth I get is around 40-60Mb/s. Download bandwidth between 60-100Mb/s.