

Whatever happened to Google Fiber for Communities? - matthewboh
http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/
Last I heard was that they were going to make an announcement this year.  Well, time is running short and I can't even find a "We'll be announcing Q1, 2011".  Anyone know what happened to it?
======
shotgun
We're all waiting for Google to make their announcement. At least everyone in
Duluth is!
[http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/11/09/goog...](http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/11/09/google-
duluth-broadband-network/)

If we don't hear by the end of the year as Google promised, the pitchforks and
torches will come out of storage.

~~~
toephu
lol

------
juiceandjuice
<http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=19013>

Stanford faculty is getting it

~~~
jedc
That's separate from the Google Fiber for Communities project. I haven't seen
any news on that since all the applications were submitted.

I'm sure the selection / due diligence / contracting process is ridiculously
complex, though! I would assume it would be a while before anything was
announced.

~~~
wmf
My impression is that the Stanford project is the first (or perhaps zeroth)
phase of the Google Fiber for Communities project. They can probably learn a
lot rolling out "minimum viable fiber" to ~100 homes before they try to do
thousands. It wouldn't seem to make sense for Google to have multiple
competing fiber projects.

------
oogali
I'm curious what name Google is operating under the California PUC (and San
Francisco PUC) with.

You can't just show up with large bundles of fiber and hang 'em from the
utility poles in jurisdictions that regulate pole attachments.

------
jsz0
Google presently has some job postings for FTTH engineering and field
operations positions. Looks to me like they're still in the early stages of
putting this project together. I put my resume in just for the hell of it
though I haven't worked with FTTH G-PON much only cable HFC & some FTTH RFoG.
Worth a shot eh?

------
slipstream
Follow-up: [http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/update-on-google-
fibe...](http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/update-on-google-fiber.html)

------
f1gm3nt
You can already get Fiber in Chattanooga, TN =)

I was surprised that we weren't on the list. Be interesting to see what the
next city to get residential fiber is.

------
chopsueyar
Come on North Dakota!

~~~
pat2man
Hah!

------
paul9290
Is verizon fios not fiber to the home?

~~~
metageek
Yeah, and it's been so unprofitable they've stopped installing it in new
towns.

~~~
Gimpson
But it seems like they're continuing the build out in areas they've started. I
see Verizon FIOS trucks rolling around LA almost every day.

~~~
metageek
That would make sense; it probably costs less to extend service around an
existing hub than to start from scratch.

------
epochwolf
Yay! Green Bay, WI is on the list.

------
phlux
About two weeks ago I was walking from my house in SF and at 20th and Douglass
(<http://goo.gl/WD2SX>) I saw 4 "HP Communications" trucks
(<http://www.hpcomminc.com/>) installing multi-strand fiber on the telco
poles.

I asked "What are you installing?"

"Fiber."

"For Google?" :)

"Yeah."

"The home project?"

"Yeah."

Check out this "Confidential" PDF:
<http://www.hpcomminc.com/pdf/Revised_Intro_Draft.pdf>

Google Cache: <http://goo.gl/FN2W4>

\---

So... it looks like the GFIOS project is moving forward.

~~~
JakeSc
If this is indeed for Google, then congratulations San Francisco!

~~~
Nrsolis
I'm not so sure how I feel about this.

On one hand, this is a direct shot across the bow of the cablecos/telcos. By
essentially taking the roadmap of bandwidth expansion via slow, rolling
upgrades over a long long period of time and going straight to the ultimate
destination, GOOG is sucking a whole lot of "value" out of the existing
infrastructure.

On the other hand, this will place enormous stress on the regional/long haul
networks which I'll be forced to upgrade yet again. Unless they can charge
more, this cant be good news for level3 or VZ or T.

I forsee an acceleration towards metered b/w in our future.

~~~
wmf
I think Google fiber can answer the question of how elastic bandwidth demand
is. If you give someone effectively unlimited bandwidth, how much will they
actually use?

~~~
Nrsolis
They? I think the better question is what kind of applications are enabled and
what that revenue model looks like. How does that revenue stream get allocated
between network and app provider?

