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Google will pay Louisville $4 million to repair roads after Fiber exit
Google Fiber service ended in Louisville this week following a number of issues, including exposed cables. As it departs, Google is paying the city $3.84 million over 20 months to cover the costs of removing cables and sealant from roads; milling and paving where needed; and removing above-ground infrastructure. Google is also making a $150,000 donation to the Community Foundation of Louisville, which supports digital inclusion efforts such as refurbishing old computers for low-income individuals.
Google Fiber to shut down in Louisville after ongoing service issues
Sixteen months after it switched on its Fiber network in Louisville, Google is ending its high-speed internet service there. It tried a different method of installing its Fiber infrastructure in the Kentucky city by placing its underground cables closer to the surface than it has elsewhere. But Google faced a number of problems, such as exposed cables and service issues.
FCC loosens utility pole rules to accelerate 5G rollouts
The FCC really, really wants to grease the wheels for 5G, and its latest changes do more to that end. To start, it just voted in favor of a new rule that could streamline the addition of new wireless and broadband services to utility poles. Instead of asking multiple companies to cooperate on readying a pole for new services, the rule enables a "One Touch Make Ready" approach where the newcomer can prepare the pole all by itself. The move could theoretically speed up deployments while lowering costs.
Google Fiber could get a jolt from FCC utility pole policy
Google Fiber could get serious help from a new rule (PDF) the FCC is set to pass that would give individual companies access to poles across the US. Currently, independent bodies -- like, say, a new internet provider -- who want to add their lines to poles must request telecoms to do the work, but the federal agency is considering implementing a nationwide One Touch Make Ready (OTMR) arrangement that would allow companies to add their cables themselves. In short, this could seriously help Google speed up the rollout of its high-speed internet solution.
Alphabet picks former cable exec to run its Google Fiber division
The Alphabet division behind Google Fiber finally has a replacement leader 5 months after its former chief left. The tech giant has hired Dinesh Jain, most recently Time Warner Cable's former chief operating officer, as the Access team's CEO. He'll watch over business in the nearly 20 markets where both Fiber and Webpass operate. There aren't any indications as to whether or not he'll usher in a change of direction, but his career may speak volumes about Alphabet's intentions.
Google Fiber won’t offer TV in San Antonio and Louisville
It's no secret that Google Fiber is struggling. Its CEO George McCray stepped down in July, only five months into his term, and parent company Alphabet has yet to announce a replacement. On top of that, Fiber's rollout hasn't gone as planned, with the company reportedly running up the budget and having to compromise on the products it offers consumers. And things don't seem to be getting much better. Google Fiber has now revealed that when it launches in Louisville, Kentucky and San Antonio, Texas, it will only focus on providing high-speed internet and not a TV add-on.
Google Fiber’s CEO steps down after five months
Five months after Google announced it was shaking up Fiber and putting broadband veteran George McCray in charge of the division overseeing it, McCray has stepped down. The company is seeking a replacement but hasn't named anyone.
Google Fiber launches its first wireless gigabit project
A Denver apartment complex is the first to get gigabit internet speeds from Google via its wireless Webpass service rather than Fiber. Webpass specializes in multi-unit internet service using point-to-point wireless tech instead of cables. The company already offers its services in Boston, Chicago, Miami, San Diego, Oakland and San Francisco (above), but Denver is the first new city since Google acquired it last year.
Google preps a 4K set-top box for Fiber homes
Google Fiber looks ready to release a new 4K set-top box with WiFi support, despite scaling back its operations and not having very many video subscribers at all. An FCC listing has revealed a "4K wireless TV box" from Google with Bluetooth 4.1 and WiFi bands operating in the 5GHz and 2.4GHz spectrum. If accurate, it would be the Google's first TV streaming box equipped with WiFi and 4K for the latest generation of TVs.
Google Fiber is restructuring and taking a new direction
Alphabet is making some huge changes to steer Google Fiber in a new, more wireless direction. According to Wired, the corporation has reassigned hundreds of Fiber employees to other parts of the company and those who remained will mostly work in the field. It has also hired broadband veteran Greg McCray as the new CEO for Access, the division that runs Google Fiber. These changes don't exactly come out of left field: back in October, Google announced that it's pausing the high-speed internet's expansion to new markets and that it's firing nine percent of the service's staff.
America's fourth-largest cable co. will offer 10Gbps fiber
Altice USA may not be the most recognized ISP name out there, but the country's fourth-largest provider is about to get a big upgrade over the next five years or so. According to the company's roadmap, Altice plans to bring high-speed, 10 Gbps fiber lines directly to its 8.3 million customers starting in 2017.
Google Fiber TV app recommends live shows
Google just illustrated one of the advantages of having an app-centric television service like Fiber TV: you can refine the entire experience through a simple software update. It's trotting out a new version of the Fiber TV app that will help you find something to watch, even if you're not sure where to start. It now offers personalized recommendations for live TV, and will show you live sports events. You shouldn't miss out on that new drama you were meaning to see, and you'll know if that football game has already started.
Comcast sues Nashville over law that helps Google Fiber
The Google Fiber team isn't having a good week. Comcast has filed a lawsuit against Nashville in a bid to overturn a city law, One Touch Make Ready, that was primarily designed to help speed Google's fiber optic rollout. Much as with an AT&T lawsuit filed in September, Comcast maintains that AT&T-owned poles fall under the jurisdiction of the FCC, not the city -- Nashville can't let internet providers add their own wires without having AT&T move wires first, the cable giant says. The suit also claims that the city's Metro Council isn't allowed to regulate poles owned by Nashville Electric Service, and that the law violates Comcast's contracts with both pole owners.
Google Fiber TV finally gets an interface overhaul
While Alphabet ponders switching its high-speed Google Fiber service to wireless, those subscribers already on the bandwagon are getting the biggest update to their TV box since the network went live in 2012. As Google's Fiber team notes today, the Fiber TV interface has been redesigned to add more helpful information, a reorganized DVR and new recommendation functions.
Google's Fiber rollout isn't going as planned
Google Fiber may have just gone live in Salt Lake City, but the process of laying all that fiber optic cable is reportedly making Alphabet's homebrewed ISP the company's most expensive unit outside of the core Google business. According to a new report from The Information, those costs have prompted Larry Page and Sergey Brin to push Google Fiber away from its original plan and more towards a cheaper wireless standard.
Google's high-speed Fiber internet goes live in Salt Lake City
If Google's experimental Fiber plans pan out, 24 locations across the US will be able to try it out. You know which place doesn't have to wait for that to happen, though? Salt Lake City, Utah. The service officially went live in the state capital at 9AM on August 24th. Fiber's initial rollout covers roughly 112 blocks from 100 South to 800 South between 400 West and 1300 East, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. Google even launched a portal where you can check if your address is within that area. Even if it's not, you might not have to wait that long anyway -- the company said the rest of the city will get access to Fiber within the coming months.
Google Fiber to test home wireless internet in up to 24 US areas
According to an FCC filing, Google Fiber's next experimental stage is nigh. The tech titan is purportedly seeking permission to test high-speed wireless broadband in 24 US locations, including 12 cities, for a period up to 24 months. Their goal: hook a bunch of company men up and try out experimental transmitters over the 3.4 to 3.8 GHz frequency range.
Facebook hires Google Fiber co-founder Kevin Lo
As Facebook continues its plan to help connect people around the world to the internet, it's finding help from Google. Recode reports that former Google Fiber exec and co-founder Kevin Lo has been hired to help Facebook make infrastructure deals for its connection efforts. Facebook told the outlet Lo will not be working on Free Basics, and that it has no plans to start an ISP of its own, but even wireless tech like Terragraph nodes or drone-delivered internet will need to connect to a backbone somehow. In a Facebook post confirming the move, Lo said he's going "help shape our strategy and investments with partners to build wireless technologies and ecosystems that improve global connectivity."
Google Fiber buys a gigabit ISP that uses fiber and wireless
Hoping Google Fiber will come your way soon? The Alphabet subsidiary just made an acquisition that could help it roll out high speed internet faster. It agreed to purchase Webpass, a company that currently has "tens of thousands" of customers for high speed internet in the Bay Area, San Diego, Chicago, Boston and Miami. Webpass is notable because it's used high-speed point-to-point wireless technology as well as fiber to link up apartment buildings and businesses without having to wait for a physical link, and offers its customers speeds of up to 1Gbps.
Google Fiber could bring its speedy internet to Dallas
Good news Dallasites, Google Fiber could be headed your way soon. The Fiber team said yesterday it's considering bringing its high-speed gigabit internet service to Dallas, though it'll likely be a while before anything actually happens. Google is in talks with Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings, and it's currently exploring how it could deploy Fiber throughout the city using guidelines laid down in the Google Fiber checklist. Austin was one of the first cities to get Google's internet service, and it's currently being deployed in San Antonio as well (where the rollout exploration process took 17 months).
