Google Fiber gets new CEO, sheds more staff as it shifts focus to wireless

[Jos]

Back in October Alphabet announced that it was dramatically cutting back on its plans to expand its fiber rollout. Now the company has hired broadband veteran Greg McCray as the new CEO for Access, the division that runs Google Fiber, to steer the ISP into a new direction.

As part of the restructuring losing "hundreds" of employees and moving them to positions within Google’s key growth areas such as cloud, YouTube, and hardware. This is on top of the layoffs at Access last year after the company announced it was halting plans to expand Google Fiber to more cities.

It’s no secret that the company has been rethinking how it delivers speedy broadband access, as rolling out a fiber network is a costly endeavor. A Recode report last year says it costs Mountain View $1 billion to bring Fiber to a new market. Under the new CEO, Fiber might move forward with rumored plans to pursuing wireless broadband technologies instead, building upon its Webpass acquisition last year.

Whereas Google Fiber runs fiber optic cables to each customer’s home, which reportedly costs the company as much as $1 billion to cover a new market, Webpass beams high-speed broadband through a network of point-to-point, line of sight transmitters and receivers. Fiber is already experimenting with new wireless technologies in Kansas City and looks set to expand those experiments to other cities as well.

Despite the shift in focus Fiber will continue operations in markets where it already has a footprint.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/68192-google-fiber-gets-new-ceo-sheds-more-staff.html

 

[madboyv1]

No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Google Fiber was supposed to bring back the waning light of competition against the big 3 carriers... I was ready to sell my soul (and the souls of everyone in my family) for Google Fiber... Makes me so sad.

Also, operating with line of sight transmitters sound like a terrible idea.

 

[mbrowne5061]

Also, operating with line of sight transmitters sound like a terrible idea.

They are. They're really only effective if you're servicing an entire apartment complex. The 'central tower' wirelessly connects to each apartment building, which then rolls out to individual units either via cat6 or fiber. guess which one Google is likely to use? (Hint: it won't be fiber).

At this point, I'm convinced that the only way America's internet infrastructure will get updated is if municipalities take it upon themselves to form their own ISPs and roll out fiber networks to their residents. Private companies are too obsessed with recovering their investments that you end up getting overcharged for subpar services.

 

[Adorerai]

Also, operating with line of sight transmitters sound like a terrible idea.

They are. They're really only effective if you're servicing an entire apartment complex. The 'central tower' wirelessly connects to each apartment building, which then rolls out to individual units either via cat6 or fiber. guess which one Google is likely to use? (Hint: it won't be fiber).

At this point, I'm convinced that the only way America's internet infrastructure will get updated is if municipalities take it upon themselves to form their own ISPs and roll out fiber networks to their residents. Private companies are too obsessed with recovering their investments that you end up getting overcharged for subpar services.

You mean like UTOPIA in some cities in Utah. Where we've been paying taxes on it for nearly 20 years. And infrastructure has still not been built out. It can't fail because it has "free" money. The cost of the service is about $70 (1Gbps) a month for your ISP and another ~$35 to lease the line.

 

[Phr3d]

Better that municipalities of Every size put up their own cel-towers and rent or compete with Them. Then beam fiber delivered data to their income-producing constituents. But guv'm't competing for business dollars -even when the companies are Notoriously poor in providing service- will have most people running for the hills for reasons Adorerai mentioned among Many others, ideology, for instance.
I chose cel-towers supplied by fiber due to their low cost maintenance vs a one-time bond issue (voter approved) to pay the initial cost.
what the hell do -I- know, speed and data-limits would prolly be crippling, at least at first.

 

[mbrowne5061]

You mean like UTOPIA in some cities in Utah. Where we've been paying taxes on it for nearly 20 years. And infrastructure has still not been built out. It can't fail because it has "free" money. The cost of the service is about $70 (1Gbps) a month for your ISP and another ~$35 to lease the line.

If we're going to accept anecdotal evidence, then I can point out municipal ISP successes in South Carolina, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. The difference between a municipal and private ISP is, when you don't have access to a choice in ISPs, you can at least vote out the guys running the Municipal ISP [into the ground] without buying several million dollars worth of preferred stock options [like you would have to in order to vote on the private ISP's directions].

It sounds like you have a failure of governance, not a failure of an idea.

 

[Adorerai]

Ideas are great. Unfortunately someone has to execute them. Communism looks great on paper too. UTOPIA was supposed to be available to all residence in member cities by 2007, by 2012 they were at about 1/3 that. Some cities raised property taxes by nearly 50% to cover the cost overruns. Ideas like prioritizing rural deployment, where you get the least bang for your buck, and cost of service has lead to very low adoption rates. The problem with municipalities running it is there's an endless flow of cash and no real accountability. Throw money at it. That will fix the problem. At the very least with private companies, I can opt out of their products or services and keep that dollar in my pocket. Municipalities, not so much. Whether I choose to use them or not. I still get billed. UTOPIA was a miss, even for one of the best ran States in the union.