Google 1Gb/s Fiber Looking for Test Cities

[brianh]

from ars technica

"Google has just announced  a trial run of its new scheme, and it's asking city, county, or state officials to let it know if they're interested in a pilot project. In its initial phase, the fiber optic network will serve anywhere from 50,000 to 500,000 people."

There is a citizen and government official sign up page here: http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options

They said it might end up just being used for research or for full on future development across the country, but I think it would be nice to pressure Cox a bit.

[TURobY]

from ars technica

"Google has just announced  a trial run of its new scheme, and it's asking city, county, or state officials to let it know if they're interested in a pilot project. In its initial phase, the fiber optic network will serve anywhere from 50,000 to 500,000 people."

There is a citizen and government official sign up page here: http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options

They said it might end up just being used for research or for full on future development across the country, but I think it would be nice to pressure Cox a bit.

If nothing else, it would provide further competition. I submitted a request for Tulsa. I suggest that you submit one as well.

[stageidea]

This would be awesome if we could get it.  We could certainly use the competition.  

[godboko71]

This would be awesome if we could get it.  We could certainly use the competition. 

Don't forget to fill out the form.

[dsjeffries]

My nomination was turned in last night.

[stageidea]

Thanks submitted mine as well, yesterday..

Don't forget to fill out the form.

[TheArtist]

  What is Coxs advertised "speed"?

I used this....

http://bandwidthplace.com/

to test my upload/download speed

[nathanm]

  What is Coxs advertised "speed"?

Premier is 25Mbps (with Powerboost). The real speed is 20Mbps at the moment.

[patric]

Premier is 25Mbps (with Powerboost). The real speed is 20Mbps at the moment.

"PowerBoost" is a compression technology that gives the illusion of a temporary increase in download speeds above and beyond the tier of service. It's good for the first 10 MB or 10 secs of a download, but it's a little white lie that lets providers misrepresent their true sustained speeds.

The second fastest advertised speed is up to 24 Mbps for at&t Max Turbo U-verse.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT&T_U-verse#U-verse_Internet
I dont know it that includes any compression though.

In any case, more choices are better, and competition keeps prices under control.
Bring it on!

[nathanm]

"PowerBoost" is a compression technology that gives the illusion of a temporary increase in download speeds above and beyond the tier of service. It's good for the first 10 MB or 10 secs of a download, but it's a little white lie that lets providers misrepresent their true sustained speeds.

It's not compression, they just don't enforce the cap on the first few seconds of any given connection. That means you can get up to 38Mbps (the total amount of bandwidth available on a single DOCSIS 2.0 carrier) for the first bit of the download if your node is otherwise completely unused.

at&t similarly misrepresents U-Verse speeds, in that if you are watching HD channels, it cuts into your Internet bandwidth unless you have the 10Mbps tier or lower. However, if you manage to get Internet without TV or just never watch HD channels, you won't run into that particular issue. The problem is that the total bandwidth between your house and the VRAD is currently capped at 32Mbps.

Max 18 and Max 24 are also distance limited. Some users are too far from the VRAD and only have 25Mbps between the VRAD and their house. Those folks only get one HD channel at a time and 10 Mbps Internet.

Moreover, Max 24 is significantly more expensive than Premier. Otherwise I'd probably can the Cox Internet and get U-Verse for Internet again. (I can get Internet only since I used to be a U-Verse customer, thus already hooked up to the VRAD, which happens to be next door)

And if we're talking real world speed, I usually get more than the cap speed (about 22Mbps, lately) when I'm downloading in the wee hours of the morning. I think something is broken with their Powerboost stuff.  

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have FTTH like Verizon has. I'd probably be on a nice 50/5 tier if it were available here.

[Hoss]

It's not compression, they just don't enforce the cap on the first few seconds of any given connection. That means you can get up to 38Mbps (the total amount of bandwidth available on a single DOCSIS 2.0 carrier) for the first bit of the download if your node is otherwise completely unused.

at&t similarly misrepresents U-Verse speeds, in that if you are watching HD channels, it cuts into your Internet bandwidth unless you have the 10Mbps tier or lower. However, if you manage to get Internet without TV or just never watch HD channels, you won't run into that particular issue. The problem is that the total bandwidth between your house and the VRAD is currently capped at 32Mbps.

Max 18 and Max 24 are also distance limited. Some users are too far from the VRAD and only have 25Mbps between the VRAD and their house. Those folks only get one HD channel at a time and 10 Mbps Internet.

Moreover, Max 24 is significantly more expensive than Premier. Otherwise I'd probably can the Cox Internet and get U-Verse for Internet again. (I can get Internet only since I used to be a U-Verse customer, thus already hooked up to the VRAD, which happens to be next door)

And if we're talking real world speed, I usually get more than the cap speed (about 22Mbps, lately) when I'm downloading in the wee hours of the morning. I think something is broken with their Powerboost stuff.  

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have FTTH like Verizon has. I'd probably be on a nice 50/5 tier if it were available here.

Patric, please, PLEASE don't turn into Tim H!

[stageidea]

They created a map with all of the requests they have received.  We might need to get some more submissions in..


http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/03/can-larry-and-sergey-gaylord-lure-google-fiber-to-raleigh.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss