Having been directly involved in the Google Fiber projects, I can tell you there are a number of factors that caused them to take pause on the deployments. One was the almost obstructionist attitude of pole owners (read competitors to their broadband deployment). This forced a lot more of the project deigns to underground deployment. In cities like San Jose and San Francisco, there were a lot of requirements that cost more money than Google budgeted for. In some respects Google kind of had the idea that cities would remove obstacles like that to get them in their city. With so much existing broadband already in place, this is certainly not the case. I think Google thought all cities were going to have the attitude like they had with the first cities who applied for Google to come to their cities (Like Kansas City did).
Google was also of the impression that they could design and permit their networks and then cherry pick neighborhoods to deploy based on pre-sign ups (in Google terms - fiberhoods). This creates a huge logistic problem in planning construction especially with underground deployment. This also drove up costs. Google is still investigating the wireless options. What you will see from them should be a hybrid network system. They will buy up dark fiber, capacity on lit fiber, conduit space and whole fiber systems where they can. They may use microwave to cross connect systems or bridge high construction cost areas such as railroad crossings. They are looking at wireless to basically go more from the curb to the customer, especially in MDU cases. Existing competition and/or existing contracts within an MDU makes it risky to do a wired play if they cannot assure themselves of a huge take rate within the MDU. I see their wireless play as more of a high capacity short hop last mile, but even then they will have challenges with spectrum, interference and capacity. While we all would think Google is a great company with resources to do whatever they set their minds to, keep in mind I have seen a lot from the inside. I like to equate them to a group of thirty somethings with ADD and too much money. They also seem to have the attitude that older folks are too far behind the times to possibly know what they are talking about. Google is certainly not a utility infrastructure company and lack the people, tools and skill sets to be one. They are their own best cheerleaders and they have a dangerous habit of believing their own hype internally and are not real good at listening to fresh viewpoints and outside input. Thank You, Brian Webster www.wirelessmapping.com www.Broadband-Mapping.com -----Original Message----- From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chuck McCown Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2016 1:29 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Google fiber going microwave? They may have great RF engineers, but you still cannot fit a camel through the eye of a needle. -----Original Message----- From: Josh Reynolds Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2016 11:04 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Google fiber going microwave? So, I get it. You guys are sitting around feeling so smug with your WISP. We're talking about one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world though. Do you really think they don't have some of the best RF engineering talent in the world on their payroll? They're not doing anything different than many of us have done, which is evaluate the business case for each technology and pick the most appropriate one for the application. If it was going to cost you a couple hundred thousand just to cross an intersection, you'd be doing the same thing too. It's the smart play. At least they're not doing this in LEC style, which would mean "saying they can't do it unless they receive federal subsidies". On Wed, Aug 10, 2016 at 11:59 AM, CBB - Jay Fuller <[email protected]> wrote: > > Wait until they experience ducting ;) > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Bill Prince > To: [email protected] > Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2016 11:48 AM > Subject: Re: [AFMUG] Google fiber going microwave? > > It's apparently "too expensive" to do underground fiber. At least in > San Jose. > > Anyone know anything about Webpass? > > > bp > <part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com> > > On 8/10/2016 9:44 AM, Gino Villarini wrote: > > Google Fiber considering fixed microwave technology as alternative to > fiber. > Interesting times! > > http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/08/google-fiber-del > ays-san-jose-project-may-switch-to-wireless-instead/?comments=1 > >
