Google the next internet provider?

[dutrizacd]

I read this this story back in 2005 about Google buying up dark fiber.

That combined with a recent posting about how Google wants a fair shake in buying up the 700Mhz band makes me wonder.

Is Google planning on being the next broadband internet access provider? I mean, given their purchasing in infrastructure, it would be conceivable for them to offer a broadband wireless service would it not? Thoughts?

Dan

 

[Looney]

If they do it'll be WiMax.

Not only would it compete heavily with traditional ISPs, but it'll supplant cellular service if they have enough coverage... and if there's enough broadband, may even supplant cable TV services with IPTV.

 

[mrCide]

from what i recall hearing google wants to set up a national wireless internet service, but i could be wrong

 

[Lemon law]

As someone not offered any DSL by AT&T, offered no cables options, that only remaining option is wireless. And because all wireless options I now have are rip offs, I will welcome anyone into the market that can be that non-rip off provider.

But given the choice of having only a few customers at high profit vs. many customers at a lower profit margin, US providers have always opted for the former. The other problem is that deployment is linked to large cities where competition is established, and more would be served if they opt to surround cities where no broadband options exist.

We may see if Google has the innovative business model to offer consumers a better deal.
Wi-max has the potential to be really huge---and I am long past sick and tired of having technology being implemented with the speed of a snail.

 

[Looney]

Well, in Canada, both the phone and cable companies are JOINING together to implement WiMax. They know it's inevitable, so they're trying to monopolize it before another company does. They've started to actually set it up in the rural areas first, since it's cheaper than running cables out there.

 

[fskimospy]

I feel like Google is massively overextending themselves right now. Outside of their core seach stuff, which is undoubtedly the best, they seem to have made dozens of services... each one okay, but not as good as what a competitor has to offer. It's like their engineers with their pet projects that they turn into services have taken all the easy steps immediately, and made something 75% as good as the competition (which leads to everyone being impressed at how far, and how quickly they have come), but then they tend to stagnate because (I think) the individual teams now lack the resources to take the hard steps and actually make it competitive.

Maybe they are going for the shotgun approach hoping a few stick, but I just don't see how its smart business to be the company with an inferior product in dozens of markets as opposed to having a superior one in just a few. I'm no hard core businessman, but this seems strange to me. So I think if Google is going to become an ISP, they are going to become a crappy one sadly enough.

 

[Kur]

Or maybe they don't wish to pay possible huge fees from ISP's and instead just create their own line and connect to 3rd party's?

 

[Lemon law]

For those that read the link, the joker in the deck will be the FCC who can opt to make the auction of the wireless frequencies open to many competitors or private to only the highest bidder. And that FCC decision is more important than technology in deciding the future of wi-max deployment in the USA.