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Kansas City Local Tries 'Google Fiber Tourism'
Sleep in a Google Fiber Connected Home for $49 a Night
One Kansas City local wants to use the national interest in Google Fiber to make an extra buck. According to a report in the Kansas City Business Journal, local software developer Benjamin Barreth, who has been cultivating developer interest in the city's new symmetrical 1 Gbps connections, is now charging out of town visitors who want to experience Google Fiber. For $49 a night, visitors can spend a night at the "homes for hackers" developed by Barreth and tinker with the connection. The problem? Very few people are interested. "Despite the publicity — including last week’s plug from Wired.com — Barreth is disappointed at the lack of bookings and is considering lowering the nightly rate," says the story.
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norbert26
Premium Member
join:2010-08-10
Warwick, RI

norbert26

Premium Member

better then hotel rates

gee if it was in a place i really wanted to go it would be cheaper then a hotel even if i could care less about the internet connection speed.

RadioDoc

join:2000-05-11
La Grange, IL

1 recommendation

RadioDoc

Re: better then hotel rates

Mostly this illustrates rather starkly just how irrelevant "fiber" is to most consumers.

battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000

battleop

Member

If you could see me...

You would see me rolling my eyes. This is one of the most retarded ideas ever.

"Google Fiber Tourism" - LOL

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: If you could see me...

said by battleop:

You would see me rolling my eyes. This is one of the most retarded ideas ever.

"Google Fiber Tourism" - LOL

Maybe if it was Las Vegas, instead of KansasCity they would get some takers.
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

1 edit

xenophon

Member

Re: If you could see me...

It's a goofy idea but even worse is that the location is one of not-so-great areas of KC with little bungalow homes. When it rolls out to the Missouri side next year, there will be much more attractive/active areas that could make it a little more appealing. It might go well in Xroads arts district, Westport or City Market area - not a dilapidated bungalow hood with no amenities.

This is KC on the MO side. Nothing like the bland KS side...
»forum.skyscraperpage.com ··· t=148334
NoHereNoMo
join:2012-12-06

NoHereNoMo to battleop

Member

to battleop
Sooooo he got it backwards--people don't want to go somewhere to see Google Fiber, they want Google Fiber to come and see them (and stay forever). Now there's a business op.
ConstantineM
join:2011-09-02
San Jose, CA

ConstantineM

Member

Google-fibre-tourism? Why not try Linode instead?

+1.

Google-fibre-tourism is a funny idea, but seems kinda useless in reality indeed: if you want a fast connection, you can usually get one at work (if you work for a good tech company), or just rent a Linode or something.

All Linode's have an unmetered 1Gbps downstream connection by default; upstream is metered, and by default limited to 50Mbps IIRC, presumably to ensure you don't run out of your allocated bandwidth all too soon, and 50Mbps of upstream is still plenty!

So, for only 20$/month, you can already do virtual Google-Fibre-like-tourism without having to travel into the middle of nowhere.
bnceo
join:2007-10-11
Bel Air, MD

bnceo

Member

Will Do It

Going to Kansas for work in June. So I think I will book this for a weekend.

puddleglum
join:2012-12-23
Ogden, UT

puddleglum

Member

Re: Will Do It

Looks like advertising here works!
itguy05
join:2005-06-17
Carlisle, PA

itguy05

Member

Huh?

Only geeks care about the Internet speed. The rest of the population can pretty much give a "yawn!".

Not to mention why would I want to sample something I'll probably never get to experience? Just doesn't make sense to be something to want to rent out.
CXM_Splicer
Looking at the bigger picture
Premium Member
join:2011-08-11
NYC

CXM_Splicer

Premium Member

Re: Huh?

I think the hope would be that by experiencing it, you would help stir the demand for it. Unfortunately, as has been pointed out numerous times in here, there is very little application developed yet for this speed. That doesn't mean there won't be once the speed is available but this 'tour guide' will hardly be providing a unique experience to WOW his tourists.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

compare/contrast

If the rest of the country was stuck on 56k modems, you might see some tourism.. the gap just isn't big enough for people to flock to this.. there needs to be a better incentive... like free fuel & food too, the kinds of incentives Las Vegas would inspire..

If the two cities would inspire other innovations like being the first major hub for hydrogen fuel cell pumps they might have a shot at spurring other entreprenuers.. Imagine Toyota launching the 2015 hydrogen cars in these two cities, then building their mfg plants there!! Then the Mayns would be right.. the end of an Era has come... to big oil companies.. and other de-facto monopolies.
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco

Premium Member

Re: compare/contrast

Chances are if they spent all the money to be the first major hub for hydrogen fuel, they would simply be out a lot of money. The industry is not willing to embrace hyrdogen fuel and neither is the government.
Beans5
join:2005-07-16
united state

Beans5

Member

Greed...

Got to love greed...NOT!
elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA

elray

Member

Re: Greed...

said by Beans5:

Got to love greed...NOT!

There is nothing greedy about this story.
The host can only charge what people will pay, assuming they will pay anything.
The story, now run a second time, demonstrates that there is more to life than "faster" broadband, contrary to the drumbeat that plays here daily.

KC needs a lot more more than Google Fiber to attract the next wave of startup geeks. Its a matter of inertia. Brilliant minds are more attracted to places already densely populated with intellectual and creative folks.
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon

Member

Re: Greed...

double post, delete
xenophon

1 edit

xenophon to elray

Member

to elray
said by elray:

KC needs a lot more more than Google Fiber to attract the next wave of startup geeks. Its a matter of inertia. Brilliant minds are more attracted to places already densely populated with intellectual and creative folks.

KC metro already has nearly 3000 IT/tech shops and 65K tech employment, about the same as Austin. There are hundreds of startups, around long before Google Fiber. GFiber will help draw attention to what already exists and hopefully take it to next level...

»www.techamericafoundatio ··· sas-city
»www.techamericafoundatio ··· 0-austin

KC ranks 5th in attracting young educated, in % growth...
»www.newgeography.com/con ··· -magnets

Barbara
@tmodns.net

Barbara

Anon

Re: Greed...

Kansas City is like the dead sea for IT and has been for at last the post 6 years! I don't know where these people get this information.
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon

Member

Re: Greed...

Not following you, there are more tech jobs in KC than people to fill them. I'm getting calls from recruiters that I haven't seen since the late 90s. Cerner alone (healthcare software) is looking to hire 4K, they are bringing in about 1000 a year from outside KC. Over 500 companies have tech/engineering job openings lately..

»www.kcnext.com/index.php ··· -listing

»www.city-data.com/forum/ ··· ity.html
silbaco
Premium Member
join:2009-08-03
USA

silbaco

Premium Member

ToS

Wouldn't this technically violate the ToS? This could be considered business use.

SysOp
join:2001-04-18
Atlanta, GA

4 edits

SysOp

Member

Did I miss something?

WTF could a single end non-commercial consumer do with a symmetrical 1 Gbps connection for just one day?

bobjohnson
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
Spartanburg, SC

bobjohnson

Premium Member

Re: Did I miss something?

said by SysOp:

WTF could a single end non-commercial consumer do with a symmetrical 1 Gbps connection for just one day?

Download all the things they're scared to download at home... For a regular person there is really no use for this.

bohratom
My Jersey Giants finally winning again..
join:2011-07-07
Red Bank NJ

bohratom

Member

Cool, now I can get all my p0rn in one night....

Cool, now I can get all my p0rn in one night....