Google Fiber, which offers affordable 1 gigabit-per-second Internet service in Kansas City and will soon expand to other cities, has turned a lot of heads since the service was announced. Priced at US$ 120 a month for Internet service and TV, and US$ 70 for Internet service alone, Google Fiber has been championed as a service that will bring U.S. Internet speeds up to par with faster Internet providers around the world. But is it necessary?
That's the question David Talbot of the MIT Technology Review poses in an article entitled "Not So Fast: A Google Fiber 1-Gigabit Mystery." Talbot first points to an ISP speed index over at Netflix that shows that, while Google Fiber places first at the top of the list, the average mbps speed for the service is 3.58. According to Google spokesman Jenna Wandres, Netflix servers can only process up to 5 mpbs meaning that 5 mpbs is good enough to stream Netflix content in high-definition assuming no one else in the house is choking the service.
According to Talbot, the question remains as to whether most Internet-users even need 1 gigabit-per-second when most platforms are ill-equipped to take on such immense speeds. As far as Google's pricing options, there is also a free 5 megabit service with a one-time US$ 300 construction fee along with the aforementioned US$ 120 and US$ 70 services that might appeal to more casual users. And according to Wandres, Google won’t disclose exactly how many people in Kansas City are signing up for which service.
Google has not aggressively expanded the Google Fiber program. In 2010 the company spent US$ 1.9 billion to acquire 111 Eighth Avenue, the third largest building in New York City which sits on top of a trunk dark fiber line and was one of the country's most important carrier hotels. Despite speculation that Google Fiber was coming to the city, Google has flatly denied it was coming and allowed the dark fiber line underneath its building to be acquired by another company.
Time Magazine on 14 September 2012, said that rather than wanting to actually operate as an internet service provider, the company was just hoping to shame the major cable operators into improving their service so that Google searches could be done faster.
According to one analyst report, it is projected that the Google Fiber network could reach 8 million U.S. homes by 2022 at an estimated cost of US$ 7 billion, assuming Google would target only select neighborhoods, as it has done with its Kansas City deployment. These estimates are similar to an earlier Goldman Sachs report that projects Google could connect approximately 830,000 homes a year at the cost of US$ 1.25 billion a year, or a total of 7.5 million homes in nine years at a cost of slightly over US$ 10 billion.
Among the discoveries in the Kansas City experiment is that those in affluent neighborhoods signed up for the faster service while those in poorer neighborhoods did not sign up for Google Fiber (or any other internet provider).
That's the question David Talbot of the MIT Technology Review poses in an article entitled "Not So Fast: A Google Fiber 1-Gigabit Mystery." Talbot first points to an ISP speed index over at Netflix that shows that, while Google Fiber places first at the top of the list, the average mbps speed for the service is 3.58. According to Google spokesman Jenna Wandres, Netflix servers can only process up to 5 mpbs meaning that 5 mpbs is good enough to stream Netflix content in high-definition assuming no one else in the house is choking the service.
According to Talbot, the question remains as to whether most Internet-users even need 1 gigabit-per-second when most platforms are ill-equipped to take on such immense speeds. As far as Google's pricing options, there is also a free 5 megabit service with a one-time US$ 300 construction fee along with the aforementioned US$ 120 and US$ 70 services that might appeal to more casual users. And according to Wandres, Google won’t disclose exactly how many people in Kansas City are signing up for which service.
Google has not aggressively expanded the Google Fiber program. In 2010 the company spent US$ 1.9 billion to acquire 111 Eighth Avenue, the third largest building in New York City which sits on top of a trunk dark fiber line and was one of the country's most important carrier hotels. Despite speculation that Google Fiber was coming to the city, Google has flatly denied it was coming and allowed the dark fiber line underneath its building to be acquired by another company.
Time Magazine on 14 September 2012, said that rather than wanting to actually operate as an internet service provider, the company was just hoping to shame the major cable operators into improving their service so that Google searches could be done faster.
According to one analyst report, it is projected that the Google Fiber network could reach 8 million U.S. homes by 2022 at an estimated cost of US$ 7 billion, assuming Google would target only select neighborhoods, as it has done with its Kansas City deployment. These estimates are similar to an earlier Goldman Sachs report that projects Google could connect approximately 830,000 homes a year at the cost of US$ 1.25 billion a year, or a total of 7.5 million homes in nine years at a cost of slightly over US$ 10 billion.
Among the discoveries in the Kansas City experiment is that those in affluent neighborhoods signed up for the faster service while those in poorer neighborhoods did not sign up for Google Fiber (or any other internet provider).
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