 | | Heck with Alaska! Come on Google! Chicago is your kinda town! 
Need something to shake up Comcast a bit. And the ever a sleep at the switch Ameritech/SBC. | |
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 dadkinsCan you do Blu?Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
kudos:18 | Go Google! While I'm not *IN* San Francisco, it's just a short BART ride away. 
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Think outside the Fox... Opera | |
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 |  koolman2Premium
join:2002-10-01
Anchorage, AK | Re: Go Google! I love BART. | |
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 steelgazePremium
join:2002-02-01
San Francisco, CA | I live in SF I'll tell you guys how it comes out .. I can't wait till it's up and running. | |
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 TsumePremium
join:2004-02-23
Johnson City, TN
 ·Comcast
| Lol Not much different than trying to get your speeds upgraded from your ISP.
Come on COX, why not San Diego or one of your other markets aside from DC/AZ?
See, the line works just the same :P
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"True warriors do not follow paths, they make them. It is not just their desire, it is their nature." (Battletech) | |
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| | | Re: Lol One can't expect much from Cox. They told me that I would be able to get cable in 1996. It still isn't here. | |
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| | TsumePremium
join:2004-02-23
Johnson City, TN | Re: Lol Ouch. Where do you live so I know where to not to move? | |
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 calvoiper
join:2003-03-31
Belvedere Tiburon, CA | Demo projects are sometimes for others.... Sometimes, when you're in a business, you realize that there is a need for other aspects of commerce in order for your business to flourish. However, you may for various reasons not want to become "dominant" in those fields, because you believe:
1. they would be distracting to your core business,
2. they might take too much capital,
3. they might not produce the margins your core business can, or
4. your core business might do better with a hotly competitive market in the other field.
Examples:
RCA radios needed broadcasters, so RCA started NBC but encouraged others to broadcast as well.
Kodak home movie film needed projectors, so Kodak encouraged Bell & Howell to develop them.
American automakers worked with gasoline and tire manufacturers to make gasoline and tires readily available.
Many computer and computer component manufacturers have encouraged development of standards and technology that they don't directly exploit, but which encourage sales of their core product(s).
I agree that Google COULD be starting on an ambitious course to provide Wi-Fi nationwide. On the other hand, they may have examined the business model and decided for various reasons that they'd prefer others do it quickly so that use of their core business will grow--but that someone needed to show how it's done and that there's money to be made from the ad revenue.
It's all speculation at this point, but speculation is fun, isn't it? (At least Las Vegas and Atlantic City think so....)
calvoiper
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VoIP--the death knell of remaining voice monopolies! | |
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| mbkownsGot Bandwidth?
join:2003-07-01
Riverside, CA | Re: Demo projects are sometimes for others.... Damn that place! they get everything.... they got the recent DSL2 from sbc with speeds of 24mb down and 2 - 3 mb up!
Time to move...
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- MBK (AIM = IllMBKllI) | |
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| | Why not Louisiana, Missippi, Alabama Where you'd think people might need more communications in liu of a local infrastructure meltdown... It would certainly get google LOADS of free press and a push forward right now. Free wifi in the french quarter! (and for not even a quarter!) | |
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 lynden9
join:2001-07-04
San Francisco, CA | Now I'm more proud to be a San Franciscan! Thanks to Google! | |
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| lvjonj
join:2002-09-22
North Las Vegas, NV | Re: Now I'm more proud to be a San Franciscan! wow - WiFi and Mitchell Brother's - time to move! | |
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koolman2Premium
join:2002-10-01
Anchorage, AK | I wouldn't mind... I wouldn't mind if they decided to bring it to Anchorage (and Ketchikan). I mean shoot, who wouldn't like a free backup broadband connection?
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"I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult." -Rita Rudner | |
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ricep5Premium
join:2000-08-07
Jacksonville, FL | Silicon Snobbery These are the same general silicon snobs who think central California is the only place anything like this should be. A sign that the braintrust at Google are getting a little sheltered in their dough.
Like Microsoft and others before them, they suddenly start convincing themselves they can do things no else can.
Didn't the bubble teach these guys anything? Maybe they should move their HQ to someplace a little less clique.
If I was a shareholder, I would be beefing this one up. It's way beyond their core competency. | |
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| | | Re: Silicon Snobbery You used microsoft as an example.... Look at where they are now though! They may be a bunch of a$$hats, but they're rich a$$hats!
I don't think that google will get quite as far as microsoft in terms of domination of a large software market. Google certainly has the funds to do what they're talking about even if they don't turn a profit doing so.
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My vision, My gallery. "It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right... I hope you had the time of your life." | |
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| | | Google's proposal is (one of a dozen -- it should be pointed out) in response to a call from the City of San Francisco's to set up a free or low-cost wireless network to blanket the city.
The column cited for this topic is one man's opinion lamenting that the city government of Ketchikan doesn't have the foresight to do the same and put out their own call. Have they?
It would be one thing if Ketchikan does put forth a call and doesn't receive any bids, but so far, they haven't, so it's a more than a bit of a stretch to accuse Google of any sort of snobbery, or blame them for an inequality that may not exist.
Try again. | |
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| | ricep5Premium
join:2000-08-07
Jacksonville, FL | Re: Silicon Snobbery I was commenting on a general persistent posture that the tone of the article reinforces. That Central California (anything in or around SF) seems to be the only place any new techno scheme will work.
Doesn't matter if its Ketchikan or Fargo or Peoria.
Microsoft has lost more money in areas than some companies will never make in their history. Some see that as a risk taking exercise, I won't dispute that, some of the losses go way outside their core corporate directives. That I take issue with.
Expedia is the only MS based spinoff I can think of that came "out of the box" and rolled a profit. MSNBC probably wiped out twice over whatever they made off of that.
Is that better? | |
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| | Just another market I'm sure to Google this is just another market to open themselves upto. They already have a ton of stuff in the google labs. Google will run the world one day! | |
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 eliasPremium,VIP
join:2000-07-24
Miami, FL | Google's Backyard This is a perfect location for them because it's in their backyard. Why are they going to waste time sending people to Alaska?
"Hey, guess what... we're sending you to Alaska for 3 months!" ... yipee!!!
-- Elias
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My Webmaster Gig | Crunching the Midnight Oil | |
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| | yay damm it kicks ass to live in "the city" (San Francisco) ... no republicans in sight, nice friendly "Liberal" people and FREE INTERNET TO THE MASSES! let the socialist revolution begin! | |
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| | | Re: yay said by jonjon602:damm it kicks ass to live in "the city" (San Francisco) ... no republicans in sight, nice friendly "Liberal" people and FREE INTERNET TO THE MASSES! let the socialist revolution begin! You gonna judge my city before you experience it? | |
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| | | I never thought I'd see something from my home town mentioned on the Broadband Report! Any way, I'm not a big fan of Sitnews, but I certainly wouldn't mind free wireless. Last time I checked Ketchikan, Alaska had the highest rate of internet usage in the State. It rains an average of 14 feet a year, so it pays to have in door hobbies. Also the town is on an island so you have to take a boat or plane to go any where. Online shopping is almost a must in South East Alaska. Sadly as we have no fiber optic cable we have to use microwave for our lame DSL service that cost me $129.00 a month. Not to mention, you also end up with a lousy ping that isn't much better then a good Dial-up service in a big city.
This article was probably written as we our having local elections tomorrow. To be honest, most of the people who run for office tend to have backgrounds in logging, fishing, and tourism so I doubt a local wireless service would be their priority. Especially when the city it's self owns Ketchikan Public Utilities which supplies power, phone service, the majority of local internet service and soon digital TV. Even if they had the interest which I doubt, they wouldn't cut their own throat like that. Which sucks....
As for some of you making comments on who would want to come up to Alaska, I know there is a lot of people who would kill to come up here for a while. Alaska is a huge place, and vastly different depending on where you live in the State. Some people think it's just frozen Tundra. To think that way, would be like thinking it's the same in Maine as it is in Florida, as Alaska is 2/3rd's the size of the lower 48 States. Ketchikan is in the most southern part of the State, and has more in common with Seattle then Nome. I work at the airport here, and we get hundred's of people coming on private Jet's to visit here every year. Even Bill Gates, and Paul Allen even saw fit to visit. For some reason Paul Allen went shopping at our local Walmart with his folk and came back to his helicopter with like 30 Walmart bags of god knows what crap. He was kind of a jerk really. Any way, for some reason there are people willing to pay $1,400 a day to fish up here at resort's like Waterfall Lodge, and those people usually get pissed at our limited cell and wireless service up here. Oh well... | |
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| | Here is what its all about. I would bet you 10/1 that google does have plans to take this nation wide. Think of what they have to gain. Think of what every other information source short of major publications uses as a source of income. Bingo... advertising. None of them charge you to use the service, they charge businesses for advertisement placement. Now take into account the fact that many Americans now "surf the net" in their spare time as apposed to watching TV.
All google is doing is taking the respective place of TV networks to provide advertisement to local businesses in the fastest growing consumer market. The market at this point being the net, which does not yet have ANY dominate marketing programs. It is in some respects like watching the rebirth of a company like NBC. The fact is that Googles model has more to offer local business then even cable or network TV could ever dream of. The ability to have advertisements based on the exact location of the end user has to be a very attractive idea to business in general.
As for wether Google plans to share the wealth so to say, proposition other companies to take similar models. This is a whole other argument in itself. | |
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 plkLil' Duffer Burger BarnPremium
join:2002-04-20
Ogden, IA | copycat effect I sure hope we see other cities do the same. Quite possibly if we do, the cash flow for the bells and cable will decrease. This in turn will make the smaller towns look more appealing and they will focus and the smaller less competitive markets.
I would hypothesize, if this takes off and spreads we will see the broadband wars move to smaller and smaller markets. The monopolies can't compete with free. The Bells better get TV fast.
Last year I said the muni's who are deploying FTTH might be sitting on gold because Google, Yahoo etc might pay top dollar down the road to have their own network..... Well, I see it getting closer. At the least a google location based ad partnership to help pay the system off.
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Thermaltake 2000a/Asus P4C-e/p4 3.4/ocz3500 2x512/WD.2x200g/raptor2x74 raid 0/ATI 9600/APC sua 1500/Logitech z-680/ Samsung 213t LCD/MX 1000 | |
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Because Google Hdqtrs right outside San Fran
