15 ms·

Google Fiber is coming to Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville and Raleigh-Durham

486 points by twrkit 12y ago

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
eitally 12y ago
Hooray for me and all my Raleigh-Durham brethren! Besides just being a great development, I think this reflects the rapid growth of the tech sector in this area, and having cheap fiber ISP options will go a long way to ensuring we continue to attract top talent & companies.
- santaclaus 12y ago
  Any idea what cities in the Triangle are actually getting this? Cary? Chapel Hill? Durham? Raleigh?
  - noobiemcfoob 12y ago
    From a live stream of the announcement it included Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh and Morrisville. Now just to find a written source...
  - jbrackett 12y ago
    If you go here: https://fiber.google.com/newcities/ https://fiber.google.com/newcities/ and hover over the main cities it gives you a breakdown. Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham, Garner, Morrisville, Raleigh It has it in the hero picture at the top here: https://fiber.google.com/cities/raleighdurham/home/ https://fiber.google.com/cities/raleighdurham/home/ as well.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
squiguy7 12y ago
I'm surprised they didn't choose San Jose. There must be some things outside of their control considering they would have expanded into their own neighborhood.
- jbkly7 12y ago
  There are quite a few factors outside their control, including existing infrastructure, local regulations, and local government willingness to accommodate Google: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/02/20/heres-why-big-cities-arent-getting-google-fiber-anytime-soon/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/02/20...
- danielweber 12y ago
  A lot matters. For Charlotte, RST was installing a bunch of fiber and then they disappeared. GF is probably going to buy that up and use it.
  - ddoolin 12y ago
    They will probably hustle now. But their "fiber" wasn't true fiber like Google Fiber. RST's solution was fiber to a wireless node that would power multiple homes.
- es09 12y ago
  In the middle of last year, Google announced that they will also look at other bay area cities like Santa Clara for Fiber. I don't see what happened to that and there is no more mention of Santa Clara in the latest post. Maybe it fell through? The last update I see is from the city claiming that the discussions have ended - http://siliconvalleypower.com/index.aspx?recordid=3191&page=2065 http://siliconvalleypower.com/index.aspx?recordid=3191&page=... I wish I knew the reasons for not picking a city.
  - ojbyrne 12y ago
    Santa Clara was always included (and still is) in the potential San Jose rollout. As is Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto.
slowmovintarget 12y ago
>> It’s been nearly five years since we offered to build a fiber-optic network in one U.S. city as an experiment — and were met with overwhelming enthusiasm. I suspect the enthusiasm had to do with Google not acting like a phone/cable company. My own hope is that this remains true, and that they come to the Boston area.
- benesch 12y ago
  I'm with you, but don't get your hopes up. Verizon never wired the city for FiOS because it was "too costly" [0]. Though something I always wanted to try when I lived downtown was netBlazr [1], which beams internet from antennas on the tops of buildings. If you've got your own place or can convince your landlord to install an antenna, they get fantastic reviews. [0]: http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/10/08/wahlberg-fios-commercial-missing-one-thing-fios-boston/QFGH3MmBU19XSZu826t2IN/story.html http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/10/08/wahlberg-fios... [1]: http://www.netblazr.com/residential/ http://www.netblazr.com/residential/
- avn2109 12y ago
  Excavation projects are famously successful in Boston, so the Google Fiber people are probably chomping at the bit to get their shovels in Beantown dirt. <\s> But seriously, your hypothesis about GF's non-evil fundamental DNA is a good one. It makes for a much better user experience.
  - jnem 12y ago
    Lol, I hope that was a joke (i think it was), for those who aren't aware, this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dig http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dig
    - tel 12y ago
      <\s> is short for "end sarcasm".
      - prothid 12y ago
rkalla 12y ago
For anyone interested... the whole motivation of Google Fiber to motivate ISPs to stop gouging us does exactly what it is designed to do. Cox, in Phoenix, miraculously doubled everyone's speeds > 100mbps last year because they were concerned with our general happiness levels and wanted to show their affection. Nope... that's not it. Ran into two leads at Smash Burger in June of 2014 and asked them on the spot "When are we getting gigabit speed?" and their reply was "End of year, we gotta move before Google Fiber gets here." None of that would have happened if G Fiber wasn't coming - CenturyLink and Cox were perfectly fine dabbling in 50mbps service for the rest of eternity without true competition. Now in less than 12 months my 65mbps service was freely upgraded to 150mbps and we are suppose to have a 1Gbps option any month now (there are test neighborhoods live since last year around Scottsdale) I have no illusions about how fortunate we are being in a well-wired/competitive environment, but damn am I happy and appreciative. It actually has more impact on me and where I would want to live than I thought... the idea of going back to < 50mbps makes me sad.
- Caged 12y ago
  Comcast also doubled speeds in Portland recently without raising prices. http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2014/11/comcast_will_double_internet_s.html http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2014/11/c...
  - rhino369 12y ago
    Cables co's have been doing that across the country because of DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades and recouping spectrum by digitizing all their channels. Docsis 3.1 will come out in the next year and you'll see really high rate plans, but I bet they will charge a lot.
- tortilla 12y ago
  Yup, I got the postcards from Cox in my neighborhood (N. Scottsdale). Same thoughts as you.
  - rkalla 12y ago
evo_9 12y ago
Is there any rime or reason to the cities that Google chooses to put fiber into? Is it a matter of more friendly local government, less resistant local teleco's, a combination thereof or some other factors? Just seems the locations aren't exactly tech hubs so I'm trying to get a better idea of how the expansion works.
- Zigurd 12y ago
  Go where your adversaries are weakest. The reason your SP sucks and doesn't care is that they bought your elected and unelected officials.
- clarkm 12y ago
  Raleigh-Durham, Austin, and to a lesser extent Provo, are definitely regional tech hubs. Another interesting observation is that all four of the new cities surround Chattanooga, TN which has had municipal gigabit fiber for years now. I wonder if that had anything to do with Google's decision-making process.
- ReidZB 12y ago
  Nashville, at least, has an insane amount of healthcare tech jobs at the moment. I don't know about the other cities, though.
- nostromo 12y ago
  Friendly local government is a big factor. For example: Google looked at Seattle's NIMBY laws regarding utility boxes on sidewalks (each requiring a lengthy community approval process) and said, "Nope!" Seattle's new mayor is now looking how to streamline the process to make the city more Google friendly, should the opportunity arise again.
  - dingaling 12y ago
    > Google looked at Seattle's NIMBY laws regarding utility boxes on sidewalks (each requiring a lengthy community approval process) Which is good, as sidewalks are for walking, not utility installation pads. In much of the UK outside conservation areas BT has powers to install cabinets as it sees fit. Combined with utility poles there are now some pavements on my town impassable to prams.
pcmonk 12y ago
Man, that map is impossible to read. Even as a fairly mildly colorblind person, there's no way I can distinguish the colors.
- mikestew 12y ago
  Perhaps you're not color blind enough. :-) I'm much more than mildly color blind and I can distinguish the legend items just fine. Certainly more so than most graphs/maps I see.
- troymc 12y ago
  Here's an idea for a web plugin: it takes displayed colors that you have difficulty distinguishing and moves them in color space, to the point where you can distinguish them.
goostavos 12y ago
It's kinda sad that the current ISP climate in America is such that faster speeds being rolled out is at the top of Hacker News. That said, I'm excited as hell for the roll out. I'm not in one of the target cities, but Google Fiber spreading gives me hope that they'll eventually make it to me. I've lived with Bright House and their terribleness for far, far too long.
- adventured 12y ago
  There's nothing trivial about 1gbps consumer broadband (maybe if we were talking about 100mbps). It's very worthy of attention. Very few countries have competitive access to 1gbps consumer broadband. You can name them on one hand.
coldcode 12y ago
I bet it never comes to the DFW area. Home of Verizon FIOS. Oddly enough I live in Arlington and FIOS is not (nor ever will be) available.
- atwebb 12y ago
  I dunno, Nashville's got the AT&T building, heck Google put it squarely in the shot and images for this rollout, seems almost like a message, though it is pretty iconic in a city with little other skyline.
chiph 12y ago
Advice to all the folks in the new cities: Google deploys per-neighborhood, once signups reach a critical level. So get your apartment manager, your HOA, your neighbors to sign up, even if they don't have any immediate plans to switch. Post tear-off-tag signs in your community with the url: google.com/fiber
- cwilson 12y ago
  Yep, I had to do exactly this here in Austin. I literally went door to door, met many of my neighbors for the first time, and mentioned that we were only a few signatures away from fiber in our neighborhood. Even after getting all of the signatures we have to wait until June for our install, which kind of sucks, but it's better than continuing to deal with Time Warner.
  - davidhperry 12y ago
    You went around collecting literal signatures, or got your neighbors to enter addresses on fiber.google.com? I'm in Nashville and willing to do a fair bit of legwork if it means it'll bump my neighborhood up on the install list.
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  One could use lob.com to send postcards to everyone in their neighborhood about why they should sign up with that link...
  - primitivesuave 12y ago
    People seem to immediately throw away anything that looks like promotional material, but maybe it's just me or maybe I wasn't mailing them something they found interesting. However, I'm pretty sure a handwritten note to your neighbors would go a lot farther.
wil421 12y ago
Can any Google fiber user tell us how the TV offerings differ from Comcast/Uverse/TWC/Direct TV? Do they include local channels and other channels I've come to expect? What is missing from Google TV?
- winslow 12y ago
  Here is the TV lineup for Kansas city Google fiber customers. Looks like they have all the local and traditional channels. Then add-ons like HBO for $20/month. https://fiber.google.com/cities/kansascity/channels/ https://fiber.google.com/cities/kansascity/channels/
  - wil421 12y ago
    Seems slightly more expensive than the Comcast/Uverse packages I've had but with much much more bandwidth (not that I am capping out my 45mbs right now).
- leehro 12y ago
  AMC & IFC are missing.
cwal37 12y ago
I am now surrounded by Google Fiber to the east and west, and Chattanooga's public fiber to the south, out here in Knoxville, TN. I really wish we could manage something here. This area has the biggest national lab, and a host of tech industry around it, I was kind of surprised more options didn't exist when I moved down a year ago. It makes sense to me that Google went after these southeastern markets, because we are the area where Comcast is already enforcing (I've had to pay a couple times) data caps[1]. It's called a "trial" on their site, but the charges are real. [1] http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/data-usage-trials/ http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/data-u...
- infogulch 12y ago
  Wrong kind of trial. In Comcast's "trial", you're put on the stand and found guilty of your wallet being too full, so they relieve you of your burden.
- nathanb 12y ago
  I'm from Knoxville, though I currently live in the Raleigh-Durham area (one of the areas the fiber gods have smiled upon). You should consider coming out here. I would not go back. (Land prices are super cheap in Knoxville, though!)
  - cwal37 12y ago
    Well, I'm only down here for a relatively short bit. Just starting the second year of a postmasters at Oak Ridge National Lab, and at the end either there's funding for me to stick around and be real staff for a while or I'm off to some bigger city.
- peckrob 12y ago
  Hey cool! I grew up in Knoxville! :) I still have family there, so I'm up there several times a year. Last time I was up there I saw a billboard for gigabit connections being offered by TDS Telecom, but I'm guessing that's in a reeeeeally small area there near Farragut. FWIW, It's the same way down here in Huntsville. Google Fiber in Nashville and Atlanta, fiber in Chattanooga, and I'm stuck with a 25 megabit cable connection that I pay out the nose for. We're trying to get something together here with the local utility[0] (a la Chattanooga), but it's still in the very early conception stages. It's still years away, if ever, from actually happening. [0]: http://launchfiber.com/ http://launchfiber.com/
freeasinfree 12y ago
Great for competition now, sure, but once copper and coax become obsolete Google becomes the new incumbent monopoly. How is that good for anyone?
- elif 12y ago
  I believe that in amsterdam, even though you only have 1 fiber line running to your house, you can choose from many ISPs over that line. Since (I assume) google is not installing an entirely new fiber network, but merely buying fiber rights and doing last-mile construction, it seems like that would also be a reasonable framework to establish here. I'm not saying it would be easy. It would take a lot of legal work. But if google's missions to not be evil, and disrupt the ISP market are to believed, they could make it easier.
  - wmf 12y ago
    Google said they considered the open access model but rejected it. I don't think they explained why, though.
    - danielweber 12y ago
      They don't want to dig only to have someone else undercut them.
      - wmf 12y ago
        Usually in open access the wire owner sets prices so that they're profitable regardless.
- freeasinfree 12y ago
  So you're allowed to bad-mouth AT&T, Comcast, etc. here but if you bad-mouth Google you get downvoted. Got it.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > Great for competition now, sure, but once copper and coax become obsolete Google becomes the new incumbent monopoly. Incumbent broadband providers are upgrading offerings in response to Google, so that doesn't seem like a particularly obvious end result.
russnewcomer 12y ago
Competition isn't always the boon to free enterprise that we would like it to be. I live in Omaha, NE, where Cox and CenturyLink are the primary ISPs. CenturyLink has limited gigabit fiber in some neighborhoods (not mine, unfortunately), launched late last year. Cox has raised internet rates about 7% twice in the last 14 months.
evanm 12y ago
I'm fully aware of the extreme cost of rolling out a fiber infrastructure in new locations, but I still wonder why Google isn't more aggressive with their expansion. While the upfront costs are great, they more or less have guaranteed success in most major cities. Nobody likes the incumbent telcos--they're hated all over the US. I just dream of a world in which we aren't getting raped by Comcast, TWC, and Cox. They are absolutely abysmal and have no incentive to make their customers happy given their market monopoly/oligopoly.
- res0nat0r 12y ago
  Google has only been expanding to cities that give them extensive tax breaks and other perks that haven't been afforded to most other companies. This is a good thing as it allows Google to expand, but they would never do this unless they got these incentives, plus the guaranteed number of users pre-signed up for the service so that they can guarantee some sort of ROI.
  - adventured 12y ago
    The big telecom companies got massive tax breaks at various times over the last 20 years to deploy high speed broadband, and essentially defrauded customers and tax payers by not doing what they said they would. One example of many: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131012/02124724852/decades-failed-promises-verizon-it-promises-fiber-to-get-tax-breaks-then-never-delivers.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131012/02124724852/decad...
    - res0nat0r 12y ago
      Techdirt really has some of the most one sided and consistently terrible articles of any "news" site I've seen. Here is some actual relevant information related to the Google Fiber concessions, mainly in that they don't have to build out infrastructure to the entire city (unlike Comcast etc), and other breaks not given to previous providers: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/how-kansas-city-taxpayers-support-google-fiber/ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/how-kansas-city-t... > Google received stunning regulatory concessions and incentives from local governments, including free access to virtually everything the city owns or controls: rights of way, central office space, power, interconnections with anchor institutions, marketing and direct mail, and office space for Google employees. City officials also expedited the permitting process and assigned staff specifically to help Google. One county even offered to allow Google to hang its wires on parts of utility poles—for free—that are usually off-limits to communications companies.
JoshTriplett 12y ago
I wonder what put those cities ahead, while Portland remains "potential".
- ben336 12y ago
  I had a chance to hear a discussion with the Durham City Manager about this last year. Basically the cities that are most willing to work with Google (favorable laws/willingness to guarantee removing construction red tape/etc) have a huge leg up. There are strategic reasons too, but Google wants to come in, lay down a bunch of cables and move on to the next. They have the leverage to ask cities to actively pull down barriers that other ISPs would face, and the cities willing to do that are the ones who get consideration.
Shivetya 12y ago
Listing cities is really disingenuous as the number of neighborhoods they will actually serve will be quite low, let alone the metro area of cities like Atlanta is quite large and the area most likely buried under cable.
xacaxulu 12y ago
MY SWEET REVENGE ON TIME WARNER CABLE AND COMCAST!! Take my money Google. I'd love to see the look on their faces when they realize that Google is coming to eat their lunch.
rjammala 12y ago
I really wish they start the service in the D.C Metro/VA regions too. We have FIOS but they charge ridiculous prices (i.e. ridiculous compared to G Fiber prices :-))
qlikchris 12y ago
PHILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYY! We have Cheesesteaks...
- jecjec 12y ago
  Philadelphia is insanely corrupt, owned by Comcast, and will not allow Google to build a network like these other cities will. Read about the building of Comcast Tower and how a plumbers union forced Comcast to install unnecessary pipes: http://forums.civfanatics.com/archive/index.php/t-166039.html http://forums.civfanatics.com/archive/index.php/t-166039.htm...
  - qlikchris 12y ago
    Wow! But do they know we have cheesesteaks?
deeviant 12y ago
Google Fiber: Coming to a neighbourhood other than your own soon!
mkr-hn 12y ago
I just hope it doesn't take too long to radiate out from Atlanta. Barrow County is the middle of nowhere, but it is right on the road between Atlanta and Athens.
- ubertaco 12y ago
  I've got family in Winder. Y'all are kinda out there.
ForHackernews 12y ago
Does anyone know if Google Fiber monitors your network traffic to serve targeted ads?
- jrockway 12y ago
  Take a look at the privacy policy: https://fiber.google.com/legal/privacy.html https://fiber.google.com/legal/privacy.html "Technical information collected from the use of Google Fiber Internet for network management, security or maintenance may be associated with the Google Account you use for Fiber, but such information associated with the Google Account you use for Fiber will not be used by other Google properties without your consent. Other information from the use of Google Fiber Internet (such as URLs of websites visited or content of communications) will not be associated with the Google Account you use for Fiber, except with your consent or to meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request."
huntermeyer 12y ago
As someone living in Atlanta I can't friggin wait for my break-up call with Comcast. Soon!
Avenger42 12y ago
I wonder if, for customers who sign up for the basic (free after install fee) package, Google will ramp up their speed if the FCC announces that "broadband" is officially 25/3. That'd be a nice bonus.
mattbgates 12y ago
No Albuquerque?
taivare 12y ago
I believe Cleveland will still have the fastest 100gig fiber.http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2014/11/cleveland_prepares_to_light_up.html http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2014/11/clevelan...
ubertaco 12y ago
Sadly, though, the Atlanta rollout only goes as far north as Sandy Springs and Smyrna. No love for those of us up here in Cherokee county. Hopefully it'll at least scare Comcast and AT&T into stepping up their game. I'd be really thrilled if it straight-up killed Windstream.
- rjbwork 12y ago
  But also no love for places near Atlanta like Decatur, Avondale Estates, College Park. They're just gonna go for the core + rich northern suburbs. It's a business decision and I get it, but hopefully they'll expand out to those areas soon. To many of those communities in the southern unincorporated areas of fulton/dekalb and southern near-suburbs, free "high speed" internet will be a HUGE boon to the younger generations.
jksmith 12y ago
Whatever Google's motive, this does help the internet to fully self-realize: every endpoint should be able to both consume and provide services. I don't care if it's a phone or a tablet, or a smart toaster.
Zigurd 12y ago
Apple earnings, @ $18 billion, are a smidge higher than Sprint's market cap. T-Mobile US has at various times been for sale. It makes you wonder if the major Web ecosystem players won't just start buying SPs so they can break out of bandwidth scarcity as a business model.
- walterbell 12y ago
  Also LEO and MEO satellite internet, balloons, drones.
knodi123 12y ago
I live in Austin. Can't wait until they make it available to me. Some day. Years from, probably.
morganvachon 12y ago
Only the wealthiest of the Atlanta suburbs, it seems. What good is "affordable" true broadband that challenges the cable and DSL companies if it never makes it to those who could most use the savings?
- deskamess 12y ago
  Which suburbs are they? I tried 30004 - part of Alpharetta and had no luck.
  - morganvachon 12y ago
    I'm going by the map graphic they have here[1] showing certain suburbs highlighted. Granted, College Park and Hapeville aren't necessarily wealthy areas but they are near the airport so that makes sense. I was thinking more of Sandy Springs and Avondale Estates, and to a lesser extent Decatur. Of course, that graphic could have zero to do with their plans and I'm going on about nothing. I do wish you could check by ZIP code alone instead of needing a street address as well. It would be nice to know just how close the service is to me geographically. [1] https://fiber.google.com/cities/atlanta/home/ https://fiber.google.com/cities/atlanta/home/
technofiend 12y ago
Although I'd love to see them come to Houston, we're 640 square miles, so it's not really possible to do a "city" rollout. If Google ever rolls out fiber by Zip Code, that'll be for us. I would love to see these guys bring us their MVNO Sprint product and/or build a technology park fed by Google Fiber instead, either of which would still have the desired effect of lowering consumer bandwidth costs.
aceperry 12y ago
I wish Google Fiber would come to SF. I understand they're doing something like that in the southbay though.
therealmaxwell 12y ago
I'm looking for an apartment now!
re_todd 12y ago
I'm perfectly happy with 15mbps. I'd rather see prices go down than speeds go up.
dmritard96 12y ago
Could be really good for getting some tech love in the southeast.

486 points by twrkit 12y ago

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

Hooray for me and all my Raleigh-Durham brethren! Besides just being a great development, I think this reflects the rapid growth of the tech sector in this area, and having cheap fiber ISP options will go a long way to ensuring we continue to attract top talent & companies.

santaclaus 12y ago
Any idea what cities in the Triangle are actually getting this? Cary? Chapel Hill? Durham? Raleigh?
- noobiemcfoob 12y ago
  From a live stream of the announcement it included Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh and Morrisville. Now just to find a written source...
- jbrackett 12y ago
  If you go here: https://fiber.google.com/newcities/ https://fiber.google.com/newcities/ and hover over the main cities it gives you a breakdown. Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Durham, Garner, Morrisville, Raleigh It has it in the hero picture at the top here: https://fiber.google.com/cities/raleighdurham/home/ https://fiber.google.com/cities/raleighdurham/home/ as well.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

squiguy7 12y ago

I'm surprised they didn't choose San Jose. There must be some things outside of their control considering they would have expanded into their own neighborhood.

jbkly7 12y ago
There are quite a few factors outside their control, including existing infrastructure, local regulations, and local government willingness to accommodate Google: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/02/20/heres-why-big-cities-arent-getting-google-fiber-anytime-soon/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/02/20...
danielweber 12y ago
A lot matters. For Charlotte, RST was installing a bunch of fiber and then they disappeared. GF is probably going to buy that up and use it.
- ddoolin 12y ago
  They will probably hustle now. But their "fiber" wasn't true fiber like Google Fiber. RST's solution was fiber to a wireless node that would power multiple homes.
es09 12y ago
In the middle of last year, Google announced that they will also look at other bay area cities like Santa Clara for Fiber. I don't see what happened to that and there is no more mention of Santa Clara in the latest post. Maybe it fell through? The last update I see is from the city claiming that the discussions have ended - http://siliconvalleypower.com/index.aspx?recordid=3191&page=2065 http://siliconvalleypower.com/index.aspx?recordid=3191&page=... I wish I knew the reasons for not picking a city.
- ojbyrne 12y ago
  Santa Clara was always included (and still is) in the potential San Jose rollout. As is Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Palo Alto.

slowmovintarget 12y ago

>> It’s been nearly five years since we offered to build a fiber-optic network in one U.S. city as an experiment — and were met with overwhelming enthusiasm. I suspect the enthusiasm had to do with Google not acting like a phone/cable company. My own hope is that this remains true, and that they come to the Boston area.

benesch 12y ago
I'm with you, but don't get your hopes up. Verizon never wired the city for FiOS because it was "too costly" [0]. Though something I always wanted to try when I lived downtown was netBlazr [1], which beams internet from antennas on the tops of buildings. If you've got your own place or can convince your landlord to install an antenna, they get fantastic reviews. [0]: http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/10/08/wahlberg-fios-commercial-missing-one-thing-fios-boston/QFGH3MmBU19XSZu826t2IN/story.html http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/10/08/wahlberg-fios... [1]: http://www.netblazr.com/residential/ http://www.netblazr.com/residential/
avn2109 12y ago
Excavation projects are famously successful in Boston, so the Google Fiber people are probably chomping at the bit to get their shovels in Beantown dirt. <\s> But seriously, your hypothesis about GF's non-evil fundamental DNA is a good one. It makes for a much better user experience.
- jnem 12y ago
  Lol, I hope that was a joke (i think it was), for those who aren't aware, this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dig http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Dig
  - tel 12y ago
    <\s> is short for "end sarcasm".
    - prothid 12y ago

rkalla 12y ago

For anyone interested... the whole motivation of Google Fiber to motivate ISPs to stop gouging us does exactly what it is designed to do. Cox, in Phoenix, miraculously doubled everyone's speeds > 100mbps last year because they were concerned with our general happiness levels and wanted to show their affection. Nope... that's not it. Ran into two leads at Smash Burger in June of 2014 and asked them on the spot "When are we getting gigabit speed?" and their reply was "End of year, we gotta move before Google Fiber gets here." None of that would have happened if G Fiber wasn't coming - CenturyLink and Cox were perfectly fine dabbling in 50mbps service for the rest of eternity without true competition. Now in less than 12 months my 65mbps service was freely upgraded to 150mbps and we are suppose to have a 1Gbps option any month now (there are test neighborhoods live since last year around Scottsdale) I have no illusions about how fortunate we are being in a well-wired/competitive environment, but damn am I happy and appreciative. It actually has more impact on me and where I would want to live than I thought... the idea of going back to < 50mbps makes me sad.

Caged 12y ago
Comcast also doubled speeds in Portland recently without raising prices. http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2014/11/comcast_will_double_internet_s.html http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2014/11/c...
- rhino369 12y ago
  Cables co's have been doing that across the country because of DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades and recouping spectrum by digitizing all their channels. Docsis 3.1 will come out in the next year and you'll see really high rate plans, but I bet they will charge a lot.
tortilla 12y ago
Yup, I got the postcards from Cox in my neighborhood (N. Scottsdale). Same thoughts as you.
- rkalla 12y ago

evo_9 12y ago

Is there any rime or reason to the cities that Google chooses to put fiber into? Is it a matter of more friendly local government, less resistant local teleco's, a combination thereof or some other factors? Just seems the locations aren't exactly tech hubs so I'm trying to get a better idea of how the expansion works.

Zigurd 12y ago
Go where your adversaries are weakest. The reason your SP sucks and doesn't care is that they bought your elected and unelected officials.
clarkm 12y ago
Raleigh-Durham, Austin, and to a lesser extent Provo, are definitely regional tech hubs. Another interesting observation is that all four of the new cities surround Chattanooga, TN which has had municipal gigabit fiber for years now. I wonder if that had anything to do with Google's decision-making process.
ReidZB 12y ago
Nashville, at least, has an insane amount of healthcare tech jobs at the moment. I don't know about the other cities, though.
nostromo 12y ago
Friendly local government is a big factor. For example: Google looked at Seattle's NIMBY laws regarding utility boxes on sidewalks (each requiring a lengthy community approval process) and said, "Nope!" Seattle's new mayor is now looking how to streamline the process to make the city more Google friendly, should the opportunity arise again.
- dingaling 12y ago
  > Google looked at Seattle's NIMBY laws regarding utility boxes on sidewalks (each requiring a lengthy community approval process) Which is good, as sidewalks are for walking, not utility installation pads. In much of the UK outside conservation areas BT has powers to install cabinets as it sees fit. Combined with utility poles there are now some pavements on my town impassable to prams.

pcmonk 12y ago

Man, that map is impossible to read. Even as a fairly mildly colorblind person, there's no way I can distinguish the colors.

mikestew 12y ago
Perhaps you're not color blind enough. :-) I'm much more than mildly color blind and I can distinguish the legend items just fine. Certainly more so than most graphs/maps I see.
troymc 12y ago
Here's an idea for a web plugin: it takes displayed colors that you have difficulty distinguishing and moves them in color space, to the point where you can distinguish them.

goostavos 12y ago

It's kinda sad that the current ISP climate in America is such that faster speeds being rolled out is at the top of Hacker News. That said, I'm excited as hell for the roll out. I'm not in one of the target cities, but Google Fiber spreading gives me hope that they'll eventually make it to me. I've lived with Bright House and their terribleness for far, far too long.

adventured 12y ago
There's nothing trivial about 1gbps consumer broadband (maybe if we were talking about 100mbps). It's very worthy of attention. Very few countries have competitive access to 1gbps consumer broadband. You can name them on one hand.

coldcode 12y ago

I bet it never comes to the DFW area. Home of Verizon FIOS. Oddly enough I live in Arlington and FIOS is not (nor ever will be) available.

atwebb 12y ago
I dunno, Nashville's got the AT&T building, heck Google put it squarely in the shot and images for this rollout, seems almost like a message, though it is pretty iconic in a city with little other skyline.

chiph 12y ago

Advice to all the folks in the new cities: Google deploys per-neighborhood, once signups reach a critical level. So get your apartment manager, your HOA, your neighbors to sign up, even if they don't have any immediate plans to switch. Post tear-off-tag signs in your community with the url: google.com/fiber

cwilson 12y ago
Yep, I had to do exactly this here in Austin. I literally went door to door, met many of my neighbors for the first time, and mentioned that we were only a few signatures away from fiber in our neighborhood. Even after getting all of the signatures we have to wait until June for our install, which kind of sucks, but it's better than continuing to deal with Time Warner.
- davidhperry 12y ago
  You went around collecting literal signatures, or got your neighbors to enter addresses on fiber.google.com? I'm in Nashville and willing to do a fair bit of legwork if it means it'll bump my neighborhood up on the install list.
toomuchtodo 12y ago
One could use lob.com to send postcards to everyone in their neighborhood about why they should sign up with that link...
- primitivesuave 12y ago
  People seem to immediately throw away anything that looks like promotional material, but maybe it's just me or maybe I wasn't mailing them something they found interesting. However, I'm pretty sure a handwritten note to your neighbors would go a lot farther.

wil421 12y ago

Can any Google fiber user tell us how the TV offerings differ from Comcast/Uverse/TWC/Direct TV? Do they include local channels and other channels I've come to expect? What is missing from Google TV?

winslow 12y ago
Here is the TV lineup for Kansas city Google fiber customers. Looks like they have all the local and traditional channels. Then add-ons like HBO for $20/month. https://fiber.google.com/cities/kansascity/channels/ https://fiber.google.com/cities/kansascity/channels/
- wil421 12y ago
  Seems slightly more expensive than the Comcast/Uverse packages I've had but with much much more bandwidth (not that I am capping out my 45mbs right now).
leehro 12y ago
AMC & IFC are missing.

cwal37 12y ago

I am now surrounded by Google Fiber to the east and west, and Chattanooga's public fiber to the south, out here in Knoxville, TN. I really wish we could manage something here. This area has the biggest national lab, and a host of tech industry around it, I was kind of surprised more options didn't exist when I moved down a year ago. It makes sense to me that Google went after these southeastern markets, because we are the area where Comcast is already enforcing (I've had to pay a couple times) data caps[1]. It's called a "trial" on their site, but the charges are real. [1] http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/data-usage-trials/ http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/internet/data-u...

infogulch 12y ago
Wrong kind of trial. In Comcast's "trial", you're put on the stand and found guilty of your wallet being too full, so they relieve you of your burden.
nathanb 12y ago
I'm from Knoxville, though I currently live in the Raleigh-Durham area (one of the areas the fiber gods have smiled upon). You should consider coming out here. I would not go back. (Land prices are super cheap in Knoxville, though!)
- cwal37 12y ago
  Well, I'm only down here for a relatively short bit. Just starting the second year of a postmasters at Oak Ridge National Lab, and at the end either there's funding for me to stick around and be real staff for a while or I'm off to some bigger city.
peckrob 12y ago
Hey cool! I grew up in Knoxville! :) I still have family there, so I'm up there several times a year. Last time I was up there I saw a billboard for gigabit connections being offered by TDS Telecom, but I'm guessing that's in a reeeeeally small area there near Farragut. FWIW, It's the same way down here in Huntsville. Google Fiber in Nashville and Atlanta, fiber in Chattanooga, and I'm stuck with a 25 megabit cable connection that I pay out the nose for. We're trying to get something together here with the local utility[0] (a la Chattanooga), but it's still in the very early conception stages. It's still years away, if ever, from actually happening. [0]: http://launchfiber.com/ http://launchfiber.com/

freeasinfree 12y ago

Great for competition now, sure, but once copper and coax become obsolete Google becomes the new incumbent monopoly. How is that good for anyone?

elif 12y ago
I believe that in amsterdam, even though you only have 1 fiber line running to your house, you can choose from many ISPs over that line. Since (I assume) google is not installing an entirely new fiber network, but merely buying fiber rights and doing last-mile construction, it seems like that would also be a reasonable framework to establish here. I'm not saying it would be easy. It would take a lot of legal work. But if google's missions to not be evil, and disrupt the ISP market are to believed, they could make it easier.
- wmf 12y ago
  Google said they considered the open access model but rejected it. I don't think they explained why, though.
  - danielweber 12y ago
    They don't want to dig only to have someone else undercut them.
    - wmf 12y ago
      Usually in open access the wire owner sets prices so that they're profitable regardless.
freeasinfree 12y ago
So you're allowed to bad-mouth AT&T, Comcast, etc. here but if you bad-mouth Google you get downvoted. Got it.
dragonwriter 12y ago
> Great for competition now, sure, but once copper and coax become obsolete Google becomes the new incumbent monopoly. Incumbent broadband providers are upgrading offerings in response to Google, so that doesn't seem like a particularly obvious end result.

russnewcomer 12y ago

Competition isn't always the boon to free enterprise that we would like it to be. I live in Omaha, NE, where Cox and CenturyLink are the primary ISPs. CenturyLink has limited gigabit fiber in some neighborhoods (not mine, unfortunately), launched late last year. Cox has raised internet rates about 7% twice in the last 14 months.

evanm 12y ago

I'm fully aware of the extreme cost of rolling out a fiber infrastructure in new locations, but I still wonder why Google isn't more aggressive with their expansion. While the upfront costs are great, they more or less have guaranteed success in most major cities. Nobody likes the incumbent telcos--they're hated all over the US. I just dream of a world in which we aren't getting raped by Comcast, TWC, and Cox. They are absolutely abysmal and have no incentive to make their customers happy given their market monopoly/oligopoly.

res0nat0r 12y ago
Google has only been expanding to cities that give them extensive tax breaks and other perks that haven't been afforded to most other companies. This is a good thing as it allows Google to expand, but they would never do this unless they got these incentives, plus the guaranteed number of users pre-signed up for the service so that they can guarantee some sort of ROI.
- adventured 12y ago
  The big telecom companies got massive tax breaks at various times over the last 20 years to deploy high speed broadband, and essentially defrauded customers and tax payers by not doing what they said they would. One example of many: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131012/02124724852/decades-failed-promises-verizon-it-promises-fiber-to-get-tax-breaks-then-never-delivers.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20131012/02124724852/decad...
  - res0nat0r 12y ago
    Techdirt really has some of the most one sided and consistently terrible articles of any "news" site I've seen. Here is some actual relevant information related to the Google Fiber concessions, mainly in that they don't have to build out infrastructure to the entire city (unlike Comcast etc), and other breaks not given to previous providers: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/how-kansas-city-taxpayers-support-google-fiber/ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/how-kansas-city-t... > Google received stunning regulatory concessions and incentives from local governments, including free access to virtually everything the city owns or controls: rights of way, central office space, power, interconnections with anchor institutions, marketing and direct mail, and office space for Google employees. City officials also expedited the permitting process and assigned staff specifically to help Google. One county even offered to allow Google to hang its wires on parts of utility poles—for free—that are usually off-limits to communications companies.

JoshTriplett 12y ago

I wonder what put those cities ahead, while Portland remains "potential".

ben336 12y ago
I had a chance to hear a discussion with the Durham City Manager about this last year. Basically the cities that are most willing to work with Google (favorable laws/willingness to guarantee removing construction red tape/etc) have a huge leg up. There are strategic reasons too, but Google wants to come in, lay down a bunch of cables and move on to the next. They have the leverage to ask cities to actively pull down barriers that other ISPs would face, and the cities willing to do that are the ones who get consideration.

Shivetya 12y ago

Listing cities is really disingenuous as the number of neighborhoods they will actually serve will be quite low, let alone the metro area of cities like Atlanta is quite large and the area most likely buried under cable.

xacaxulu 12y ago

MY SWEET REVENGE ON TIME WARNER CABLE AND COMCAST!! Take my money Google. I'd love to see the look on their faces when they realize that Google is coming to eat their lunch.

rjammala 12y ago

I really wish they start the service in the D.C Metro/VA regions too. We have FIOS but they charge ridiculous prices (i.e. ridiculous compared to G Fiber prices :-))

qlikchris 12y ago

PHILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYY! We have Cheesesteaks...

jecjec 12y ago
Philadelphia is insanely corrupt, owned by Comcast, and will not allow Google to build a network like these other cities will. Read about the building of Comcast Tower and how a plumbers union forced Comcast to install unnecessary pipes: http://forums.civfanatics.com/archive/index.php/t-166039.html http://forums.civfanatics.com/archive/index.php/t-166039.htm...
- qlikchris 12y ago
  Wow! But do they know we have cheesesteaks?

deeviant 12y ago

Google Fiber: Coming to a neighbourhood other than your own soon!

mkr-hn 12y ago

I just hope it doesn't take too long to radiate out from Atlanta. Barrow County is the middle of nowhere, but it is right on the road between Atlanta and Athens.

ubertaco 12y ago
I've got family in Winder. Y'all are kinda out there.

ForHackernews 12y ago

Does anyone know if Google Fiber monitors your network traffic to serve targeted ads?

jrockway 12y ago
Take a look at the privacy policy: https://fiber.google.com/legal/privacy.html https://fiber.google.com/legal/privacy.html "Technical information collected from the use of Google Fiber Internet for network management, security or maintenance may be associated with the Google Account you use for Fiber, but such information associated with the Google Account you use for Fiber will not be used by other Google properties without your consent. Other information from the use of Google Fiber Internet (such as URLs of websites visited or content of communications) will not be associated with the Google Account you use for Fiber, except with your consent or to meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request."

huntermeyer 12y ago

As someone living in Atlanta I can't friggin wait for my break-up call with Comcast. Soon!

Avenger42 12y ago

I wonder if, for customers who sign up for the basic (free after install fee) package, Google will ramp up their speed if the FCC announces that "broadband" is officially 25/3. That'd be a nice bonus.

mattbgates 12y ago

No Albuquerque?

taivare 12y ago

I believe Cleveland will still have the fastest 100gig fiber.http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2014/11/cleveland_prepares_to_light_up.html http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2014/11/clevelan...

ubertaco 12y ago

Sadly, though, the Atlanta rollout only goes as far north as Sandy Springs and Smyrna. No love for those of us up here in Cherokee county. Hopefully it'll at least scare Comcast and AT&T into stepping up their game. I'd be really thrilled if it straight-up killed Windstream.

rjbwork 12y ago
But also no love for places near Atlanta like Decatur, Avondale Estates, College Park. They're just gonna go for the core + rich northern suburbs. It's a business decision and I get it, but hopefully they'll expand out to those areas soon. To many of those communities in the southern unincorporated areas of fulton/dekalb and southern near-suburbs, free "high speed" internet will be a HUGE boon to the younger generations.

jksmith 12y ago

Whatever Google's motive, this does help the internet to fully self-realize: every endpoint should be able to both consume and provide services. I don't care if it's a phone or a tablet, or a smart toaster.

Zigurd 12y ago

Apple earnings, @ $18 billion, are a smidge higher than Sprint's market cap. T-Mobile US has at various times been for sale. It makes you wonder if the major Web ecosystem players won't just start buying SPs so they can break out of bandwidth scarcity as a business model.

walterbell 12y ago
Also LEO and MEO satellite internet, balloons, drones.

knodi123 12y ago

I live in Austin. Can't wait until they make it available to me. Some day. Years from, probably.

morganvachon 12y ago

Only the wealthiest of the Atlanta suburbs, it seems. What good is "affordable" true broadband that challenges the cable and DSL companies if it never makes it to those who could most use the savings?

deskamess 12y ago
Which suburbs are they? I tried 30004 - part of Alpharetta and had no luck.
- morganvachon 12y ago
  I'm going by the map graphic they have here[1] showing certain suburbs highlighted. Granted, College Park and Hapeville aren't necessarily wealthy areas but they are near the airport so that makes sense. I was thinking more of Sandy Springs and Avondale Estates, and to a lesser extent Decatur. Of course, that graphic could have zero to do with their plans and I'm going on about nothing. I do wish you could check by ZIP code alone instead of needing a street address as well. It would be nice to know just how close the service is to me geographically. [1] https://fiber.google.com/cities/atlanta/home/ https://fiber.google.com/cities/atlanta/home/

technofiend 12y ago

Although I'd love to see them come to Houston, we're 640 square miles, so it's not really possible to do a "city" rollout. If Google ever rolls out fiber by Zip Code, that'll be for us. I would love to see these guys bring us their MVNO Sprint product and/or build a technology park fed by Google Fiber instead, either of which would still have the desired effect of lowering consumer bandwidth costs.

aceperry 12y ago

I wish Google Fiber would come to SF. I understand they're doing something like that in the southbay though.

therealmaxwell 12y ago

I'm looking for an apartment now!

re_todd 12y ago

I'm perfectly happy with 15mbps. I'd rather see prices go down than speeds go up.

dmritard96 12y ago

Could be really good for getting some tech love in the southeast.