google

To get a gigabit from Google, cities need processing speed

26 February 2014 by Steve Blum
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Not to Google spec either.

Google has handed a fiber-ready checklist to 34 cities in 8 states, including five in California. Not just anywhere in California, but smack in the middle of Silicon Valley. You’d think that if there was any metro area in the state that would zip through Google’s homework, it would be the likes of San Jose, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Santa Clara and Palo Alto.

No need to guess, though. With Google setting a deadline of 1 May 2014 for cities to provide the information and accommodations requested, we’ll soon find out if there’s any hope for the Golden State.… More

Google joins FCC chair in waving the muni broadband flag at incumbents

21 February 2014 by Steve Blum
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Call it motivation.

Google is stoking the fires of gigabit demand and keeping the heat on major cable and telephone companies with its announcement that it’s talking to 34 more cities about fiber-to-the-home projects. That’s completely consistent with a strategy of goading incumbents into upgrades that they’d prefer not to do. Whether it’s the also the first step in a national roll out remains to be seen.

There’s no actual promise to build, as Google makes very clear…

We hope to bring Google Fiber to every city on this list, but there are a few circumstances that might make it tough and even impossible to build our Fiber network in a city…If a city doesn’t want to proceed with us and chooses not to complete their checklist, we won’t be able to bring them Google Fiber.

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Motorola sale sets a benchmark for judging Google's fiber strategy

30 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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As long as it takes, but no longer.

There’re two ways to look at Google’s decision to unload its Motorola handset business to Lenovo for $2.9 billion. It’s either a long overdue retreat and admission of failure, or it’s a model for gauging what Google will do with other hardware projects and acquisitions.

Getting past the “they shoulda done it sooner” carping, what Google did was snap up Motorola and chew on it a bit, before digesting what it craves – patents, expertise and operational experience – and spitting out the rest.… More

Google's fiber crusade rolls on in Austin, sorta

24 January 2014 by Steve Blum
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Some were shouting ‘Texas number one!’

AT&T will, it says, expand the reach of its fiber-to-the-home network in Austin, Texas. The company claimed, in a breathless press release, that uptake of its 300 Mbps service has been more energetic than expected…

“Austin’s response to our blazing fast broadband and enhanced TV services has been incredible and validates why we decided to roll this out in Austin first,” said Dahna Hull, vice president and general manager, Austin, AT&T Services Inc.

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Google positioned to set standards for smart homes


Nest is in good hands with Google.

The quest for a mass market business model for home automation products and services took a new turn this week, when Google announced it’s buying Nest, which makes networked thermostats and smoke detectors. Since it’s unlikely that Google is going to drop $3.2 billion just to make pretty gadgets, the working assumption has to be that it’s developing an online platform to support networked products. Just as it developed the Android operating system, then bought Motorola’s mobile phone manufacturing business as a development tool and to lock down valuable patents.… More

Aussies jump in with Utopia FTTH bid

20 December 2013 by Steve Blum
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Spends just as well as a greenback.

Utopia’s saviour appears to be an Australian investment company, Macquarie Capital Group, that specialises in large public sector projects, including fiber optic networks. According to a story in the Salt Lake City Tribune, Macquarie is starting out with a feasibility study…

The goal, according to a senior Macquarie executive, would be to develop a private-public partnership with any of the UTOPIA cities that wanted to participate, with Macquarie paying to build out the municipal Internet grid and then running it under a 30-year revenue-sharing contract.

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Utopia might finally be utopia, thanks to Google

15 December 2013 by Steve Blum
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Is a Google buyout the exit strategy?

One way or the other, it looks like Google is behind an impending bailout of Utopia, Utah’s multi-city muni fiber-to-the-home system. According to a story in the Ogden Standard-Examiner (and with a h/t to the Baller Herbst List)…

…officials gave only generic detail on what’s coming as a huge opportunity involving a major company mirroring Google’s involvement with Utah County.

They’re referring to Google’s take over of the municipal FTTH system in Provo, earlier this year.… More

AT&T wants to buy your privacy for $29 a month

11 December 2013 by Steve Blum
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Let AT&T know what you like, and they’ll send you interesting ads.

AT&T is offering fiber-to-the-home Internet service in Austin at an introductory rate of $70, if subscribers allow AT&T to monitor their web browsing and use the information to target ads…

Receive our U-verse with GigaPower Premier Offer by choosing AT&T Internet Preferences. When you select AT&T Internet Preferences, we can offer you our best pricing on U-verse with GigaPower because you let us use your individual web browsing information, like the search terms you enter and the web pages you visit, to tailor ads and offers to your interests.

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There's broadband meat behind the drone delivery sizzle

4 December 2013 by Steve Blum
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Looks like someone ordered a barbeque.

Amazon’s PR people deserve a hearty round of applause. They dropped the perfect Cyber Monday story this Sunday evening when Jeff Bezos teased plans to build a fleet of drone helicopters that will deliver five pound packages in half an hour.

But assuming it has some remote connection to reality, the real news is what it implies about Amazon’s roadmap for expansion. Those drones are not supersonic. Even with zero time to process and pick an order, a half hour service radius of 50 kilometers would probably be an overly optimistic guess – Bezos talked about a 10 mile range.… More

Google's free white space database could preempt paid competition and boost market

21 November 2013 by Steve Blum
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Room for broadband in the television space.

White space spectrum is finally moving out of the lab and toward commercial deployments. Google has opened up its database of usable U.S. white space frequencies to all comers, at no charge. The technology is far from standardised yet, but with free access to the data necessary to make it work, that process can get started.

The idea behind white space spectrum is that frequencies allocated for broadcast television service are not fully used.… More