Back in February we noted that Google Fiber had announced they were working with thirty-four new cities in nine regions on making it easier for those locations to see fiber broadband deployed. While not all of those cities will receive Google Fiber, the company announced they'd be working with all of the cities to help expedite the arrival of faster broadband services -- whether it's courtesy of Google Fiber, somebody else, or the city itself.
Those cities are now rushing to provide the detailed information Google requested on city infrastructure and ordinances, while coming to terms with the collision of interests that happens when it comes to broadband upgrades versus pretty streets (read: telecom utility cabinets on easements in front of your house). Case in point is the city of Portland, which this week is lightly grumbling about Google's request for cabinet placements:
quote:Portland officials, who have been pursuing a faster, more flexible alternative to Comcast and CenturyLink for over a decade, have embraced Google’s overtures. But they’re scratching their heads as they try to match the company’s stated requirements with city rules and resources. Google, for example, wants to put small networking cabinets in the public right of way around the city. They’re small – two feet on each side and four feet high – but it’s not the sort of thing Portland currently allows.
Having some say over cabinet placement certainly isn't a bad thing, as this errant Google Fiber cabinet in Kansas City attests. But as we've discussed previously, towns and cities that don't quickly adhere to Google's demands (whether it's easement use or liability issues) can quickly find themselves punished for standing up to Google or delaying things too long. That could be a double-bladed sword, depending on the issues discussed. What if Google wants something unfair? Too bad.
Fortunately, Portland town officials claim their issues with Google's demands aren't "insurmountable," and any changes to city code will also benefit any other provider who wants to come in to the city and build faster networks.
Thats not bad. With fiber, they dont need any electricity for amps or equipment, which probably make those boxes small. Think of that box as a patch panel.
Thanks for posting the picture. Do you have google fiber?
My neighborhood is scheduled for install sometime this summer so hopefully by then.
The area we are in is all underground utilities so really besides these boxes there isn't much else in the neighborhoods. The connection to the house comes from a small box that is flush with ground (looks like sprinkler valve box).
Can you do the test to the speed test .net server in Washington DC? That is the only one that I can find that is fast enough that is not on a local network. I have to use that one to max out a desktop connection. This is on a 1Gbps connection to the 10Gbps core that has two active/active 10Gbps connections to the internet. I wonder how Google Fiber compares on this same server?
Not too bad for a GPON network. I'd take it in a heartbeat. Do wonder how it will compare to Active Ethernet once the service gets loaded up. Do you know if your fiberhood is on a 1:16 or 1:32 split?
This area is one of the 34 next possible locations but it's probably a long shot that we actually get picked.
I've heard it's an AE/WDM-PON hybrid. I was at a Google Fiber tech conference last Fall and a Gfiber net engineer told me that the network can sustain near 1Gbit to 80% user capacity within a fiberhood or something like that if I understood right. Given that very few would sustain high bandwidth concurrently, would be surprising if many would interfere with each other until maybe 4K streaming becomes common.
I'm in a condo hirise with nearly 150 units. Everyone got GFiber although many are using the 'free' 5Mbit. So the distribution of 5M users will keep load of the fiberhoods as well.
I'm also in a neighborhood with underground utilities (still in the "rally" phase. I've been wondering about this. Are there any pictures around of the house connection you mention?
They basically ran larger boxes that are flush with ground on one side of the street then every 2 houses they run conduit under the street and place these smaller boxes. For the most part its been pretty clean in my area.
Not sure where these pictures were taken in KC though.
It's not bad until the darn kids start spray painting it, and it's your responsibility to repaint it weekly at your cost or face code violation fines. Just sayin. It's a trade off .
and it's your responsibility to repaint it weekly at your cost or face code violation fines
It's never your responsibility to repaint Telco equipment in the public RoW. Even though you are attempting to "beautify" YOU are technically tagging just as much as the kids.
That eventually led the FCC to deregulate cable modem service (2002). And that decision led to the later decision in which the FCC deregulated DSL service (2005).
So you can thank Portland for the two decisions that deregulated broadband and left us with the mess in which we currently find ourselves (i.e., deregulation but no competition).
In fairness, I agreed with Portland at the time, and still do. They wanted an "open" cable modem infrastructure. Had they succeeded, we would have retail ISP competition over the last mile. As it is, we don't.
Everybody wants that, Portland just happens to have demonstrated multiple way/times, how not to get that done. AND has generate public expense each and every time. I only hope they are thinking VERY carefully what they are giving up and how they can/intend to deal with the conflicts the current plan will generate. don't want them walking face first in to the windmill again.
what gets me is they'll bed over backwords and change everything for someone like Google only to find out it's years down the road to even get the service- IF it at all happens in in 5-10years. Look at Austin- it's not started. KC isn't even half done.
Google may "win" either way, worse consumers may actually lose. IF they (Google) can fool enough of the other players into abandoning their own business plans too instead try and match Google's unproven broadband investment plan, Google will still reap the major data collection benefit even if not first hand. In return the existing majors could become financially unstable long before they can complete a meaningful rollout leaving many unserved with little chance of new investment (Google pocket aren't deep enough to rescue every new iProvo clone) Race to the bottom (line) "gas wars" often do MORE damage to consumers/the marketplace over the longterm, in return what is sometimes a very brief benefit. "I want it NOW" consumers are just as bad as "next quarter return" investors.
Google never really "rescued" iProvo. The city and tax payers are still on that hook. The only thing they got was $1 that didn't even pay for crap. The city gave that network away and the tax payers were stupid for allowing it. Google should had to have paid just like any other provider.
But if Portland was still serious about anyone else, they would have made it easy for any other true overbuilder to move in.
MetroFI was NOT cable. It was the free wireless Internet company that got cities to give them millions. A main reason cities should not be in the internet business.
Brand X was the case that ended up having cable modem services turned into an information service, not AT&T and the city of Portland.
It was both, but Portland (2000) preceded Brand X (2003) by three years.
The FCC Order that labeled cable modem service as an information service came out in 2002; it decided the Portland case (AT&T filed suit against Portland in 1999). The FCC Order came out a year before the initial Brand X case, which was a decision that overturned the FCC decision. The Supremes decided the Brand-X case in 2005, relying on the FCC decision as a precedent and affirming it.
It was the Portland case that first teed up the issue, but yes, the Brand-X decision settled the question once and for all.
...you have to sign over the deed to your property, your first born virgin child, and the key to the city. After all you can trust corporations who say they "will do no evil" because corporations never lie or change direction. nothing like offering special legislation to please one entity.
That may be true.. But, that's just MORE reason for the municipalities to OWN the backbone, and let any ISP rent out capacity. Ever wonder why, I don't know, 35 or so countries have FASTER and CHEAPER internet than the US? Maybe because their governments OWN the infrastructure, and rent out the capacity. You do have a point though. The SOLE reason for a corporation to exist is to MAKE MONEY. However, much like the tragedy of the commons, what's good for the corporation is not good for the majority. First step, is to take away the 'personhood' rights from corporations. A corporation should exist SOLELY to collect money, pay money, and sign contracts. NO 'person' rights apart from that. As soon as you tell me how we can put a 'corporation' in prison for breaking the law, I will happily give them free speech and other rights. Until then, nada.
Would the city of Portland provide the exact same thing for anyone who wanted to offer service in Portland? Have they been just as helpful from the beginning to the local ILEC and Cable co or has the city pissed them off by trying to tax, regulate, and sue them into dictating what they want the Cableco, ILEC, and Clecs to do for them?
I can see that this leads to an unfar advantage to Google over competing (not just the cable and ILEC) companies.
The people that have issues with these cabinets almost every time is when they are not placed on the far edge or on the property line. No one wants a cabinet in the middle of there yard. And almost everything there are complaints its because they did not place it on the edge of the property line, which most of the time is due to lazy crews.
Can't they just bury them? Leave it exposed until they're sure everything is running smoothly, then cover it over with a inch or so of soil so that grass will grow. Maybe not as convenient as having it sit on top of the ground where it can be accessed at will, but really, how often do they need to go inside these things?
Cost and regulations are probably the main two reasons. It costs less to go above versus below ground even though I would agree that underground in many cases should be more reliable than above ground. If regulations do not require underground utilities, unless the reliability is significantly improved, there is no reason.
companies like Verizon are going to look like DSL offering a measly 150 megabits (the 300 & 500 tiers are less available than DSL was back in the day due to high prices and failure to upgrade the network) when Google ramps up beyond 1 gigabit. By the time a city like Portland comes online, there will likely be upgrades to Kansas City & others for 10, 40 & 100 gigabits. this transition to ultra-band something that is long overdue. meanwhile, the big carriers trying to find ways to COMMODITIZE the peering network (as with other parts of the backbone) by artificially throttling and causing bottlenecks where none existed before under *REASONABLE* utilization curves & required upgrades as per customer uptake rates.
broadband IS NOT and SHOULD NOT be charged for like so much retail gasoline, corn and bacon.
HINT VERIZON, IT'S ALL YOU! Doing one thing, while saying another is... called ugh hypocrisy, along with "That's not all you get!" commercials. AT&T is on the edge of not being called a broadband provider these days.
The benefit I see is that the possibility of getting Google Fiber has incentivized municipalities into using the GF planning guide to confront some entrenched municipal government bureaucracies. Why should it take so long to get permits as it has in the past? Why have we not properly staffed certain agencies so permitting goes faster? Why do we not have a easily accessible database of infrastructure that is kept up to date? Fixing these problems can benefit all sorts of construction contractors, not just GF. If every municipality in the USA confronted and solved the issues in the GF planning guide, there might be a statistically significant reduction in construction costs for many types of construction.