Google Fiber will be sold to private equity firm and merge with cable company
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BOOO! The best product, and maybe the only good product, Google ever made. Had it since it rolled out in Kansas City, Missouri and no price increases and outages I can count on one hand. And fully symmetic gigabit speeds.
Not looking forward to dealing with constant price increases, lock in, and dark patterns.
Not looking forward to dealing with constant price increases, lock in, and dark patterns.
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I've made a lot of effort to de-Google my life, but I couldn't ever bring myself to get rid of Google Fiber. When all you want is a reliable, fast, dumb pipe, they are the best option by a mile. I'm certain PE is going to screw this up, but I'm hoping they don't screw it up enough that I have to go back to Spectrum.
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WeatherDave
Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
Been with Google Fiber since 2015, and loved every minute of it. Sad to see it sold off to the Private Equity wolves who do nothing but destroy good businesses. I know how this story ends, so we've already started looking for alternatives.
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The change from RCN to Astound doubled my price for Internet. At least it's still better than Verizon or Comcast. And yes I know with 3 options I have more options than most people.
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Statistical
Ars Legatus Legionis
Google Fiber was so weird. 2.3M locations in a decade. From everyone who has the service it is great google just never cared to expand. Granted fiber rollout is never going to be fast and likely to not be a huge priority for google but 2.3M locations connected in a decade is like a hobbyist project for a trillion dollar company. In comparison Verizon FIOS has 15M locations connected.
I kinda figured google fiber have been a lot bigger. That eventually once they got the beta version kinks worked out they would wire up 10M, 20M maybe 50M homes. No such luck.
I kinda figured google fiber have been a lot bigger. That eventually once they got the beta version kinks worked out they would wire up 10M, 20M maybe 50M homes. No such luck.
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I've been quite happy with my Astound service since I switched from AT&T fiber and their constant ridiculous price increases, but on the other hand, this eliminates a competitor. My buiding has (had?) three different "fiber" services available, but two of them are Astound and Google, so ...
And I say "fiber" because my Astound connection is literally a crossover cable from the patch panel in my apartment to a gig Cisco switch in the closet down the hall -- so no fiber ONT necessary. As far as my end is concerned, there's no fiber involved, just gig copper that I can plug directly into a router/base station.
And I say "fiber" because my Astound connection is literally a crossover cable from the patch panel in my apartment to a gig Cisco switch in the closet down the hall -- so no fiber ONT necessary. As far as my end is concerned, there's no fiber involved, just gig copper that I can plug directly into a router/base station.
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Google Fiber always seemed like a big company doing something useful and mostly good for competition, so of course they abandoned it in the woods a decade ago and then decided to finish it off this year.
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"Google destroys yet another useful service" would be a more apropos line, in this particular case, I think. Nobody FORCED Google/Alphabet to sell to PE.
So, add this to the giant Google services graveyard.
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The same "expertise" that thought burying fiber optic cable 2" below the ground would be fine?
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My theory on this is once they figured out that they couldn't make cheap shallow trenches work over time, they decided they couldn't do the massive "industry disruption" they were planning on and lost interest.
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I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a private equity kid, with cash flows, and debt servicing, and P&Ls in. /s
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Best business ISP I ever had was Wave Broadband. Things stayed good with the move to Astound. Hoping for the best with this change.
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I was wondering how this was going to play out. My part of TN was supposed to get a buildout from them several years ago. They built a fiber hut, ran some fiber, and never lit it up because COVID hit. The hut sits unused to this day along with the fiber they ran.
AT&T finally began increasing prices a year or two ago, so I guess they saw the writing on the wall.
AT&T finally began increasing prices a year or two ago, so I guess they saw the writing on the wall.
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For the past 2-3 months now, a generic utilities infrastructure company has been installing hundreds of miles of conduit in the coastal Carolina town where I live. In the past few days, I have begun to see small signs around some of the larger conduit exit points claiming "T-Mobile Fiber Is Coming."
When the hell did T-Mobile begin to offer Fiber Internet? That was news to me!! Doing a little searching, it appears that it all started less than a year ago, and is just now beginning to offer actual service.
I hope this is the death-nail to local Comcast service!! Well, AT&T Internet, too.
When the hell did T-Mobile begin to offer Fiber Internet? That was news to me!! Doing a little searching, it appears that it all started less than a year ago, and is just now beginning to offer actual service.
I hope this is the death-nail to local Comcast service!! Well, AT&T Internet, too.
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I didn't even get a chance to get fiber so I could miss it when it goes to shit!
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As an ex-Astound customer of their cable broadband product, if their fiber service is anything like their cable service, I feel sorry for you. We had a miserable experience with Astound cable. Every month, the service got worse and more unreliable, and the price increased.
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Sypher the 297th
Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
Yet another of Sundar Pichai's fifth column actions helping to sabotage the US. Its a pity that Google (screw Alphabet) used to be a great example of corporate America. . . albeit still a corporation and one with a short attention span but it was once better than the likes of GM, Bank of America, or Oracle.
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I also seem to recall that the major telecos did everything they could to keep Google from expanding.
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He's absolutely one of the worst CEOs in tech, and I don't understand why he's still there.
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I guess now I’m glad they never came to my area.
But now I found out Sonic.net is building out in my neighborhood, so I got that going for me, which is nice
But now I found out Sonic.net is building out in my neighborhood, so I got that going for me, which is nice
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I have Ting Fiber 1GB/1GB for $89, and always wished I could get Google Fiber and pay less. It will be interesting to see where the prices go... Ting has been great - no service issues whatsoever, but I wish it was cheaper.
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My option for Google fiber is beemed microwave (I believe). Similar to what I currently have now with a small company in Denver. It’s really good compared to other available options and regardless of the monthly Ads I get from Google, I have stayed. Glad I did.
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Also true for holding companies! We went from Verizon, to Frontier, to Ziply, held by BCE (and even further down hill from there for email), without changing anything. They did all of that on their own “for our benefit”. And now I have to use an Ethernet Wi-Fi booster because their router is so insanely crappy that the RF transmitter dies in under a year. After 3 replacement with the same garbage brand I disabled their RF and use my own. Their “technicians” are also something to behold, they know less about their products than the average US citizen knows about QED. Good times all around! /S
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There are more private equity firms in the USA than there are McDonalds restaurants but a handful of well known names (Blackstone, Carl Icahn, Silver Lake and Jared Kushner) ruin it for everybody.
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Well that sucks. They installed Google Fiber in my neighborhood late last year (went live in December). Installation was an unmitigated disaster; the contractors hit a water main in near my house and a gas main towards the front of my neighborhood necessitating a partial evacuation and a 14 hour power outage to prevent an errant spark from igniting the whole thing (the video is terrifying, the gas leak looks like a small geyser), but at least afterwards I got 1 gig symmetric fiber for $70.70/month with no hidden fees. Now I won’t even get that.
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No FAIR! You are cheating by using ALL the past performances!
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