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Google Set to Become King of Wireless World
Potential to expand if they win the spectrum auction

With yesterday’s announcement that the company will indeed be bidding in the upcoming spectrum auction, Google could be poised to take over the wireless world. At least, that’s the argument made in a CNET News article about the auction. The author points out that winning the spectrum auction would give Google a significant amount of control over the development of a wireless network and how the Internet goes mobile.

This goes hand-in-hand with their recent release of the Android mobile phone development kit which should have their phones on the market next year.

quote:
“"Imagine an iPhone where the whole thing is a screen and the bottom eighth is banner ads running across," said Iain Gillott, a wireless analyst at IGR. "Spectrum is king; you own everything."”
CNET also points out that Google’s wireless development isn’t limited to mobile phones but also includes their Mountain View Wi-Fi network and their plans for Wi-Fi-based PC services.

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dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536

Premium Member

Google cellphone

Wonder if the king of free can come up with a FAIR plan with NO ETFs.
Jonbo298
join:2004-01-12
Council Bluffs, IA

Jonbo298

Member

Better iPhone for cheap

I wouldn't mind the ad's, if I could get something like the iPhone or in reality, a much better phone then the first gen iPhone, for cheap or free.

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

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: Better iPhone for cheap

said by Jonbo298:

I wouldn't mind the ad's, if I could get something like the iPhone or in reality, a much better phone then the first gen iPhone, for cheap or free.
You aren't going to get an iPhone clone for free or even cheap. The unsubsidized cost of an iPhone is about $800 each. And no amount of ad revenue is going to get Google to give that away.

What may be cheap or free is a phone service plan with unlimited minutes using a user bought and paid for phone. Data access thru Google and some cheap VOIP phone plan for voice access.
XknightHawkX
join:2003-02-13
East Peoria, IL

XknightHawkX

Member

Re: Better iPhone for cheap

Is there a reason you think it would cost them $800 each? I doubt it even cost them $100 dollars to make it. I said this when they said they would be selling playstation 3 for less then what it costs to make it. I don't care if they are going to make money from licenses. No company is going to sell a product for less then what it takes to make. Just because it would cost an average person a lot of money to make an electronic device doesn't mean it will for a big company.

You may pay a dollar or two for a piece when the company probably pays a whopping ten to twenty cents a piece. Do you think these companies buy a few pieces at a time. They buy in bulk. They get a deal cause of the way they buy the stuff.

Just like the playstation 3 probably costs less then a $100 to make I should probably guess the IPhone is less then $50 to make.

Forget trying to argue it with me cause no matter what you say I'm not changing my thoughts on this.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Better iPhone for cheap

Okay for your view about how much it costs to make and how much the customer pays for the device or product why does Apple charge so much for their computers then if you say they don't pay as much as the customer to make the product?

They buy in bulk when they get everything for their computers but you don't see those going down much in price. All of their products are double and sometimes tripled what it costs of a PC usually for the same items. But just because its an Apple product it shouldn't cost anymore than what a PC should even if everything is in America; customer service, shipping, HQ and everything else.
comp
Premium Member
join:2001-08-16
Evans City, PA

comp to XknightHawkX

Premium Member

to XknightHawkX
what the hell are you taking about?

PS3 has always cost more to make then what they sell for. This has been known since they were released. MS took losses on 360 for long time as wekk
XknightHawkX
join:2003-02-13
East Peoria, IL

XknightHawkX

Member

Re: Better iPhone for cheap

And you know the PS3 cost more to make then what they sell if for cause? You on the Sony board? Or cause Sony says so? Have you been conditioned by what companies say then it must be true?

PS3 cost more to make then they sell if for but the price has dropped a few times already. IPhone has already went down on price. Don't let these companies brainwash you.
comp
Premium Member
join:2001-08-16
Evans City, PA
·Armstrong

comp

Premium Member

Re: Better iPhone for cheap

said by XknightHawkX:

And you know the PS3 cost more to make then what they sell if for cause? You on the Sony board? Or cause Sony says so? Have you been conditioned by what companies say then it must be true?

PS3 cost more to make then they sell if for but the price has dropped a few times already. IPhone has already went down on price. Don't let these companies brainwash you.
lawl

Corehhi
join:2002-01-28
Bluffton, SC

Corehhi to comp

Member

to comp
Dead on. The PS3 costs more than they sell it for period. They make money on the games or at least that is the idea.

I'm sure Apple makes on money on each Iphone though.

coastjam
Premium Member
join:2001-03-05
Stamford, CT

coastjam to XknightHawkX

Premium Member

to XknightHawkX
said by XknightHawkX:

Is there a reason you think it would cost them $800 each? I doubt it even cost them $100 dollars to make it. I said this when they said they would be selling playstation 3 for less then what it costs to make it. I don't care if they are going to make money from licenses. No company is going to sell a product for less then what it takes to make. Just because it would cost an average person a lot of money to make an electronic device doesn't mean it will for a big company.

You may pay a dollar or two for a piece when the company probably pays a whopping ten to twenty cents a piece. Do you think these companies buy a few pieces at a time. They buy in bulk. They get a deal cause of the way they buy the stuff.

Just like the playstation 3 probably costs less then a $100 to make I should probably guess the IPhone is less then $50 to make.

Forget trying to argue it with me cause no matter what you say I'm not changing my thoughts on this.

Matt3
All noise, no signal.
Premium Member
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC

1 edit

Matt3

Premium Member

Cost?

What would it cost to roll out a Nationwide, FREE, network that is ad supported? $20-$30 billion?

Now, think about what Google would make in advertising revenue if all you had to buy was the device and you could access the network for free ... Internet access, VoIP apps ... the possibilities are pretty wide and unlike WiFi, 700Mhz penetrates building/obstacles thousands of times better than 2.4Ghz does.

Depending on how this plays out, the incumbents should be VERY worried. Google could even snatch up a Vonage for what they find in their couch cushions and voila, they have a reliable VoIP infrastructure ready to go.

Oh this is juicy.

mike23684
@dedibox.fr

mike23684

Anon

New business model

I would like to see a mobile service by Google based on advertising like the current terrestrial TV market.

In that model you would pay a fair price for the "appliance" of your choice and the service would be supported by advertising and free to consumers.

There could also be "paid subscription" services that excluded advertising.

I'll wake up any minute now, or maybe Ill keep on dreaming.
LndnTex
join:2003-07-23
College Station, TX

LndnTex

Member

world eh?

I didn't know the FCC had the ability to regulate the airwaves outside of these United States of America.
Expand your moderator at work

mike26384
@t-dialin.net

mike26384 to LndnTex

Anon

to LndnTex

Re: world eh?

I'll change my server next Time if it will make you happy.
gaforces (banned)
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA

3 edits

gaforces (banned) to LndnTex

Member

to LndnTex
said by LndnTex:

I didn't know the FCC had the ability to regulate the airwaves outside of these United States of America.
It's funny, but they actually do (or used to) have some ability ...

"Wi-Fi uses both single carrier direct-sequence spread spectrum radio technology (part of the larger family of spread spectrum systems) and multi-carrier OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) radio technology. These regulations then enabled the development of Wi-Fi, its onetime competitor HomeRF, and Bluetooth.

Unlicensed spread spectrum was first made available by the Federal Communications Commission in 1985 and these FCC regulations were later copied with some changes in many other countries enabling use of this technology in all major countries.[11] The FCC action was proposed by Michael Marcus of the FCC staff in 1980 and the subsequent regulatory action took 5 more years. It was part of a broader proposal to allow civil use of spread spectrum technology and was opposed at the time by main stream equipment manufacturers and many radio system operators.

The precursor to Wi-Fi was invented in 1991 by NCR Corporation/AT&T (later Lucent & Agere Systems) in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands. It was initially intended for cashier systems; the first wireless products were brought on the market under the name WaveLAN with speeds of 1 Mbit/s to 2 Mbit/s. Vic Hayes, who held the chair of IEEE 802.11 for 10 years and has been named the 'father of Wi-Fi,' was involved in designing standards such as IEEE 802.11b, and 802.11a."

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi ··· #History

RealityBites
@insightbb.com

RealityBites

Anon

Notsofast

Yeah, I'm sure AT&T, Verizon, and the Feds are going to let it happen the way some of you dream. Google can be no more than another player in the field. Wake up now, your getting a call.

afsdfads
@comcast.net

afsdfads

Anon

Goog

I do think it would be good for consumers if google gets this. There needs to be competition out there besides at&t, sprint, and verizon....... Google could really shake things up.

Tzale
Proud Libertarian Conservative
Premium Member
join:2004-01-06
NYC Metro

Tzale

Premium Member

Re: Goog

said by afsdfads :

I do think it would be good for consumers if google gets this. There needs to be competition out there besides at&t, sprint, and verizon....... Google could really shake things up.
No offense, but if there companies competing isn't enough, I really don't see a fourth changing much... Of course, Google is a revolutionary company IMHO and they MIGHT offer a free service. If they did, I'd sign up for it, since I barely use a handful of minutes per month. Not even the cheapest plan is "cheap" enough for me... The only thing that makes sense is prepay.

-Tzale
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Goog

That's why there are prepaid services for people who don't use very many minutes and don't want the contract. You get the nice thing about getting to buy your minutes when you want and how much at a time, a cheap phone and not tied to anyone for 2 years. Plus if you have TM or GoPhone you can get a new phone all the time when they're offered to the public as prepaid or off eBay and not have to worry about calling someone to reprogram the phone.

Tzale
Proud Libertarian Conservative
Premium Member
join:2004-01-06
NYC Metro

Tzale

Premium Member

Re: Goog

said by hottboiinnc4:

That's why there are prepaid services for people who don't use very many minutes and don't want the contract. You get the nice thing about getting to buy your minutes when you want and how much at a time, a cheap phone and not tied to anyone for 2 years. Plus if you have TM or GoPhone you can get a new phone all the time when they're offered to the public as prepaid or off eBay and not have to worry about calling someone to reprogram the phone.
The thing that stinks is that I'd like to have data service, but it's kind of hard to justify the cost of the service and the phones... I'd like to have an iPhone type device, but I refuse to have to pay outrageous fees for phone service.

There is definitely a market for people like myself who would gladly purchase a $20/month plan that offered MORE than the standard today for 3X that price. I'm not looking for pure hard minutes, but rather a nicer phone and data service so I could surf the net and do things like that.

-Tzale

BAF
Baffles
Premium Member
join:2004-02-22
Gansevoort, NY

1 recommendation

BAF

Premium Member

Re: Goog

I have an HTC Mogul on the $30/month SERO plan from Sprint. Gives me 500 anytime minutes, unlimited nights/weekends, unlimited data, unlimited texting, and a bunch of other crap.

Tzale
Proud Libertarian Conservative
Premium Member
join:2004-01-06
NYC Metro

1 edit

Tzale

Premium Member

Re: Goog

said by BAF:

I have an HTC Mogul on the $30/month SERO plan from Sprint. Gives me 500 anytime minutes, unlimited nights/weekends, unlimited data, unlimited texting, and a bunch of other crap.
How much does it cost for the HTC Mogul through Sero?

-Tzale
Youngjm
join:2002-04-01
Ada, MI

Youngjm to afsdfads

Member

to afsdfads
This all assumes that Google offers a quality service. They may be revolutionary but it still takes time to build a network let alone tune it so you don't have dropped calls.

Transmaster
Don't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY

Transmaster

Member

Re: Goog

said by Youngjm:

This all assumes that Google offers a quality service. They may be revolutionary but it still takes time to build a network let alone tune it so you don't have dropped calls.
Hmmm I wonder who is out there with a network that is ripe for the take over?
jay_rm
join:2002-04-12
Netville

jay_rm

Member

Re: Goog

Uhhhhh.......I don't know, maybe SPRINT !

yeppers
@bellsouth.net

yeppers

Anon

It is all about data and the last mile and Internet anywhere

Google will likely have a wireless data network. Phone calls are probably secondary and can be handled with VOIP. (Like using a Skype plug-in on your smart phone now) It is all about protecting the "last mile" that the cable and phone companies own. I think that when ATT threatened to block internet access to certain how volume sites (like Google) unless they pay up
( »techdirt.com/articles/20 ··· _F.shtml
Google wants to have some control of the "pipe".
cajun4x4
join:2000-10-02
Rayne, LA

cajun4x4

Member

Could be a bottomless pit

If you ask me, Google will need to show at least a decent ROI on the money spent on spectrum and the estimated $20-$30 billion it will take to construct the infrastructure before this pipe dream becomes a reality. I would imagine that they could easy right these parts off, but what about operational costs? The bodies and technology needed to run this beast would easy add up to some fairly large operational costs to be able to maintain reliability in order to grow the business. I would hope that the had the foresight to at least engage individuals that have experience in these fields.
Ahrenl
join:2004-10-26
North Andover, MA

Ahrenl

Member

Network towers already in place?

Isn't there already the physical capabilities to broadcast over the 700mhz spectrum in place? Won't it be less expensive for the new entrant (assuming the current infrastructure will be available to purchase) to setup a network, since they'll just need to retrofit already existing towers? I'd be interested in comments about this from anyone who knows...

rit56
join:2000-12-01
New York, NY

rit56

Member

Re: Network towers already in place?

there is. In New York the signal is broadcast from the Empire State Building.... they used to use the WTC.

Yeppers
@bellsouth.net

Yeppers to Ahrenl

Anon

to Ahrenl
The 700 mhz band requires one-half to one-quarter of the number of towers that the 1800mhz phone band requires. An ideal 700mhz tower can cover a radius of 20 miles, similar to the old 800mhz phone bands. Now that towers are already in place, leasing space is cheap and installation easy. Power and other infrastructure is already in place. The cost of equiptment to handle TCPIP over radio is cheap.

Today, you can "back-haul" your data with tower to tower microwave and can possibly have no connections to the phone network. In the past, towers required expensive T-1 to t-3 lines right to the tower base.

It is doable.

Also, Google file a "shelf registration" with the SEC in February, 2007 for issuing up to 3 million shares. A approved shelf registration means you can issue the stock in 30-45 days. In theory, GOOG could raise 3,000,000 times the current stock price($700+?) minus a few bucks by new years day. You do the math. The money is there. With the money, you can hire all of the best wireless talent you need. THey are looking for work, phone networks are built-out.

Tell me a company than manages the world's largest wide web server and data communications network can't manage a US wireless network.