Google Invite Hints Fiber Project Expanding To Austin 72
New submitter paulbsch writes "With its technology-centric culture, the Silicon Hills of Austin, TX could have been the perfect city for the first iteration of Google Fiber. Austinites will just have to settle with being only the second city to get the ultra high speed service." Right now, this is well-founded supposition, rather than confirmed fact, based on an invitation from Google to a joint event this Tuesday which promises an announcement which will "have a positive impact on Austinites and the future of the city." Another possibility, as PC Magazine points out, is that Google will announce a new Austin office.
Headkine (Score:3)
So Google are inviting hints now?
Or is it a hints fiber project?
Can we have headlines we can understand please
Suspicion (Score:2)
I like the places with cover charges... (Score:3)
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$70/mo for TV ... (Score:2, Interesting)
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You can get comparable prices in the US for similar service (except we can't seem to break 25megs down.) They are just not advertised and you need to specifically ask and work with a customer service person to get your bill down that low. The problem in the US is the public, not the businesses. Most people are content to pay the huge prices to the telecom companies because they generally do not know any better or different. Many people in the US also have been duped into think they "need" more than 30 T
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actually, the biggest problem in the US is utility monopolies.
I disagree. The problem with utilities is poor regulation. But biggest problem is most people not knowing what the real problems are (so the politicians will never get pressured to fix them- and instead give the voters what the voters believe is more important).
It'll just be more expensive to have 4 different water service providers pulling their own pipes to the same area. There are some things that conventional capitalism and free markets don't do better. You don't really need that much innovation to prov
Sports costs are the big driver of prices also big (Score:2)
Sports costs are the big driver of prices also big packs of channels as well where you have to have shit like MTV to get comedy central.
Google fiber does not even have HBO or MAX.
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Google fiber does not even have HBO or MAX.
This is SO FUCKING PERFECT!!!
--Richard
(a non-HBO/non-MAX-watching geek in Austin)
Re:$70/mo for TV ... (Score:4, Insightful)
So you are saying that:
* cheap plans exist
* companies hide the existence of these plans
* people don't know about these plans and have no way to find out about these plans, and for some reason don't ask for these plans
And from this you decide that the people are the problem, not the companies? Sure, that makes perfect sense. In related news, it's my younger brother's fault that he keeps hitting himself.
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Yes, you are responsible for doing the research on what you buy. If you do not like that, move back in with mom and dad.
tl/dr; version
The company behavior is ultimately driven by the people. If the company can make more profit selling $300 plans with more than people need vs. a simple $40 plan with just what you need they generally will and must. The fact that they just hide these plans (legally) is immaterial as they are not hard to find (I asked how to get barebone service and they told me.) You are
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Who has allowed companies to behave this way? Voters, yes, but even more so, buyers.
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Where are you getting TV for $70/mo in the US? (Score:3)
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you guys get ripped off in the states. even the 300USD fee or "free" internet is kinda pricey. in frankfurt, i pay €30/mo for 50/1 service and 30 720p channels. the 50/1 service is only €19/mo with telephone for free. those prices also contain the 20% sales tax.
The 50mbps down sounds interesting, but 1mbps up is total crap for such a large downlink.
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Smack the Incumbents! (Score:5, Interesting)
After years enduring the tender mercies of AT&T and Time Warner Cable, broadband consumers in Austin are feeling reamed. I expect competition will result in improved offerings and lower prices from the existing duopoly, as it has wherever municipal or other alternatives are available.
I recently investigated upgrading my speed and just getting basic pricing information is difficult (AT&T) to impossible (Time Warner). So how much will it cost after the promotional period? "We can't tell you that, sir." Are you fucking kidding me?
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Time Warner has been in "whatever the market will bear" mode on pricing. You MUST call in and threaten to switch in order to get a better rate, or else they just keep raising prices. It will take anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours of waiting on hold, but it can be done.
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Exactly.
Our neighborhood terminated a negotiated deal with TWC last year, and people calling TWC for a quote received different offers. I head two different prices for the same package on subsequent calls.
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It is good to point out the Austin has Grande Communications, which actually has pretty good service for the price. The problem is they have limited coverage.
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It is good to point out the Austin has Grande Communications, which actually has pretty good service for the price. The problem is they have limited coverage.
Grande coverage is so limited that no one I know has it -- not a single person. Maybe someone in Round Rock gets Grande but I know only a couple people out there and they use TW.
No, effectively Austin has just two large ISPs providing service and controlling the market: TimeWarner and ATT. They both pretty much suck.
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Until google fiber hits my area of the Kansas city metro area (this includes the suburb city's like Lenexa, overland park, and Olathe). It's either at&t(which i have) or Comcast(which i dropped because they kept dropping my connection every 5 minutes between 6am and 11pm.) I am in the same boat. But it could be worse. There are area's of the country where your choice is one of the following. at&t, comcast, twc, or verizon dsl.
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My neighborhood HOA in Round Rock has the TWC signs out in the front and still keeps saying (not in any place that is written down) that it's illegal to have satellite dishes on your roof, Of course I do, and I dare them to make me take it down.
None the less, there is no way to get good internet. It's suck with AT&T or suck with TWC. Hoping that Google fiber in "Austin" includes Round Rock somehow.
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If they are telling you that you cannot have a satellite dish they are lying...
http://www.fcc.gov/guides/over-air-reception-devices-rule [fcc.gov]
As long as your dish is less than 39.37" in diameter you are good to go, even if you are a renter they can't stop you if you have a porch/deck to put it on.
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I know it, they know it. But they can SAY anything they like, and bully people, provided they are careful with how they do it.
Will they have CSN Houston? that few systems have? (Score:2)
Will they have CSN Houston? that few systems have? due to the Astros playing hardball over pre sub pricing.
Re:Poor city choice - I couldn't agree more (Score:2)
If Kim Jong Un doesn't like their music, I can't imagine he would spare it because of its internet service.
Given Kim's itchy trigger finger, Google really needs to reconsider. Instead of Austin, they should have their second high speed internet effort here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast as the effect would be revolutionary and bring us from the stone age into the 21st century. Just think what bring Mississippi out of the stone age could do. They could rightfully and proudly boast, "If we can bring Mississ
Did TWC see this coming? (Score:2)
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You should have seen Charter drop prices from $75/m to $30/m within 3 days of another ISP announcing fiber. Too bad the naked 30Mb was only for new customers and for me to get the deal, I would have to bundle in a ton of extra channels and phone and a 2 year contract with a $300 cancellation fee.
Wonderful story, and EXACTLY why I avoid long-term contracts with all of the energy that I can muster. Long-term contracts are great for service providers but very bad for customers, regardless of the "discounts" that they are promising you get. Once you are in a contract, you are their bitch.
I want my service providers (not just ISPs but providers of all stripes) to wake up every morning, wondering what they will to do to keep my business -- I want to be a new, potential customer every day.
--Richard
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With 30/5 service available, I'm not sure why Google is even bothering. Around here the best we can get is 7m/896k service and I'd gladly pay for something faster but that's the best that Centurylink can do. And that's just under double what was available 13 years ago when I got my first broadband service.
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I think it's 50/5. I'm on the 30/5 and I can't WAIT to get 1Gbit both ways!
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Businesses will be happy (Score:2)
While some are rightly pointing out that residential service in Austin is actually pretty quick by US standards (max speeds of 50/5 for ~$115 per month) the real benefactors of this will be business clients. Time Warner Cable charges out the nose and any other orifice they can find if you are not at a residential address. 7/0.768 is priced at $100 per month with a dynamic IP with a 1 year contract!
Also many are accusing Time Warner of not playing nice when it comes to peering and network neutrality, so th
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the real benefactors of this will be business clients. Time Warner Cable charges out the nose and any other orifice they can find if you are not at a residential address ... Also many are accusing Time Warner of not playing nice when it comes to peering and network neutrality
Note well that GoogleFiber also is well entrenched into the EVIL "business class" service tactics. Never mind that users at home VPN-ing into work, or trading their visual attention (aimed at google ads) for advanced computing services (gmail, ghangouts, et al) are clearly engaged in "business". I tend to believe that Google Fiber's current published FAQ that has business clients "contact us for details", instead of transparently publishing consistent data rates and prices, is in clear violation of the tr
keeping tabs on fiber (Score:2)
I have gone from Texas.net dial up, to Grande Enterprise class fiber, and been an early adopter the entire way. I certainly hope to get this for my business on Guadalupe, or my home in Allandale near 2222 and Shoal Creek. My sister can get Grande South of 2222 a 5 minute slow walk from my house. 7 years later they have not jumped 2222. South of 2222 you can get it Central, and I currently have Grande at my business Game Republik at 40th and Guadalupe in Hyde Park. I can also get Uverse there, but not at
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My sister can get Grande South of 2222 a 5 minute slow walk from my house. 7 years later they have not jumped 2222
Cause its part of the franchise agreements with the city. There isn't a single place in town where you can choose between TW or Grande, its one or the other. Basically, TW is in all the locations that were considered desirable and high penetration 25 years ago. Grande has the scraps TW didn't want.
WTF? (Score:2)
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We have a ton of dark fiber in Austin, and people who can actually use it.
MAE-Central2? (Score:2)
I wonder how this will eventually change the topology of the net. Is Google implementing a new Tier-1 network down the center of the US?
Pure speculation, as I have zero idea what their backend in these cities look like. But I'm hoping by tossing it out, I'll have either confirmation or a fast assessment that it isn't likely.
Google has lots of dark fiber (Score:3)
They started buying it up in 2005 or before, when all the long distance telecoms were going belly up and they could get it for pennies on the dollar of the installation cost. They have also been buying Peering points [time.com]. This is not just in the US, but globally. In 2010 they were rumored to have more network than all but two global ISPs [theregister.co.uk], and there is reason to believe that estimate was way low.
The point of these purchases was to get out ahead of a deep pocket competitor (guess who) who might try and lock t
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Now that this is a fairly old Slashdot post, I'll toss in a quick thank you for the information.
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Its not that Austin is particularly cool, its just that Texas really SUCKS. So, its sort of a reality distortion field. Not helped at all, that Austin is busy trying to be the next Houston.
Gob snots of people moving here for the last 25+ years, and zero dollars being spent on anything outside of corporate incentives. So, the roads/flights/public transportation sucks, the parks are small and crowded, there aren't any museums, or sports teams. And for a city that calls itself the live music capital its basica
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I agree. I've been to Austin and that was my general impression as well. I guess I didn't find the right kool-aid.
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Wow, you guys have serious envy there don't you? And bored, maybe you should do some research the next time you post. You are clueless.