Somebody's gotta have the inside scoop on Google Fiber launching tomorrow..??

[DRU]

https://fiber.google.com/savethedate/

Live broadcast over YouTube tomorrow. Anybody have any early news on this? Will it be available all over the Metro? How long will the waiting list be?

Anybody know anything? I'm impatient.

[morphius]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Gigabit internet service is just silly.

I think the word you are looking for is awesome!

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by morphius

I think the word you are looking for is awesome!

No, it's definitely silly.

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

No, it's definitely silly.

Why?

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Bo's Pelini

Why?

What are you going to do with that much bandwidth? The average home user can't adequately use 100Mb, let alone 1000.

It's a cyber dick measuring contest and that's about it.

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

What are you going to do with that much bandwidth? The average home user can't adequately use 100Mb, let alone 1000.

It's a cyber dick measuring contest and that's about it.

I ran through 20mb easily. I used Google fiber downloaded 10 cds in 10 mins.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Bo's Pelini

I ran through 20mb easily. I used Google fiber downloaded 10 cds in 10 mins.

All you've done is moved your bottleneck somewhere else.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Gigabit internet service is just silly.

It's pretty useful if you're slinging huge HD video files.

[Hammock Parties]

Still waiting on my install. Grumble.

[Redcoats58]

I'm in kcmo but right up the street from metro North mall, I wish they would hurry up and get Google fiber here.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

What are you going to do with that much bandwidth? The average home user can't adequately use 100Mb, let alone 1000.

It's a cyber dick measuring contest and that's about it.

I've had it for about 6 months now.

Things I am able to do:

- Stream wireless video content to multiple devices (TV, computer, tablet, phone) at the same time
- Watch said video with no lag or freezing
- Get crystal clear, sharp TV
- Get reliable, modern service (Time Warner cable's tech in Brookside is awful and was constantly failing)
- Run my work-from-home office with much less of a bottleneck than I previously did. A lot is made of the 1 gig download speed, but the 300 megabit upload speed is a godsend to ANYONE who has to connect remotely to a network through VPN (since your D/L through VPN is limited to your upload speed). I throw around huge files (PowerPoint, Word, image) all day. This makes a big difference.
- Run online multiplayer games with no lag on my end

Had my first service call yesterday... mouse chewed on some of the fiber cable outside the house and flattened it/interrupted the signal.

Kid was professional and awesome. They also have a "minimal permanent install" policy which I find nice. They try to avoid drilling holes in your home as much as possible, which is pretty sweet.

[Fish]

LOL... Kansas, or should I say the rich campaign contributors of Kansas law makers, are so butthurt about free Google Fiber, that they're trying to pass legislation to prevent Google Fiber from being implemented in any other Kansas town.

Kansas Legislature Wants To Stop Any Other Kansas Cities From Getting Google Fiber

The Kansas state legislature is currently considering a bill that would prohibit municipalities in that state from building out their own municipal broadband networks. Completely coincidentally of course we’re sure, Kansas City is home to the country’s first Google Fiber municipal network.
The bill, called the “municipal communications network and private telecommunications investment safeguards act,” has as its stated goals to:

• Ensure that video, telecommunications and broadband services are provided through fair competition … in order to provide the widest possible diversity of sources of information, news and entertainment to the general public
• Encourage the development and widespread use of technological advances in providing video, telecommunications and broadband services at competitive rates
• Ensure that video, telecommunications and broadband services are each provided within a consistent, comprehensive and nondiscriminatory federal, state and local government framework

To that supposed end of increased competition and innovation in the broadband marketplace, the bill (PDF) specifies:

Except with regard to unserved areas, a municipality may not, directly or indirectly:

(1) Offer to provide to one or more subscribers, video, telecommunications or broadband service; or
(2) purchase, lease, construct, maintain or operate any facility for the purpose of enabling a private business or entity to offer, provide, carry, or deliver video, telecommunications or broadband service to one or more subscribers.

The exemption for “unserved areas” isn’t much of an exemption. Rather than being for underserved areas, where competition and increased speeds would still be very welcomed, the exemption for unserved areas has a very specific and limited definition. An unserved area is “one or more contiguous census blocks within the legal boundaries of a municipality” where 9 out of 10 households don’t have access to fixed broadband, mobile broadband, or satellite broadband at the “minimum transmission speed” defined by the FCC–currently a download speed of 3 Mbps.

The proposed law would not apply retroactively to existing networks, meaning that Kansas City would be allowed to keep its Google Fiber, but that no other city in the state would be able to make the same leap.

Kansas City laid out significant incentives for Google to come hook up their city to a speedy, reliable network. Existing broadband providers like Time Warner Cable did not particularly appreciate Google’s receiving those incentives. Cable companies in general are not exactly fans of municipal networks. And yet the added competition among broadband carriers, or even the specter of it, works out well for consumers.

A law that claims to protect competition by prohibiting competitors from entering the field? That’s an interesting trick. In its very limited expansion so far, municipal fiber doesn’t seem to end competition as much as it seems to increase it.

Other states have attempted similar legislation in recent years; a bill barring municipal broadband in Georgia failed to pass in 2013.

[jiveturkey]

I saw that yesterday and I think that they have it wrong. The bill looks like it will prevent cities from building out their own networks but will still allow private businesses.

Either way it does seem kind of dumb. Why would the state care if Wichita wants to provide fiber to everyone?

[xbarretx]

Originally Posted by jiveturkey

I saw that yesterday and I think that they have it wrong. The bill looks like it will prevent cities from building out their own networks but will still allow private businesses.

Either way it does seem kind of dumb. Why would the state care if Wichita wants to provide fiber to everyone?

because competition is bad for the only hog in town.

[kepp]

Congressional lobbying should be done away with.

[xbarretx]

Originally Posted by kepp

Congressional lobbying should be done away with.

but then these guys would have less money......

the Committee on Commerce (the ones who introduced the bill): campaign donations from 2012


•Sen. Julia Lynn (R), Chairperson: AT&T ($1,750), Comcast ($1,500), CenturyLink ($1,000);
•Sen. Susan Wagle (R), Vice-Chair: Cox Communications ($1,750), AT&T ($1,500), Kansas Cable Telecommunication Association ($1,250), Comcast ($1,000), CenturyLink ($1,000);
•Sen. Tom Holland (D), Ranking Member: AT&T ($1,000);
•Sen. Pat Apple (R): AT&T ($1,000), Comcast ($1,000), Kansas Cable Telecommunication Association ($250), Time Warner Cable ($250), Verizon ($250), CenturyLink ($250);
•Sen. Jim Denning (R): CenturyLink ($250);
•Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau (D): AT&T ($1,000), Cox Communications ($1000), Kansas Cable Telecommunication Association ($250);
•Sen. Jeff Longbine (R): AT&T ($2,000), CenturyLink ($1,750), Cox Communications ($500);
•Sen. Jeff Melcher (R): CenturyLink ($1,000);
•Sen. Robert Olson (R): AT&T ($1,750), Comcast ($1,500), CenturyLink ($1,250), Cox Communications ($750);
•Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook (R): Comcast ($1,000).