09-05-2017, 09:10 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-05-2017, 09:10 PM by SteelCrysis.)
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Honey...ity-140252
Quote:Motherboard recently spent some time talking to locals in Kansas City to determine the fate of Google Fiber's dedication to the area, and found a decidedly mixed bag. Once held up as the vanguard of the company's attempts to disrupt the uncompetitive broadband market, the future of Google Fiber's deployment in the city appears very much in question.
"We were saying that in all likelihood this is too good to be true," Isaac Wilder, co-founder of the Free Network Foundation and a Kansas City native told the website. "Lo and behold, just a few years later and it's beginning to become clear that [Google Fiber] was just a lot of lip service," he added.
Part of the problem is that Google Fiber executives are enamoured with next-generation wireless as a cheaper deployment option, but many of these technologies (including millimeter wave and 5G) remain uncooked. So while Google fiber management is stuck in a holding pattern waiting to see if wireless is the answer, PR reps are stuck with no real answer for annoyed users. That was reflected once again by the rather meaningless statement Google Fiber provides Motherboard.
"We hear loud and clear from communities in the region who are interested in talking with us, but for now we're heads down in innovation that will help us to do this business in a way that's maintainable for the long haul," said a company spokesperson.
To be clear, Google Fiber has done a hell of a lot of good for the broadband market by fostering a much-needed conversation on the abysmal lack of real competition in the market. They've also doled out connectivity to numerous low income areas that have been consistently ignored. But the future of the entire effort remains anything but certain, and it wouldn't be shocking to see Google grow tired of the venture, ultimately selling it to any number of interested, incumbent suitors like CenturyLink.