"Google Announces Google Fiber: 100X Faster Internet, Plus Free Internet"

[Guest]

G4 Article

 

Fiber Google's Website

 

Google has just announced Google Fiber, a broadband service and interactive television provider that will offer internet speeds up to 100x faster than average broadband. Google promises adopters will enjoy download and upload speeds of 1 GBps. That should be fine for, well, just about anything you can think of: HD movies, gaming, downloading cat pictures... or doing all of them at once, 40 times over.

 

Seems too good to be true really. False advertising maybe?

 

Anyways, what are your thoughts? Discuss.

[gregathit]

Looks pretty cool to me. By the way the so called "free internet" isn't really free....you have to pay a $300 one time connection fee.

[Guest]

Looks pretty cool to me. By the way the so called "free internet" isn't really free....you have to pay a $300 one time connection fee.

 

I know I know, I just took the title from the G4 article and made that the thread title.

[sammythesquirrel]

i call bs on all fronts why well the net may be all over the world but fiber optic is not and there is a physical limit to how much data per second can be sent via lower grade lines as well as signal degradation over distance

[xartom]

$300 one time up to 7 yrs not bad at all. Beats the internet prices around here ($20 for a 5mb connection that's more like 2-3). ATT and other telecomms might put up a fight though if/when Google tries to spread this more.

 

Rural areas probably won't be covered (I didn't have access to anything other than 5kb/s dialup until I was a freshie in college due to my old location).

[GrimReaperCalls]

Meh, if people have enough money to spend $120/$70 on internet, go right ahead. I'm fine with my 7 Megabits/sec. The waiting time for downloading large files is a perfect opportunity for playing solitaire .

 

The $300 one-time cost doesn't sound bad though .

[tomfoolery]

*reads this with his 60kb/s connection*

 

*quietly weeps*

[The DarkSlayer]

*reads this with his 60kb/s connection*

 

*quietly weeps*

 

I feel your pain....

[srayesmanll]

Great idea --- IF you live in Kansas City (KS & MO). It's only available there currently (or really, will be there soon). Until they announce a San Antonio, TX location, I'll have to stick with TimeWarner (shudders uncontrollably...)

[prideslayer]

Google knows enough about me already just from watching my emails and what I search for. The last thing I'm going to give them is the authority to peek into every packet I send and receive to 'tailor' my experience even more..

 

Comcast isn't so bad as long as you don't have to deal with customer support anyway.

[thesapien]

i call bs on all fronts why well the net may be all over the world but fiber optic is not and there is a physical limit to how much data per second can be sent via lower grade lines as well as signal degradation over distance

 

Well, yeah, it just means your home connection will never be the weak link.

 

That's pretty cool how they use a pre-register/wish list before actually laying fiber optics.

[SavageMrPanda]

I am inclined to believe this at least partially, for two reasons.

 

1 - Google makes most of their money off online advertising and they make a lot of money doing it. Why not form a loss leader product that will make the internet easier to access for everyone? They would be helping the US and thusly helping their bottom line.

 

2 - Kansas City is already on the docket for Gigabit fiber internet laid across the entire city and surrounding areas. Google will lay the cable in the city and build a backbone using "Shadow Fiber" lines that got laid across the US but never really used.

 

I hope they do, honestly. Access to information should be a basic utility but cash is king and kings tend to cut off the heads of the lowest class.

[prideslayer]

Access to information should be a basic utility but cash is king and kings tend to cut off the heads of the lowest class.

 

Errr the poorest neighborhoods in america are typically also the best connected, because they are in and around large urban centers that are already well connected.

 

The average "lowest class" person is better connected than the owner of my company, since he lives so far out in the sticks.

 

If you meant that it should be free / "a right", I'll disagree in the sense that we're talking about broadband, and suggest if you can't afford even dialup, there's always the local library. All the free access to information you could want.

[gregathit]

Access to information should be a basic utility but cash is king and kings tend to cut off the heads of the lowest class.

 

Errr the poorest neighborhoods in america are typically also the best connected' date=' because they are in and around large urban centers that are already well connected.

 

The average "lowest class" person is better connected than the owner of my company, since he lives so far out in the sticks.

 

If you meant that it should be free / "a right", I'll disagree in the sense that we're talking about broadband, and suggest if you can't afford even dialup, there's always the local library. All the free access to information you could want.

[/quote']

 

 

While this is true in the cities it is not necessarily true in smaller towns. There are still large numbers of people in the midwest and northwest US that don't have access to anything except dialup or satellite. Course that will not likely change anytime soon since the cost for laying trunk lines to small towns in rural farming communities can't pay for itself without some type of grant from either private sources or the government (not a real fan of government intervention on this or other similar items).

[prideslayer]

While this is true in the cities it is not necessarily true in smaller towns. There are still large numbers of people in the midwest and northwest US that don't have access to anything except dialup or satellite.

 

THere are large numbers of people all over the place' date=' not just the midwest, in the same boat, like the owner of my company. His head hasn't been "chopped off" by the rich or whatever the other poster was alluding to.

 

Course that will not likely change anytime soon since the cost for laying trunk lines to small towns in rural farming communities can't pay for itself without some type of grant from either private sources or the government (not a real fan of government intervention on this or other similar items).

 

I'm not either, and I am certain that dialup satisfies the perceived "right" to information 100%. Too many spoiled people think anything less than broadband is worthless, but if you're trying to educate yourself, read the news, look for a job, etc., it's fine. Hell for a while I *shared* a dialup line with a roomate. A dialup line on a LAN with NAT, same as most of you/us currently do with broadband.

 

I guess I'm just saying don't confuse "broadband" with "internet access." If you're (not you in particular) going to make an argument that internet access is some basic human right, start there. Nobody is going to convince me that youtube/hulu/netflix/etc are anything but a privilege reserved for those who can afford broadband, and live in a market that can sustain it.

[gregathit]

I guess I'm just saying don't confuse "broadband" with "internet access." If you're (not you in particular) going to make an argument that internet access is some basic human right' date=' start there. Nobody is going to convince me that youtube/hulu/netflix/etc are anything but a privilege reserved for those who can afford broadband, and live in a market that can sustain it.

[/quote']

 

LOL!!!

 

Yea, I don't think access to internet is a basic human right, any more than a cell phone. If you can afford it then fine. If not, then go get a news paper or a house phone/pager or as you said - go to the damn library. My point was just to clarify that the points in your post did have a few exceptions. There is no real hard and fast rule as America has such a wide range of demographics.

 

You are entirely correct in that dial-up is more than adequate for access, as it handles email and basic browsing. Hell, most of us can still remember when we thought 56k was blazingly fast....

[prideslayer]

I guess I'm just saying don't confuse "broadband" with "internet access." If you're (not you in particular) going to make an argument that internet access is some basic human right' date=' start there. Nobody is going to convince me that youtube/hulu/netflix/etc are anything but a privilege reserved for those who can afford broadband, and live in a market that can sustain it.

[/quote']

 

LOL!!!

 

Yea, I don't think access to internet is a basic human right, any more than a cell phone. If you can afford it then fine. If not, then go get a news paper or a house phone/pager or as you said - go to the damn library. My point was just to clarify that the points in your post did have a few exceptions. There is no real hard and fast rule as America has such a wide range of demographics.

 

You are entirely correct in that dial-up is more than adequate for access, as it handles email and basic browsing. Hell, most of us can still remember when we thought 56k was blazingly fast....

 

Right, I didn't think you were in that camp. The response you replied to was in response to this:

Access to information should be a basic utility but cash is king and kings tend to cut off the heads of the lowest class.

I can't really find another way to parse that.

[gregathit]

Right' date=' I didn't think you were in that camp. The response you replied to was in response to this:

 

Access to information should be a basic utility but cash is king and kings tend to cut off the heads of the lowest class.

I can't really find another way to parse that.

 

While, SaveageMrPanda is correct in that they should have access. The part where you and I are agreeing (I think) on is what form "access" should be in. Right now in the US they do have access via the library or if they can afford it then dial-up/DSL/broadband/satellite. Saying that broadband speed is a basic right is silly and I hope that was not what MrPanda was trying to say. That type of thing would fall squarely under the socialistic flag and I will fight that wealth redistribution crap until they pry the gun from my cold dead fingers!

[prideslayer]

I don't see what *else* he could be saying. Internet access is available everywhere phone service is available. For most these days (whom I referenced as spoiled earlier), if it's not broadband, it's not internet access.

 

I'm thrown off a bit since he said "basic utility", which to me means it should be ubiquitous like electricity or water, but not free, as neither of those are free either. If that's the case, then I can only say "give it time." Those services were available in big cities (and ONLY there) for a long time in the early days.

[Guest Lady Luck]

G4 Article

 

Fiber Google's Website

 

Google has just announced Google Fiber' date=' a broadband service and interactive television provider that will offer internet speeds up to 100x faster than average broadband. Google promises adopters will enjoy download and upload speeds of 1 GBps. That should be fine for, well, just about anything you can think of: HD movies, gaming, downloading cat pictures... or doing all of them at once, 40 times over.[/quote']

 

Seems too good to be true really. False advertising maybe?

 

Anyways, what are your thoughts? Discuss.

 

remember dood nothing is free on the internet google made bullshit statement , wow really free internet how about connection 1000 billion users all around the world we gonna expect slow downs and other annoying problem

[nanogenesis]

lol I'm going to state something different, rather which may be wrong but its just my observation so it can be wrong.

 

if its 1 Gigabit per second, = 125Megabytes per second

 

Apparently my hard disk is only going to be able to write at 30-40mbps

 

So you'll also need an SSD to take FULL advantage of it.

[SavageMrPanda]

Well after further investigation the free option comes with a 25 dollar a month price tag for "equipment cost" and it's limited to 5 Mbps.

 

I was almost happy with Google. The most expensive plan is 120, for Gigabit internet and TV and the internet only plan is 70 but you get the Gigabit connection.

[gregathit]

Well after further investigation the free option comes with a 25 dollar a month price tag for "equipment cost" and it's limited to 5 Mbps.

 

I was almost happy with Google. The most expensive plan is 120' date=' for Gigabit internet and TV and the internet only plan is 70 but you get the Gigabit connection.

[/quote']

 

You can pay monthly or plunk down the $300 cost for connection all at once. After the $300 connection cost is paid, it really is free for the 7 years anyway. After 7 years they could drop you according to the fine print.

[SavageMrPanda]

Well after further investigation the free option comes with a 25 dollar a month price tag for "equipment cost" and it's limited to 5 Mbps.

 

I was almost happy with Google. The most expensive plan is 120' date=' for Gigabit internet and TV and the internet only plan is 70 but you get the Gigabit connection.

[/quote']

 

You can pay monthly or plunk down the $300 cost for connection all at once. After the $300 connection cost is paid, it really is free for the 7 years anyway. After 7 years they could drop you according to the fine print.

 

[gregathit]

Well after further investigation the free option comes with a 25 dollar a month price tag for "equipment cost" and it's limited to 5 Mbps.

 

I was almost happy with Google. The most expensive plan is 120' date=' for Gigabit internet and TV and the internet only plan is 70 but you get the Gigabit connection.

[/quote']

 

You can pay monthly or plunk down the $300 cost for connection all at once. After the $300 connection cost is paid, it really is free for the 7 years anyway. After 7 years they could drop you according to the fine print.

 

 

Yea, I agree, but since the service doesn't exist yet, all we can go off of is the documentation that is out there. Whether the free internet (after the $300 connect fee) has built in advertising or nagware (trying to get you to upgrade) is unknown and will remain so, until the service actually begins. It is an interesting concept that is for sure.