
Google Fiber reduces staff by 50% - rakibtg
http://www.multichannel.com/news/distribution/alphabet-cut-google-fiber-staff-half-report/407280
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fowl2
Linked FTA: "However, a source with direct knowledge of the situation has now
responded to Light Reading about the report by saying these _claims of drastic
job cuts at Google Fiber are false._ " (emphasis mine)

[http://www.lightreading.com/gigabit/gigabit-cities/google-
fi...](http://www.lightreading.com/gigabit/gigabit-cities/google-fiber-
downsizing-not-confirmed/d/d-id/725673)

~~~
danso
That's interesting. I give The Information the benefit of the doubt because of
its established cred. But Light Reading, which I haven't read before, seems to
at least be the kind of industry trade pub that would have useful contacts.
The lack of non-official response seems strange, as according to the original
report, this alleged action was initiated one month ago:

> _But that’s only part of the story. Last month, Alphabet CEO Larry Page
> ordered Google Fiber’s chief, Craig Barratt, to halve the size of the Google
> Fiber team to 500 people, said the second person close to Alphabet. (The
> Google Fiber unit is now known as Access.)_

~~~
brandmeyer
Both accounts of the situation could be correct. The executive staff could be
working on a layoff that will happen in the near future.

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jrockway
I like the title on the original article, "Alphabet to Cut Google Fiber Staff
In Half". Makes me wonder if I get to keep one arm and one leg, or if I will
have to learn to walk on my hands instead.

~~~
dozzie
Not really. They'll keep your front half.

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Animats
Well, that's disappointing. Maybe if they'd done more installs and less PR...

Webpass is only for multi-unit buildings with rooftop line of sight to a
Webpass node. They put a directional antenna on the roof. Webpass needs a
30-unit building built after 1995 before they will pay for the install,
although they'll do a 10-unit building if paid. But if you're in a large
multi-unit building in a big city, there's probably already some kind of
network connection. (Probably Comcast, though.)

Maybe Sonic can buy up the remnants of Google's fiber operation. Sonic is
plugging away in SF, wiring the Richmond and Sunset districts with gigabit
fiber. Next, the Castro.

~~~
dylz
There is also proper fiber, not just the LOS wireless. They use both depending
on building/area.

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freestockoption
I live in a newish area. New enough that the house has fiber instead of
copper. However, it wasn't until recently that AT&T started offering 1gbps
service at $70/mo.

Prior to that, AT&T offered 6mbps service implemented using DSL over fiber
complete with a DSL modem. So I was stuck with Comcast.

I like to think Google Fiber saying they were coming helped push AT&T into
doing something with the fiber. For that, I've benefited from Google Fiber.

To AT&T: WTF? You had nice fiber in the area for years and the best you could
do was emulate POTS?! Better late than never I guess.

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bsimpson
Can we please have a less definitive title? This is rumor/clickbait
masquerading as established fact.

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Agustus
What did Google miss in attempting to drive the Fiber program.

Reading some of the executives from other companies, they were surprised by
their price points after installation. Frontier / Verizon FiOS had just gone
through a country wide installation, was there no one to poach for knowledge?

Or was it another play by Google to get some sort of bureaucratic favor or
other item.

~~~
ocdtrekkie
Bureaucratic favor was basically the whole plan, if you look at their spats
with AT&T and their lobbying with various local governments. In Austin, for
example, they wanted access to AT&T poles at rates only available to telecoms,
but they didn't want to have to register as a telecom, which would subject
them to additional regulation. (Regulations that their competitors like AT&T
and Comcast have to follow.)

[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/12/why-att-says-
it-c...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/12/why-att-says-it-can-deny-
google-fiber-access-to-its-poles-in-austin/)

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ktta
I think it's because it acquired webpass and has more people than it needs.

But I am very surprised about less than expected subscriber growth. But what
do they expect when they're only in small cities and are unable to get into
big cities, where the potential for growth is much higher?

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kayoone
I wonder if there really is a big appeal for 1Gbps fiber for most people right
now. I want fiber badly but i know that many more reasonable perople are
perfectly fine with their 50-200Mbps cable/DSL connections and see no reason
to upgrade. Also when it comes to getting Fiber to the building and
distributing costs, almost nobody is willing to pay that until they absolutely
have to.

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karma_vaccum123
So weird how they announced a big build out in San Jose and then backed out
very soon after.

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JumpCrisscross
So...we've trusted Google with robotics, fibre and RSS. There, they failed.
Sometimes understandably, sometimes less so.

We continue to trust them with the monetisation of content, _i.e._
advertising, email and search.

Is this fine? If society's necessities fall in the shade of the government's
"immortality umbrella," are we okay with email sitting alongside paint
manufacturing? Or is the real problem that ISPs don't fail often enough?

~~~
lsc
Now, as for email? Yes, email is important, but the root of control in email
is DNS; the whole system is setup so that it's cheap and easy to own a second-
level domain. Do that. If you own your own second level domain and you host it
with google, it's easy enough to move it elsewhere if google shuts down their
email. If you host your email on a second level domain you don't control? you
are at the mercy of the owner of that domain, be that owner profit-seeking or
not.

Personally, I think the domain system is actually pretty good right now. If
you want a domain more officially controled by the government, you can get a
.us second-level domain, if you are from the same country as I am, for rather
less than a dollar a month.

That, and read up on the registrar/registry setup. Your email, at least the
parts of your email I couldn't re-create over the course of a lazy afternoon
with some open-source software, really does have some heavy government
involvement.

