

Google does not acquire wireless Internet network provider ICOA - derpenxyne
http://thenextweb.com/google/2012/11/26/google-acquires-wireless-internet-network-provider-icoa-for-400-million/

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mikeryan
More recent updates have Google claiming this hasn't happened

[http://allthingsd.com/20121126/google-sources-say-company-
di...](http://allthingsd.com/20121126/google-sources-say-company-didnt-buy-
icoa-wireless/)

(well played mods on the updated title ;-)

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asmithmd1
It looks like your standard penny stock "pump and dump" except this is not a
penny stock since it was trading at .0001 - 1/100 of a cent - this morning

<http://www.google.com/finance?cid=9420828>

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NelsonMinar
According to that chart it traded as high as .0004 today; so TechCrunch and
Hacker News helped contribute to a 400% profit for some pump-n-dump scam.
Volume peaked at about 500M shares, maybe 800M total, or about $320,000
transacted.

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untog
Could Google be attempting to do what Republic Wireless[1] are doing? I always
loved the idea of Republic, but they only ever had one (crappy) handset
available, and I'm on a $30 a month plan with T-Mobile that largely fills my
needs.

But it seems like an area that's ripe for a larger player to come in and do it
better- I very much hope that Google intends to be that player. They've been
frustrated by the existing players in wireless enough times (Google Voice,
Verizon's treatment of the Galaxy Nexus)...

[1] <http://www.republicwireless.com/>

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josh2600
For lack of a better answer: probably not.

Republic is a subsidiary of Bandwidth.com which is where Google Voice gets
their minutes from (along with Skype and most of the rest of the SIP world).
There are a number of problems with Republic's plan, but the primary one is
one that Google should have a much easier time solving.

When Republic was launching, the critical necessity for their launch was the
receipt of their Cyanogen modded handsets. These devices are different in a
couple ways:

1) They will always auto-hop onto WiFi 2) They will always try to route via
SIP first

The practical problem is that SIP over GSM/3G is not very good sounding even
when you use G.729 (when you're coming over the top). Google has a chance to
beat this part as they can make a much tighter integration (one wonders what
could be tighter than the built-in SIP stack, but I digress).

COULD google come in and have a grand time in the wireless market? Yes. Will
they risk alienating their carrier partners (their top distribution channel)?
Probably not.

To my mind, this is just another Google infrastructure play that makes sense
for a whole variety of reasons, but I don't think it will serve as the basis
for GoogleMobile. For one thing, this wifi network simply isn't large enough
to support a carrier, imho.

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PaulHoule
Wi-Fi based infrastructure is (1) dirt cheap, and (2) offers order-of-
magnitude better performance than 3G/4G so this is definitely a place where
it's cost effective to provide a better services than other providers and thus
promote their brand image.

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w1ntermute
What's the reason for using 3G/4G then? What are the downsides of Wi-Fi in
comparison?

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Adirael
From my experience, to get the best performance on WiFi you need direct
visibility of the point you're trying to reach. The signal weakens very fast
and can't get very far if there are walls, buildings or other obstacles
between points.

3G/4G/HDSPA/WHATEVER can penetrate easier and use less towers to transmit.

Disclosure: I have no idea of what I'm talking about.

~~~
HarshaThota
Does anyone know how using empty/unused TV spectrum plays into this? Seems
like you would have far better success since they would be able to penetrate
walls and other obstacles better than regular Wi-Fi signals can.

I know there was some research being done at Microsoft at using this as sort
of a long-range wi-fi network but short of an installation at their corporate
campus, I haven't heard any news about it lately.

1: <http://whitespaces.msresearch.us/> 2: <http://research.microsoft.com/en-
us/projects/knows/>

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moistgorilla
Makes sense. It's sad how we need an advertising company to revolutionize the
isp industry. They are perfectly content to sit on their laurels and do
nothing but receive their profits with the minimum amount of work.

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swalsh
I remember reading a while ago that Google was working on something that was
"like wifi, but better". I wonder if this is related?

