Google Fiber Officially Begins "Exploration" in Jacksonville

[Chris_B]

Unbelievably excited for this. So tired of Comcast prices! Fiber allows 30/mb down for FREE. That's faster internet than what I'm paying 70 for at Comcast.

[spuwho]

Unbelievably excited for this. So tired of Comcast prices! Fiber allows 30/mb down for FREE. That's faster internet than what I'm paying 70 for at Comcast.

Google Fiber is not free. I am not sure where you get that information.

Even if your bill with Google was zero, it still isnt free.

The biz case for Google Fiber is ads, and ads need to know behavior. Behavioral knowledge allows targeting.

Its the "we will give you something for less, but only if you let us know everything about you"

Some people are ok with it, some arent. But lets be clear that it isnt free.

This is not the same as free like broadcast TV. Nielson still has to use statistics to interpolate eyeballs.

With Google Fiber, they will know exactly, therefore those ads are worth more.

[southsider1015]

You're naive if you think Google already doesn't know everything about you already. 

No way to live a decent quality life and not be in the grid.

[Josh]

It looks like AT&T has finally made good on their 'Fiber to the press' promise of bringing GigaPower to Jacksonville.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/att-gigapower-available-in-jacksonville/36210432

$110/month for 1000Mbps. No mention of data caps or specific availability however.

[spuwho]

It looks like AT&T has finally made good on their 'Fiber to the press' promise of bringing GigaPower to Jacksonville.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/att-gigapower-available-in-jacksonville/36210432

$110/month for 1000Mbps. No mention of data caps or specific availability however.

I will call them to see if I can order it.

I have asked around for months to see if it actually is installed anywhere.so far, nada.

[RattlerGator]

Competition. In Jax. From profit-earning enterprises. That's a damn good thing.

[ChriswUfGator]

Lol hilarious, so for years we get the choice of paying att or Comcast $100/mo for crap service, then Google shows up and att immediately launches a competing product with gigabit speeds for the same price we've been paying for slow crap for a decade.

Whoever thinks market competition doesn't work, look at this.

[spuwho]

It looks like AT&T has finally made good on their 'Fiber to the press' promise of bringing GigaPower to Jacksonville.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/att-gigapower-available-in-jacksonville/36210432

$110/month for 1000Mbps. No mention of data caps or specific availability however.

I will call them to see if I can order it.

I have asked around for months to see if it actually is installed anywhere.so far, nada.

As I expected. Not available at my address.

Which is laughable as I have an ATT fiber access node in my front yard. Because they were lazy they set the fiber up as copper bundle emulation, not with IP.

So they can run vDSL under the Uverse banner technically, but they dont even offer that. (Again, just too lazy) Just plain vanilla DSL through an analog/digital interface card that goes into the node.

So call me skeptical on ATT.

Anyone is welcome to PM me if they have an install date or know someone who gets an actual install date from ATT for this service.

[Josh]

It looks like AT&T has finally made good on their 'Fiber to the press' promise of bringing GigaPower to Jacksonville.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/att-gigapower-available-in-jacksonville/36210432

$110/month for 1000Mbps. No mention of data caps or specific availability however.

I will call them to see if I can order it.

I have asked around for months to see if it actually is installed anywhere.so far, nada.

As I expected. Not available at my address.

Which is laughable as I have an ATT fiber access node in my front yard. Because they were lazy they set the fiber up as copper bundle emulation, not with IP.

So they can run vDSL under the Uverse banner technically, but they dont even offer that. (Again, just too lazy) Just plain vanilla DSL through an analog/digital interface card that goes into the node.

So call me skeptical on ATT.

Anyone is welcome to PM me if they have an install date or know someone who gets an actual install date from ATT for this service.

You called and they said not available at your address? I just figured that the online address lookup tool hasn't been updated yet. Realistically, I don't think they have any real delivery to customers at the moment; they just got caught with their pants down after Google's announcement, and are now scrambling to get the service rolled out in the smallest way possible, just to be able to say the service is now available here. I too have a bunch of AT&T stuff in my ROW, and judging from the number of "2WIRE" default named APs in the area, we're probably the most concentrated Uverse area I've come across.

But getting 100Mbps from Comcast for half the price is good enough for me. I haven't seen AT&T mention anything about data caps yet either.

[ChriswUfGator]

This is a well-known phenomenon in cities google fiber deploys to. The telecoms drop prices and data caps. Glad to see them finally have an "oh sh!t" moment around here. I've been tired of $100/mo for marginal internet forever, an open market was the only thing that would ever change it.

[mtraininjax]

And now news that Google Fiber goes Dark in Jacksonville....

http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2016/08/18/jacksonville-project-questioned-amidst-reports.html?ana=fbk

[Josh]

This isn't anything particular to Jacksonville. Google was recently getting ready to break ground in San Jose, and at the last minute delayed the project indefinitely because they are reportedly considering going aerial/wireless instead.

[spuwho]

This isn't anything particular to Jacksonville. Google was recently getting ready to break ground in San Jose, and at the last minute delayed the project indefinitely because they are reportedly considering going aerial/wireless instead.

Thanks Josh,

I read the same thing yesterday.

Google is finding that the fiber effort is costing more than they forecasted, hence the look at wireless spectrum.(see next remark)

The Jacksonville issue was over a contract requirement that would permit a Google non-union field tech to relocate an AT&T pole hookup without an AT&T field tech being present.  AT&T is demanding Google pay for a CWA based field tech from AT&T to perform the work.

Now the irony is that AT&T just installed GigaPower in our neighborhood. Who installed it? A non-union contractor sourced by AT&T! But it hasnt been lit yet, which is interesting.

The FCC has been making a great deal of effort to open up more spectrum for data use. They just started kicking off the users of wireless microphones in the 600Mhz upper band so they can reallocate it in 7 years.

Verizon is pushing a form of LTE that utilizes the 2.4Mhz band allocated for WiFi. Which is a total crock because Verizon is the 2nd largest spectrum squatter in the world, behind AT&T.

Google sees this lack of movement by ATT and Verizon in FTTH, and they see them squatting enourmous amounts of spectrum in wireless. This ultimately is a threat to their biz model.

If Google tries to purchase large spectrum, then Project Fi will probably die as the carriers will see them as a threat in their wireless space.

So for a new entrant into data, its getting harder and harder as ATT throws up expensive co-location requirements to be on the poles, and they hog all the spectrum that could be used to bypass the poles.

And in areas where broadband isnt profitable, Verizon has been dumping whole service regions to Fairpoint or Frontier using Reverse Morris Trust methods which forces old debt to go with the region.

Its an interesting world broadband has become. But if you want to find blame in why there is little choice, blame AT&T and Verizon. While they love talking competition, they dont act like it.

[mbwright]

Clearly the consumer is not the winner in all of this, whether braodband or cellular.  We have slow service compared to other nations, and with celluar, there are vast areas of poor or no coverage (yet the phone companies want to abandon land lines without guaranteeing cell coverage)  Too much controlled by too few companies, with little competition.

[Josh]

Further confirmation that Google is basically done with expanding Google Fiber.

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/10/google-fiber-laying-off-9-of-staff-will-pause-plans-for-10-cities/