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> I actually thought Google had given up on Google Fiber years ago due to incumbents using regulatory pressure to keep them out. I think they said they were g

> I actually thought Google had given up on Google Fiber years ago due to incumbents using regulatory pressure to keep them out. I think they said they were going to focus on their existing markets, but not on expanding to new markets. Which, to be fair, could be interpreted as a sign that they would shut it down at some point (this is Google, after all), but I don't think they ever said anything to that effect, and it was several years ago, so maybe they really are just focusing on improving service without expanding. Stranger things have happened.

ForkMeOnTinder 3y ago
> maybe they really are just focusing on improving service without expanding I don't get it. It's a product the whole country wants, rolled out to only 25 cities and they're done growing? Can anyone make a case for why this isn't a horrible business decision (if true)?
- chimeracoder 3y ago
  > I don't get it. It's a product the whole country wants, rolled out to only 25 cities and they're done growing? Can anyone make a case for why this isn't a horrible business decision (if true)? The regulatory and logistical challenges to rolling out in new cities vary extremely widely, and this isn't their core business or core competency. Compare that to telcos, who focus exclusively on these problems, and it's relatively expensive for Google to compete in this area compared to telcos. Of course, that's assuming telcos are investing at all (which they aren't, at least not when Google or municipalities aren't threatening them with competition), so this argument isn't automatically categorically correct. But that's the gist of it, and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Selfishly, I want Google to expand Google Fiber, but I would actually rather have municipalities force existing telcos to deliver on the investments that they've already paid for (with taxpayer money, in many cases). At the end of the day, that's the real problem. Google Fiber is just a stopgap.
- jauntywundrkind 3y ago
  I've heard it said that one of the worst challenges at Google is that nothing moves the needle in their revenue stream other than ads. They may have tons of other things they are up to, in huge demand everywhere, but why commit & work at anything that doesn't move the needle? Having a foot in the ISP game is a good existential hedge. It gives Google practice at doing something absolutely required for their business model to keep working. If ISPs started doing dastardly things against the dumb pipe/network neutrality model or started raising prices astronomically, Google could scale up their ISP model to keep people connected to keep the ad stream going. I do think it's a bad decision not to keep rolling out. But I think Google has a ton of difficulty maintaining sufficient caring for non-new non-shiny things, and is plagued by ads being so overwhelmingly bigger than everything else.

ForkMeOnTinder 3y ago

> maybe they really are just focusing on improving service without expanding I don't get it. It's a product the whole country wants, rolled out to only 25 cities and they're done growing? Can anyone make a case for why this isn't a horrible business decision (if true)?

chimeracoder 3y ago
> I don't get it. It's a product the whole country wants, rolled out to only 25 cities and they're done growing? Can anyone make a case for why this isn't a horrible business decision (if true)? The regulatory and logistical challenges to rolling out in new cities vary extremely widely, and this isn't their core business or core competency. Compare that to telcos, who focus exclusively on these problems, and it's relatively expensive for Google to compete in this area compared to telcos. Of course, that's assuming telcos are investing at all (which they aren't, at least not when Google or municipalities aren't threatening them with competition), so this argument isn't automatically categorically correct. But that's the gist of it, and the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Selfishly, I want Google to expand Google Fiber, but I would actually rather have municipalities force existing telcos to deliver on the investments that they've already paid for (with taxpayer money, in many cases). At the end of the day, that's the real problem. Google Fiber is just a stopgap.
jauntywundrkind 3y ago
I've heard it said that one of the worst challenges at Google is that nothing moves the needle in their revenue stream other than ads. They may have tons of other things they are up to, in huge demand everywhere, but why commit & work at anything that doesn't move the needle? Having a foot in the ISP game is a good existential hedge. It gives Google practice at doing something absolutely required for their business model to keep working. If ISPs started doing dastardly things against the dumb pipe/network neutrality model or started raising prices astronomically, Google could scale up their ISP model to keep people connected to keep the ad stream going. I do think it's a bad decision not to keep rolling out. But I think Google has a ton of difficulty maintaining sufficient caring for non-new non-shiny things, and is plagued by ads being so overwhelmingly bigger than everything else.