Seattle Tries Again For Fiber Network This Time With Help From Gigabit Squared For much of the last decade Seattle has explored the idea of building their own ultra-fast broadband network. Much of that motivation was fueled by the sub-standard service provided in the region by regional telco Qwest (now CenturyLink), which in turn resulted in regional cable operator Comcast not working very hard. After scrapping several fiber plans and shutting down their Wi-Fi network, Seattle is back at work on a new fiber to the home effort in conjunction with Gigabit Squared. As the project announcement notes, GigaBit Squared will have to get the funding for a 12 neighborhood deployment that would bring fiber to around 50,000 residents and businesses: Gigabit Seattle plans to build out a fiber-to-the-home/fiber-to-the-business (FTTH/FTTB) network to more than 50,000 households and businesses in 12 demonstration neighborhoods, connected together with the excess capacity that Gigabit Seattle will lease from the City’s own fiber network. Gigabit Seattle’s technology intends to offer gigabit speeds that are up to 1,000 times faster than the typical high-speed connection. This is the first demonstration project of Blair Levin and Gigabit Squared’s Gigabit Neighborhood Gateway Program (GNGP), which we discussed in detail back in May. There's no word on who the ISP will be in this equation, or whether this will be an open network unto which ISPs are then invited to compete (a premise Google originally said they'd adhere to for Google Fiber before backing away from).
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  tshirtPremium,MVM
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
kudos:3 | Again they will... ... spend hundreds of thousands and multiple years before they shut it down, conceding it will never meet the goals or reach breakeven or reasonable subsidy levels. | |
|  |  VanPremium
join:2009-07-08
New Orleans, LA | Re: Again they will... said by tshirt:... spend hundreds of thousands and multiple years before they shut it down, conceding it will never meet the goals or reach breakeven or reasonable subsidy levels.
Didn't take Google that long and though they are not Google, there are cities that have succeeded so it really is not THAT far fetched | |
| | | tshirtPremium,MVM
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
kudos:3 | Re: Again they will... I lived in and around seattle most of my life...Trust me this isn't an done deal.
one of the truly odd things is the city allowing one selective redlining of certain areas, something that won't sit well with residents. | |
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 jester121Premium
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL | ??? Why does Seattle's taxpayer-funded city government fiber network have excess capacity for 50,000 homes and businesses? | |
| | | | Re: ??? It's much cheaper to put a lot more fiber then you need in the ground then it is to realize you installed to little and have to go back and redo it. | |
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| | Talk is cheap, I'll believe it when I see it. As a lifelong resident of King County, living in Seattle for 20 years, I am very pessimistic about this. Mostly because theres no specific mention of what types of speeds, how much it will cost and when it will occur. Mayor McGinn's first attempt to lease out our dark fiber began by letting Comcast take over the Pioneer Square district (near the stadiums), but providing only commercial/business use. Theres no actual mention of wiring up single resident homes, just apartments and businesses. What I suspect will happen is they'll run fiber to the building, COAX to the top of the building, then wireless coverage top to bottom.
This isnt FTTP, its not going to remotely compare to Googles gigabit service in Kansas City or even to Verizon/Frontier service 20 miles away in Eastside King County.
The irony is that the city said they couldnt afford to spend 50-100 million to wire up the city with FTTP, but had no problem coughing up 200 million for a new NBA arena. | |
| | | | Re: Talk is cheap, I'll believe it when I see it. Wow, they built an arena when they just hope they can get team?? I had not heard that.
On the other hand, maybe this one will pan out because their partner may have a better plan. | |
| | | | | Re: Talk is cheap, I'll believe it when I see it. Yup and even more ironic is that while most of the residents are in favor of bringing the Seattle Sonics back, Amtrak, Safeco Field, Port of Seattle, all against it because of all the extra traffic it would bring, ignoring how Safeco field traffic cripples 1st ave for up to hours before and after the game.
The only business not complaining is Century Link Field (well 1st and Goal) which handles Seahawks and Sounders FC. Seahawks pretty much sell out most games and Sounders easily destroy Mariners attendance. | |
| | | | Chawk12Premium
join:2011-12-26
Everett, WA | Re: Talk is cheap, I'll believe it when I see it. Actually their not building anything unless they get a team.
And if you're against taxpayer subsidies you might want to check out the sweet deal the POS just gave Hanjin. | |
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| | | | The guy (Chris Hansen) who's paying for this, has already bought the land, but no stadium hasn't been built yet.
said by FloridaBoy:Wow, they built an arena when they just hope they can get team?? I had not heard that.
On the other hand, maybe this one will pan out because their partner may have a better plan.
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| | | Call me crazy, but didnt it mention 1GB and 100mb service being provided?
My big problem with this is that it is mostly going to be wireless coverage and wireless sucks ass over all. | |
| | | tshirtPremium,MVM
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
kudos:3 Reviews:
 ·Comcast
| Re: Talk is cheap, I'll believe it when I see it. Big difference between Wi-Fi and LOS fixed wireless, BUT since one of their info pages says they'll be "beaming fiber wirelessly direct to homes" there is more than enough disinformation/foo foo/spin to confuse any chance of a realistic plan being revealed.
Seattle previously had LOS fixed service for business setup.
I believe the business failed when the city pushed conduit throughout the business core (years of dug up streets) That's where the downtown fiber runs that will link the LOS sites on buildings between 40 and 76 stories.
However Seattle has a lot of steep, large hills which explains the odd/haphazard pattern of test sites.
So areas quite close to downtown will be shadowed from LOS, while from 76 stories you could hit large parts of towns 30 miles away (and thus not Seattle's problem ) | |
| | | | | | Re: Talk is cheap, I'll believe it when I see it. I'm just waiting for the first bird to catch on fire as it crosses the LOS lasers that don't exist.  And the lawsuit that will surely follow. | |
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| | Gigabit "Gigabit Seattle’s technology intends to offer gigabit speeds that are up to 1,000 times faster than the typical high-speed connection"
Is the typical internet connection 1mbps in Seattle? I highly doubt it. A muni project already tainted with telco marketing. 1000 times faster than our slowest competitor. | |
| Chawk12Premium
join:2011-12-26
Everett, WA | Should be less expensive to build in Seattle As opposed to the eastside of King County.
Seattle has the density to make OSP improvements more cost effective. | |
|  alchav
join:2002-05-17
Palm Desert, CA |  Good for Seattle, it seems they have a Good Solid Plan!
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| | tshirtPremium,MVM
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
kudos:3 Reviews:
·Comcast
| Re: Good for Seattle, it seems they have a Good Solid Plan! The problem is they have had a number of plans over the last 15+ years and none has progress beyond tests/ study areas and none have survived.
Million have been spent for the city to own/control networks /cable/Telco and the citizens have very little left to show for it.
Had half the effort gone in to actually encouraging the existing providers this could have been one of the most wired cities, instead they offer another test of Partial coverage. | |
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WhatNowPremium
join:2009-05-06
Charlotte, NC | Dumb pipe plan I would suggest the city just provide the fiber connection from a Central POP site to the side of your house like the power company does. Then let each customer pick a content provider that you connect to at the POP site and all the install work from the side of the house in.
You may only get 1 or 2 content providers or you could end up with 25 over time. This way you get the best of both worlds. You get the fiber connection spread of the most people instead of having two or three systems like cable and telco does now. But you get get as many content providers that are willing to set up shop. If I was Dish or DirecTV I would use the city fiber to get the signal to your house instead of the individual satellite dishes. The content providers can compete on service, price and the content package they offer. | |
| BiggA
join:2005-11-23
EARTH | Pretty awesome This sounds pretty good, although with 50/10 Blast!, I'm getting less disappointed with Comcast. | |
| Reviews:
 ·Google Voice
·Junction Networks
·Callcentric
 ·T-Mobile US
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| Gigabit Seattle Sounds like a good plan!
What I don't understand is how come in Moscow, Russia, there is no end to practically every MDU building being wired up with Ethernet, and having great service at affordable rates, even though each provider has a monopoly on any given building!
Why is investing in internet infrastructure works in Moscow, but doesn't work in San Jose?
In the Silicon Valley, not only is there no competition at all whatsoever, but even brand new buildings that are already prewired for Ethernet with Cat5e or Cat6, are still standing still and dark. »Cat5e in Bay Area large new res buildings left unused? Landlord greed, real lack of interest and investment, or all of the above? | |
| | | | Re: Gigabit Seattle Moscow has a lot of people and a very different regulatory body. If we had a regulatory body that pushed providers forward, our broadband environment might look quite different. | |
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