> Unfortunately due to the lack of quality ISP's, the first to offer residential fiber to the perimeter will rapidly absorb the market. Is there a historical p

> Unfortunately due to the lack of quality ISP's, the first to offer residential fiber to the perimeter will rapidly absorb the market. Is there a historical precedent that suggests that this will happen? The major telcos continue to grow their profits year over year while decreasing their capital spending. I think the much more likely response to any success on google's part will be - cities growing impatient for their turn and building their own networks (well underway[1]) - more and more attempts by existing ISPs at regulatory blocking of competition (well underway[2]) - finally, ISPs actually increase spending to match speeds (still in the lip service stage[3]) ISPs like their market strangleholds. They aren't going to just roll over. Meanwhile building infrastructure is fundamentally a lot of work, so no "Bell 2.0" is going to be born overnight if they're trying to actually build out a physical network (major ISPs merging[4] as a road to Ma Bell is a different story, though). [1] http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/11/fed-up-with-slow-and-pricey-internet-cities-start-demanding-gigabit-fiber/ http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/11/fed-up-with-slow-and... [2] http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/08/how-big-telecom-smothers-city-run-broadband/ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/08/how-big-telecom-s... [3] http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/04/att-copies-google-names-100-cities-where-it-could-offer-gigabit-fiber/ http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/04/att-copies-google-na... [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast-Time_Warner_Cable_merger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast-Time_Warner_Cable_merge...