Google Fiber Is Officially Making Its Way To Portland 153
An anonymous reader writes This week the Portland City Council has approved a franchise agreement with Google to bring its fiber service to Portland. "As a result of the unanimous vote, Google will be subject to a five percent 'franchise fee' on its video revenues. It won't have to pay a three percent 'PEG' fee that Portland otherwise charges rival Comcast, but it will offer free Internet service for Portland residents for a $300, one-time fee. It'll also provide free Internet service to some to-be-determined nonprofits, in addition to providing a total of three free Wi-Fi networks in various parts of the city."
Re:Is it is? (Score:2, Insightful)
pretty sure samzenpus and timothy are functionally illiterate, maybe generally mentally handicapped.
Re:Government shakedown (Score:5, Insightful)
As someone who manages a PEG channel -- I agree, the fees can be excessive, and they're just passed right through to the consumer, so it's effectively just a tax on those who buy fixed line video services.
However, they should be equal across all providers, so to not hit them all with it equally means that you're favoring one over another, and as these agreements typically span 10-15 years, odds are there's one out there that has it.
As for the free service -- our town doesn't force them to connect up any non-profits, only government buildings. It's possible that other towns do that, but again, this would just mean that you're favoring a given group over another. I'd much prefer to see free (even if low speed) wifi covering our downtown area than picking and choosing which non-profits get special access.
Re:Is it is? (Score:2, Insightful)
Am I the only one who thought this might be an announcement about Portland, ME? Or any one of the 25 places called Portland in the US alone? I guess they must have already fixed the headline, they've started fixing these things as they get reported (apparently they actually do care about looking like buffoons).
Re:$300 = free? (Score:4, Insightful)
It is a falsehood to separate the costs when you have no option then their equipment to get the service. They in inextricably linked. So no, not free.
It's a great price for the service, I can't wait for it to get done, and I think it's long over due for this level of competition.
But you statement is a falsehood based on years of market conditioning.
Re:Government shakedown (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm sorry, what are you outraged about? No one is giving free service to "city government officials' friends". And having my local city council approve a city wide rollout of a new service is kinda what a city council is FOR. When something affects an entire city, yeah, I want it to go through the city council.
As for the fees, I've started a small business. There were fees. I registered, did some paperwork, what about it? There SHOULD be a registry of businesses, with paperwork on who started them. That's a value to me, and to the city. The fees were negligable. I live in Portland. If you can't afford the tiny little paperwrork fees, your business sucks.
You sound like someone who hates government, just because. I quite like that there's someone out there with an actual strategic plan, managing services and paying attention. There's incredible valued added in that. My business is quite helped by decent roads, electrical lines(I wouldn't be able to operate my machines with spotty service), etc etc etc. It's been my experience that people that are pissed at government just take for granted all that they GET from having a stable system in place to run our society. That it IS taken for granted is, to me, a sign of it's success.