Another aspect of RUC’s community focus is the fact that it provides customers with two local TV channels, in contrast to Charter, which offers none. In the wake of a Wisconsin law that removed requirements that cable operators provide financial support for PEG (public, educational and government) access channels, Rice says RUC is working on plans to continue operating its local channels, to make them more attractive and, in doing so, to further differentiate its service from Charter’s in terms of being responsive to the local community.
Google Fiber Unveiled in Kansas City
Google Fiber is unveiled. And it sucks to be Time Warner Cable right now. But they already knew that.
Google is offering 3 packages in Kansas City - a gigabit Internet connection for $70/month, a TV + Gigabit Internet connection for $120/month, and a free Internet tier of 5/1Mbps (subject to a one time $300 connect cost). The first two packages also have the $300 connect fee but it is waived with a contract.
The details are available via DSL Reports and The Verge. There are several interesting enticements along with the connectivity.
Plans and pricing is here. I'm surprised at the number of television channels that are available on that package. Notable channels missing include Disney and ESPN, probably because ABC was trying to rake Google over the coals on pricing.
Neighborhoods will be competing to get enough presubscriptions to get connected (at $10 per potential subscriber). It will be interesting to see how this goes - the approach makes sense from a business perspective but could result in a patchwork of neighborhoods lacking access.
In short, this will be interesting to watch. How will Time Warner Cable respond? How enthusiastic will ordinary people be? Google's marketing talent is considerably more advanced than that of the local governments and small companies (Sonic.net) that first blazed this trail. Speaking of which, I have not yet seen how other service providers will be able to use this network, if at all.
The free 5/1 connection is interesting. For a massive company like Google, providing hundreds or thousands of 5/1 connections essentially has zero cost. This is also true of Comcast and CenturyLink, which is why they are profitable on those $10/month low-income packages.
This is not a Google experiment. Those running this project are expected to earn a profit. How Google chooses to calculate that, we do not know.
Our biggest fear with this project is that we will see communities looking to Google to solve their broadband problems rather than taking responsibility for themselves. Google has done much to improve broadband in the U.S. and should be recognized as helping residents and businesses get beyond the pathetic last-generation broadband connections offered by cable and DSL companies. We hope they succeed but continue to believe that communities are better served by owning their own network.
If I were moving south of Minnesota in the near future, it would be to Chattanooga or Lafayette, not Kansas City. Who knows what Google will be doing in 5 years? We know exactly what EPB and LUS will be doing.
Video:
Search
Featured Reports
Tag Cloud
at&t
audio
broadband bits
cable
chattanooga
comcast
competition
county
economic development
economics
fcc
fiber-to-the-business
FTTH
georgia
gigabit
hb129
I-Net
incumbent
interview
jobs
legislation
level playing field
lobbying
minnesota
misinformation
muni
network neutrality
north carolina
open access
podcast
policy
preemption
public v private
regulation
rural
school
services
state laws
stimulus
tennessee
time warner cable
utility
video
Wi-Fi
Wireless
Comments
5/1 connections
Hi Christopher,
I am curious to your math on the free 5/1 connections. Almost free? I would see costs of the local drop to the house, the network interface device to connect the fiber to the home wiring, the labor to install this box, the customer service representative to take the call and place the order, the technical assistance to the inexperienced home user about network settings and ongoing costs of customer service. These are real costs to a large or small provider.
100% community coverage is an exciting concept. It will be interesting to watch.
Finally, five years into the future is a long time to have confidence in what any organizations will be doing!
Thanks Bill
Clarification is in order. I mean the ongoing provision of 5/1 is likely almost free. And if you consider the value of turning each of these people into users of various Google products, Google probably makes a thin profit. The capital costs are different and you are right to point that out. The $300 eats up some of the capital costs, which will be much lower than the numbers we often discuss for initial connects because the idea of "fiberhoods" is not only about marketing but also making sure you install entire neighborhoods at one time - major cost savings.
As for a customer service rep - you ever used a Google service? I'll bet they crush Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and others when it comes to difficulty of getting a human on the line. Google technical assistance is online message boards - will be curious if this changes. Doubt it. Inexperienced home users? Good luck - it is a free service.
Five years is a long time. Of course, LUS has been managing the infrastructure of Lafayette for over 100 without much change. Chattanooga's EPB, probably for 70-80. We'll see how different they are in 5 years =)
Glad you made this point Christopher
I said the same thing. The attention Google is drawing to the demand and also the action they are taking is good for the competition, but if they become a crutch to lean on for the nation then a bigger monopoly/conflict of interest is being created than Comcast/Time Warner/AT&T combined.
There needs to be many more muni fiber projects spearheaded since they will remain focused on serving communities and not affected by shareholder and other corporate demands.