Google Fiber Goes Live, Luring Startups

Maybe if we give Google the perks and incentives that AT&T/Bell System was given, maybe they'll expand it to a national monopoly on broadband (fiber).

Maybe Google can buy out Verizon FiOS since Verizon seems very interested in exiting the wireline business and they don't seem to want to expand FiOS despite the fact it sells like hot cakes in areas that FiOS has been deployed.

Verizon's legacy wireline business is regulated and publicly funded via USF. They cannot just force people onto FiOS abandon the copper.

I dont get this comment.
Verizon owns the dsl/copper lines and the fiber lines.
If they upgrade an area for fios they can force people to switch by turning off the copper.

The profit margin on FiOS could be very good, but as long as people continue to use DSL/copper it will remain low. Verizon needs to move everyone over to FiOS and off of copper because it is pricey to maintain a copper network. But they can't, so it continues to sit. If they could future FiOS expansion would not be out of the question.

verizon mid tier should reflect easily 100 - 300 megabits symmetric by now.

One last thing, there was at least a 2 year period of price deflation from 2008 - 2010 where all consumer prices were on a freeze or decline (if you saw prices increase you were getting gouged).

Why? Based on what?

That doesn't answer my question.

VZ has already sold off FiOS networks. And they only recently started using it for Ethernet- which isn't even an option currently.

Yeah, it's penetration into the market has been poor. It just shows the utter stupidity of people. Verizon builds an incredible fiber network with super-fast internet, and people still have cable or DSL? What on earth are they thinking?

No insult intended - but the bottom line is a strong majority of consumers don't have a need for "super-fast internet" beyond what cable is already offering at half the entry price.

Considering that a lot of people still don't understand why HD is so important, I'm not counting on a lot for UHD. Plus, we still have a ways to go in terms of getting to 1080p and reducing the quality hit that compression introduces.

Maybe if we give Google the perks and incentives that AT&T/Bell System was given, maybe they'll expand it to a national monopoly on broadband (fiber).

Makes my 155Mbps connection at home seem outdated.

They also don't let telcos that deploy fiber abandon copper, they make them maintain both. That makes it cost prohibitive and something Google doesn't have to deal with. Verizon is paying out the nose right now for having to maintain both systems. The FCC needs to take a stand and say you must supply either fiber or copper to your customers for the foreseeable future, but not both.

In the US, the FCC is to blame for that. They have been poor at enforcing and creating regulations by letting companies perform suboptimally and failing to regulate business practices.

They also don't let telcos that deploy fiber abandon copper, they make them maintain both. That makes it cost prohibitive and something Google doesn't have to deal with.

The FCC should encourage fiber to premises being made available to over 90% of U.S. homes before the copper PSTN is allowed to be abandoned by the big boys including CenturyLink, FairPoint, and Frontier.

Don't count your chickens yet. Google only has to operate the network for 2 years. And they have not stated if thats from the date of the first customer on or the date when the network is complete.