4 ms·

They originally said Fiber was "to experiment and learn". They're just doing some Sun Tzu strategy.

by logn 12y ago

free2rhyme214 12y ago
Exactly. When there's money why not scale their service?
- untog 12y ago
  Because scaling would be phenomenally expensive.
  - yeukhon 12y ago
    To be exact, I am surprised they were able to make deal with cities where Fiber has launched given telecom franchise basically is a in-or-out. I guess they are Google they have plenty of resource at disposal.
- hkmurakami 12y ago
  Because it would be an inefficient use of their capital given their other alternatives. Also, if a small investment in the space can spur the incumbents to increase their own investment, the leverage Google gets from their own small investment is tremendous.
jusben1369 12y ago
It hasn't really moved beyond that right? I would guess at this stage with deployed and regions they plan to deploy in over the next 12 months it's still only 2 - 3% of all US user reach?
- logn 12y ago
  I just interpret "experiment and learn" as something that would stay small scale forever, like an academic experiment or a playground for their developers. However they're continually expanding to new cities and doing Fiber for actual business value. Yes it's a slow rollout but I think "experiment and learn" is an understatement, similar to this wireless announcement. FYI, source of Fiber announcement, 2010: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/think-big-with-gig-our-experimental.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/think-big-with-gig-ou...
  - piyush_soni 12y ago
    I'm not sure. I always "experiment and learn" to grow big. I don't know of anyone who does that to "stay small and keep experimenting".
    - jlebar 12y ago
      FWIW Haskell's unofficial motto is "avoid success at all costs" -- IOW, "stay small and keep experimenting".
      - piyush_soni 12y ago
        May be that's why they're not Google?
- adventured 12y ago
  It's the Gmail storage theory. Very few people could access Gmail initially. If it's out there, and people start to hear about 1gbps internet service (Google is tremendous with PR), it becomes an idea in the public consciousness. That immediately changes everything, even if the reach only ends up being 5%. Perception can be incredibly valuable. Your average person has no idea what the Google Fiber reach is, they do not care; they've heard about it though, and now they know that 1gbps Internet is possible and exists for the $70 they're already paying for 25mbps. When the first iPhone came out, I didn't think much of it, but I had heard of it. I wasn't much of an Apple fan. Then I saw a guy play a nice video on it, from a trip he took to Tibet. Even though my carrier didn't have the iPhone circa 2007, that video's quality immediately changed everything about how I perceived phones and what I wanted out of them. My expectations were forever shifted upon seeing / knowing that was out there.
  - nadams 12y ago
    > $70 they're already paying for 25mbps. I only wish I could get 25mpbs internet speeds. It's not that I'm willing to pay thousands of dollars for it - Comcast told me that they needed to upgrade their infrastructure to be able to offer me anything above the lowest package that I'm already paying over $100 for (just for internet). Over the past 20 something years and the billions of dollars in profit - they are just getting around to upgrading their hardware now... Did I mention that they refuse to let me purchase my own mode digressing from the fact that they keep raising the modem rental fees? They claim something about proprietary network information and a hash that is used on the modem. My bullshit detector went off the scale - I'm not sure if they genuinely don't know or just don't want to tell me. > Then I saw a guy play a nice video on it, from a trip he took to Tibet. > changed everything about how I perceived phones Windows Mobile was able to do this many years before Apple. People disliked Windows Mobile because it was made for the power user and the interface wasn't very friendly. I will always have a certain love for Windows Mobile especially considering the ability to make applications in VB6. VB6 language sucked but it was easy to use and learn - when I had a Windows Mobile phone I wrote a TCP client/server app to remote control the audio on my computer in about 5 minutes in VB6. It wasn't pretty but it did what I needed it to do.

They originally said Fiber was "to experiment and learn". They're just doing some Sun Tzu strategy.

by logn 12y ago

They originally said Fiber was "to experiment and learn". They're just doing some Sun Tzu strategy.

free2rhyme214 12y ago

Exactly. When there's money why not scale their service?

untog 12y ago
Because scaling would be phenomenally expensive.
- yeukhon 12y ago
  To be exact, I am surprised they were able to make deal with cities where Fiber has launched given telecom franchise basically is a in-or-out. I guess they are Google they have plenty of resource at disposal.
hkmurakami 12y ago
Because it would be an inefficient use of their capital given their other alternatives. Also, if a small investment in the space can spur the incumbents to increase their own investment, the leverage Google gets from their own small investment is tremendous.

jusben1369 12y ago

It hasn't really moved beyond that right? I would guess at this stage with deployed and regions they plan to deploy in over the next 12 months it's still only 2 - 3% of all US user reach?

logn 12y ago
I just interpret "experiment and learn" as something that would stay small scale forever, like an academic experiment or a playground for their developers. However they're continually expanding to new cities and doing Fiber for actual business value. Yes it's a slow rollout but I think "experiment and learn" is an understatement, similar to this wireless announcement. FYI, source of Fiber announcement, 2010: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/think-big-with-gig-our-experimental.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/think-big-with-gig-ou...
- piyush_soni 12y ago
  I'm not sure. I always "experiment and learn" to grow big. I don't know of anyone who does that to "stay small and keep experimenting".
  - jlebar 12y ago
    FWIW Haskell's unofficial motto is "avoid success at all costs" -- IOW, "stay small and keep experimenting".
    - piyush_soni 12y ago
      May be that's why they're not Google?
adventured 12y ago
It's the Gmail storage theory. Very few people could access Gmail initially. If it's out there, and people start to hear about 1gbps internet service (Google is tremendous with PR), it becomes an idea in the public consciousness. That immediately changes everything, even if the reach only ends up being 5%. Perception can be incredibly valuable. Your average person has no idea what the Google Fiber reach is, they do not care; they've heard about it though, and now they know that 1gbps Internet is possible and exists for the $70 they're already paying for 25mbps. When the first iPhone came out, I didn't think much of it, but I had heard of it. I wasn't much of an Apple fan. Then I saw a guy play a nice video on it, from a trip he took to Tibet. Even though my carrier didn't have the iPhone circa 2007, that video's quality immediately changed everything about how I perceived phones and what I wanted out of them. My expectations were forever shifted upon seeing / knowing that was out there.
- nadams 12y ago
  > $70 they're already paying for 25mbps. I only wish I could get 25mpbs internet speeds. It's not that I'm willing to pay thousands of dollars for it - Comcast told me that they needed to upgrade their infrastructure to be able to offer me anything above the lowest package that I'm already paying over $100 for (just for internet). Over the past 20 something years and the billions of dollars in profit - they are just getting around to upgrading their hardware now... Did I mention that they refuse to let me purchase my own mode digressing from the fact that they keep raising the modem rental fees? They claim something about proprietary network information and a hash that is used on the modem. My bullshit detector went off the scale - I'm not sure if they genuinely don't know or just don't want to tell me. > Then I saw a guy play a nice video on it, from a trip he took to Tibet. > changed everything about how I perceived phones Windows Mobile was able to do this many years before Apple. People disliked Windows Mobile because it was made for the power user and the interface wasn't very friendly. I will always have a certain love for Windows Mobile especially considering the ability to make applications in VB6. VB6 language sucked but it was easy to use and learn - when I had a Windows Mobile phone I wrote a TCP client/server app to remote control the audio on my computer in about 5 minutes in VB6. It wasn't pretty but it did what I needed it to do.