Tag: Google

Chattanooga to Offer 1 Gigabit Internet

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View over Chattanooga, Tennessee, from Lookout...
Image via Wikipedia

Mid-size southern city will likely be the first in the country to break the one gigabit speed barrier here in the US.

Ed Oswald, Technologizer

When you’re thinking of ultra-high speed Internet and its expected rollout across the country, I’m sure the last place you’d probably name is Chattanooga, Tennessee. However if all goes right, the mid-sized southern city will likely be the first in the country to break the one gigabit speed barrier here in the US.

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Google Reaches 1 Million Calls On New Gmail VoIP Service

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Image representing Google as depicted in Crunc...
Image via CrunchBase

Google’s foray into VoIP signals the commoditization of voice calls and the probable demise of the public switched telephone network (PSTN).  The industry has been on this path for over a decade, but VoIP has made only a modest dent in telephony even with the success of the MSO.  Vonage and Skype have their niche following for customers that make frequent international calls.  Mobile phones have signaled the decline of the traditional landline, but indoor coverage made it necessary for most people to keep their landline.  Femtocells are not seeing enough momentum yet to see a large movement away from the landline.

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Baltimore for high-speed fiber — even if it’s not Google’s

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baltimorefibersymposium.gif
The folks who organized Baltimore’s application for the Google Fiber for Communities project (where the city is vying with more than 1,000 other communities for a high-speed broadband project from the search giant) are moving the ball further by organizing a symposium next month on the topic of high speed broadband fiber in the city.

The thinking is that Baltimore should want to try to build out its fiber-optic broadband network for its citizens, even if Google doesn’t choose us. So how do we as a city get there? That’s what this symposium will be all about, I gather.

Here’s the link for full details — cost is $25 to attend.

Maybe I’ll see you there?

Google takes diplomatic route on Net neutrality

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by Marguerite Reardon

In Washington, D.C., Google is learning there’s nothing wrong with a little diplomacy.

In a Federal Communications Commission filing earlier this week, Google reiterated its support for Net neutrality regulation, but it didn’t take sides in the ongoing debate over whether the FCC should reclassify broadband services to help ensure the agency has the authority to enforce that regulation.

The FCC’s authority was challenged earlier this month when a federal appeals court sided with Comcast, ruling that the FCC had no legal basis for censuring the company for violating its Net neutrality principles.

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Google Invites AT&T, Comcast, Verizon To Fiber Party

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Whenever they actually get a network built…
04:15PM Thursday Apr 22 2010 by Karl Bode

We already knew that Google’s plan to deploy 1 Gbps fiber to the home to a limited area was going to operate as a wholesale operation — with open access allowing ISPs to come in and compete on top of the network (whenever it’s finally built). Part of the reason Google’s deploying the network is so they can show how open access and competition can help keep prices down, service quality up and carriers on their best behavior. The company this week reiterated their dedication to open access, inviting companies like Comcast and AT&T to offer service over the network when it’s finally built:

Fact-checking Verizon’s CEO on US broadband awesomeness

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By Nate Anderson | Last updated a day ago

Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg sat down last week for a talk at the Council for Foreign Relations and talked about how mind-bendingly awesome the US broadband market is. Seidenberg all but put on a foam finger and started chanting, “We’re number one! We’re number one!”

All those studies you’ve read that suggest otherwise? The fact that Hong Kong residents can now get 1Gbps symmetric fiber for US$26, while New York City residents top out at 100Mbps and cost $100? Capping 3Mbps DSL at 5GB/month? All meaningless.

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Telcos Still Pretending Google Gets “Free Ride”

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from the repeating-something-relentlessly-does-not-make-it-true dept

Back in 2005, former AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre (now the head of GM) boldly proclaimed that Google was getting a “free ride” on his company’s “pipes,” and that they should be charged an additional toll (you know, just because). As we’ve discussed several times now, Whitacre’s argument made absolutely no sense, given that Google not only pays plenty for bandwidth (as do AT&T’s customers), but the company owns billions in international and oceanic fiber runs, data centers and network infrastructure. Despite making no sense, this idea that Google was some kind of free ride parasite quickly became the cornerstone of the telco argument against network neutrality. In response,Techdirt has suggested that telco spokespeople should pay for Google’s bandwidth bill for a month if it’s so low — with no takers.

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