Google Fiber To Acquire Gigabit Internet Provider Webpass (techcrunch.com) 59
An anonymous reader writes: Google Fiber has announced a deal to acquire high-speed internet service provider Webpass. Webpass is a 13-year-old company that provides high-speed internet, including gigabit service, for businesses and residential customers across parts of the U.S.. Webpass is most widely known in California, with service running in San Fransisco, Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley and San Diego. It also has service in Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Chicago, and Boston. The President of Webpass, Charles Barr, said in a blog post: "Joining Google Fiber will be a great development for our users because the companies share the same vision of the future and commitment to the customer," he said. "Google Fiber's resources will enable Webpass to grow faster and reach many more customers than we could as a standalone company." The acquisition should help Google Fiber with its plans to grow to more than 20 U.S. cities in the near future, helping connect to business and residential markets.
And nothing for rest of America. (Score:5, Informative)
Not everyone lives in big cities. Those who live in Rural areas who need high speed internet (sometimes even more than city folks) are still left out because such areas are unprofitable.
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That's right, it's area is tiny compared to that of Phoenix or Jacksonville, FL. It's population though is ranked 13th in the US as a city on it's own. Along with the rest of the bay-area it's 5th in the US. So I guess it's not a big city.
Re: And nothing for rest of America. (Score:1)
Actually, the population of the Bay Area is about 7 million. That makes it the second biggest city in the US - just behind NYC.
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Actually, the population of the Bay Area is about 7 million. That makes it the second biggest city in the US
The Bay Area is not a city. It's barely even a geographical region — it's big enough to have multiple climates [sunset.com].
Re: And nothing for rest of America. (Score:2)
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1. NY
2. LA
3. D/FW
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I live in a city with under 45,000 people, and it is one of the biggest in the area.
The biggest city in my state is around 850,000 people. So, for me, San Francisco is a big city at around the same population.
It is also the densest city in the country after NYC, most dense in California, and 4th most populous in California.
If that isn't a big city, what is in the USA outside of Chicago, NYC and LA?
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Not to be a jerk about it but... so what? Why is it that people want to live in the sticks and cry that they don't have everything that places that have more than 10,000 people per square mile have? I'm a suburbanite and I'm grateful for what I have (Comcast that tests at about 30megs a second). There are places less than 5 miles from my house where that isn't possible. Sure, I'd like a bit more of the rural life but I realize that this is one of the places I'd have to accept that country living is what the
Re:And nothing for rest of America. (Score:4, Informative)
Internet connectivity has become a core service that we to function in modern society. Much like how landlines were in the past generation. Or Electricity and Plumbing the generation before.
The Rural people actually have a bigger need for internet as they don't have ready access to many other services so they use the internet to communicate with people in the distances for their needs. It isn't a short drive to your local post office or government officials to fill out paperwork. Or to try to do a quick stop by at an office during business hours. Or wait hours on the phone for basic service.
When the cities get gigabit internet website grow larger and more complex to offer features that are now available to the faster speeds, leaving the rural population unable to use their slower speed connections.
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Not to be a jerk about it but... so what? Why is it that people want to live in the sticks and cry that they don't have everything that places that have more than 10,000 people per square mile have?... Maybe by the time I retire I can actually live someplace with a population density under 20/sqm and get good internet service but I'm not going to fool myself that it makes good business sense to do it today.
People have been saying that for 20 years now. What we've learned in those decades is that it will probably never make more business sense to build infrastructure in the country when you can make more money maintaining and/or rebuilding that infrastructure in a city instead.
The real problem, in my view, is that we only have two or three telecoms companies in the United States. They have no interest in serving the few (hundred million) people who choose to live in the middle of nowhere, so they don't. Tha
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They have no interest in serving the few (hundred million) people who choose to live in the middle of nowhere, so they don't.
As of 2014, there are 318 million people in the US. I highly doubt that 1/3 of the US population lives in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps 10s of millions, but unlikely 100 million.
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As of 2014, there are 318 million people in the US. I highly doubt that 1/3 of the US population lives in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps 10s of millions, but unlikely 100 million.
You are of course correct. According to Wikipedia, the population of the US is currently 323,341,000, and 81% of them live in cities or suburbs. That works out to 61.4 million people living in rural areas. Rhetorical excesses aside, my point was that that's kind of a lot of people for the monopolists to be willfully depriving of decent internet connectivity.
Re: And nothing for rest of America. (Score:2)
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Why do you expect private firms to roll fiber in rural areas which you know it is unprofitable? Do you just like whining about impossible things not happening? You could have your town council or your county pay for the infrastructure and lease it to the ISPs.
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You could.. except in places where towns build their own networks there is generally a push by telecoms/cable to ban it or make it more difficult to do. It happened here in NC after one town built their own fiber network for residential use.
Not to mention, if the taxpayers pay for it and then lease it to a company that charges them their full regular price (honestly can't imagine otherwise), they're getting double billed.
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Go ahead and try to force that on America. You will see a Gun pointed at any official that tries. And that will be in solid Blue states!
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No one is forcing anyone here. No one is forcing you to move, you can move by choice and get fiber if you want. No one is forcing ISPs to lay fiber at unprofitable places either. I am sure ISPs even in blue states will bring guns, and point it at any official that tries to force them to lay fiber.
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We don't? What do you intend to eat when no one raises your meat or grows your vegis?
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Not everyone lives in big cities. Those who live in Rural areas who need high speed internet (sometimes even more than city folks) are still left out because such areas are unprofitable.
It's not just rural areas that are left out. I'm on the south-side of Chicago and my only realistic option is Comcast; they bill me over $100/mo for 25 Mb service.
I so want to switch providers, but it's the same story every time:
Webpass is building specific and is currently not available in your building. Please fill out this form to bring Webpass to your building!
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Water, electricity, roads? Come on man I don't want to live in a 3rd world country where that stuff stops existing or functioning properly when you get out of the major cities.
Installing fiber lines has gotten a lot cheaper in the last decade and will continue to do so as more companies are doing last-mile fiber installs. It's already cheap enough that I think it should be done on an as-efficiently-doable basis... like if a road is being torn up, or power lines are being replaced, or whatever, there should
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Water comes from the ground, often farms build their own roads, and electricity lines are often run by the farmer. Next?
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How about if we take your internet away first, after all guns are guaranteed by the constitution to every US citizen (the people), but internet is a luxury.
So will their existing customers get hit... (Score:2, Interesting)
... with forced binding arbitration clauses too?
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No. They can opt out by disconnecting their service.
What internet should be (Score:5, Informative)
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I'm lucky enough to live in an on-net building with them in San Diego (I've also worked at several locally San Diego ISPs in the past that did similar things for the point-to-point wireless market for businesses). Aside from a few hiccups, I've been very happy with them.
Unfortunately, I don't think I trust Alphabet to be running my direct uplink and to NOT mine every little bit of traffic to deduce even more about my life than they've already figured out.
I'll probably revert to using Cox Cable for my normal
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Unfortunately, I don't think I trust Alphabet to be running my direct uplink and to NOT mine every little bit of traffic to deduce even more about my life than they've already figured out.
I'll probably revert to using Cox Cable for my normal uplink and only do huge downloads (or PS/XBox and streaming stuff) through Google Fiber.
You don't think Cox Cable uses DPI for the same reason?
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I pay $90/mo for 75/75, the maximum service offered by VZ is 500/500 for $215/mo according to my customer page (Central Maryland).
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Also, it looks like the rate being quoted is for 100 MB on the Webpass site, I don't see how much it is for Gig.
What was the stated point of Google Fiber again? (Score:2)
I seem to remember that the point of Google launching this Fiber ISP was to introduce competition to stagnant markets and bring gigabit internet to markets that lacked it, with the ultimate goal of putting more people in a position to use their services. Or was that from when "Don't be evil" was still in effect? Acquisitions are anti-competitive and consolidation of the ISP industry is what is driving stagnation.
Re:What was the stated point of Google Fiber again (Score:4, Insightful)
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What drives stagnation is Verizon's decision to stop rolling out fiber. Verizon has decided to not compete in the Fiber market. How about complaining about that.
Or AT&T trying to make it harder for Google to compete in the markets AT&T operates. Now that's anti-competitive
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Both of the examples you listed are also undesirable and I have specifically complained about them in the past. They are also both directly driven by the lack of competition, due largely to consolidation through acquisitions. Why does Google get a pass on this (a pass on people even complaining about it, as you seem to want)? Anyway, it's consolidation and a general lack of competition that's causing stagnation, not just Verizon and AT&T, as the market I live in is stagnant and neither one of those comp
Re: What was the stated point of Google Fiber agai (Score:3)
Still (Score:3)
TANSTAAFL
Very unfortunate (Score:1)