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Google Communications Technology

Google Seeks To Plant Antenna Farm In Iowa 98

1sockchuck writes "Google is seeking permission to place satellite antennas on land near its data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The 4.5 meter antennas could be used to receive content feeds from broadcast networks that could be bundled with a high-speed fiber service. The FCC filings were made by Google Fiber, which is currently laying fiber for a high-speed network in Kansas City that will provide Internet connectivity 'at speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have today.'"
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Google Seeks To Plant Antenna Farm In Iowa

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  • Redundant? (Score:4, Funny)

    by SJHillman ( 1966756 ) on Monday February 20, 2012 @12:05PM (#39100571)

    "Google is seeking permission to place satellite antennas on land"

    Not to be confused with the antennas they plan to put on water, trees and birds.

    • I know this has been rated Troll by the slashdot gods, but I just have to say how COOL bird-based satellite antennas would be. All that needs to be done is to figure out the mini-motor system to keep them pointed in the right direction.

      • I know this has been rated Troll by the slashdot gods, but I just have to say how COOL bird-based satellite antennas would be. All that needs to be done is to figure out the mini-motor system to keep them pointed in the right direction.

        This would certainly give RFC 2549 [ietf.org] a boost.

        Pigeon net - could work well in crowded city environments.

    • Well, the headline also suggests silver waves of growing antennas across the prairie, until somebody comes by with a combine harvester.

    • their original request to put satellite antennas on people was rejected...

      • their original request to put satellite antennas on people was rejected...

        I guess too many were traumatised [southparkstudios.com] by Cartman's satellite dish to ever make this viable option.

  • All they will use that bandwidth for is farm porn and wrestling.

  • Internationally (Score:4, Interesting)

    by hey ( 83763 ) on Monday February 20, 2012 @12:51PM (#39101063) Journal

    It would be cool if Google had farms like this all over the world. Then they could stream the content on YouTube. We could watch euro soccer matches for example.
    Or unfiltered news from the middle east, etc.

  • Will these Antennae be grown organically and do they produce waste that could be used for bio-fuel?
    • Will these Antennae be grown organically and do they produce waste that could be used for bio-fuel?

      They may be organic, but I find the conditions unacceptable since they're not free-range.

  • by Seor Jojoba ( 519752 ) on Monday February 20, 2012 @01:07PM (#39101245) Homepage
    This approach illustrates how a company can provide content over favorable bandwitdth/networking conditions without running afoul of typical network neutrality rules. Not saying it is good or bad yet--just noting that building special pipes/signalling systems for certain content seems to be a loophole.
    • Possibly I'm just being naive, but to me that seems like it's still a good thing. If a company is willing to shell out the money to improve the network then it seems fair that their stuff will get a boost. It's only when the ISPs are deliberately slowing down their competitors, or the people who haven't paid the right kickbacks that net neutrality starts to become more important.

      • Yeah, like you, I'm reluctant to say it's a bad thing Google is doing, and its definitely not so onerous as intentionally slowing down other content delivery. But I can imagine a future where the infrastructure spending is poured into special pipes to content partners while general connectivity to everything else is neglected. In that case, Google (or others) hasn't done anything to hamper the general Internet, but as investment in maintaining it goes down, it becomes slower and more unreliable.
        • Ok, I hadn't thought of that. One day you'll only be able to get to Google if you're on the Google network. It's a bit of a hard case, as the entrenched ISPs don't seem too interested in upgrading their networks, but we want them to stay open...

  • I actually misread that as "Google Seeks To Patent Antenna Farm In Iowa"
  • "Google Seeks To Plant Antenna Farm In Iowa"

    I wonder what kind of fertilizer they plan to use?

    • by 4phun ( 822581 )

      "Google Seeks To Plant Antenna Farm In Iowa"

      I wonder what kind of fertilizer they plan to use?

      Shame Dung.

  • Google by building a farm in tornado central and hiring engineers their is showing either ignorance of modern cable super head ends to take content feeds from the content providers.

    Google does not need to build this next to the data center for distribution of live stream content. It can be rented in very fast order from L3 with multiple farms or be put on multiple network carriers with what is now a low end DIA at 100mbit/sec.
    Super head ends are all satellite Feed de-encryption and IPv4 multicast c
    • by cdrudge ( 68377 )

      Call me crazy, but I have a feeling that Google might have researched this a bit. Verizon didn't seem to have too much of a problem with having a SHE in Normal, IL which is part of the tornado alley.

      I also have a feeling that Google wanted something that didn't rely on anyone else to provide them with their video feed. While it potentially could be cost effective, there is also a non-zero chance of transmission disputes, contract negotiation outages, etc. Having your own infrastructure start to finish el

    • Google doesn't do things the cheapest way because they're thinking long-term. They want to have everything in house. They may (accidentally, I'm sure) destroy some of the companies you mentioned, so Google doesn't want to be their customer when that day comes. Google also thinks (rightly or wrongly) that at scale they can always design something cheaper than anyone else.

    • Google by building a farm in tornado central and hiring engineers their is showing either ignorance of modern cable super head ends to take content feeds from the content providers.

      I grew up in Omaha, right across the river from Council Bluffs, IA. Other than a small tornado hitting randomly to the west of Omaha, there isn't much risk to putting the antenna farms right next to their facilities. Tornadoes aren't really that much to be worried about, compared to hurricanes and earthquakes. As long as these things are sufficiently anchored down (and assuming the data center is similarly protected) there isn't much risk to them being damaged. The overall environment, however (assu

  • Bring some of that 100 x's speed to Seaside Park in Bridgeport

  • Run, they're taking over our minds now!
  • I'm sure if Google builds it, "they" will com.

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