story
If we don't hear by the end of the year as Google promised, the pitchforks and torches will come out of storage.
Stanford faculty is getting it
I'm sure the selection / due diligence / contracting process is ridiculously complex, though! I would assume it would be a while before anything was announced.
You can't just show up with large bundles of fiber and hang 'em from the utility poles in jurisdictions that regulate pole attachments.
I was surprised that we weren't on the list. Be interesting to see what the next city to get residential fiber is.
I asked "What are you installing?"
"Fiber."
"For Google?" :)
"Yeah."
"The home project?"
"Yeah."
Check out this "Confidential" PDF: http://www.hpcomminc.com/pdf/Revised_Intro_Draft.pdf
Google Cache: http://goo.gl/FN2W4
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So... it looks like the GFIOS project is moving forward.
The words of the installer were "Yeah" to my question about the install being for Google.
If this were some po-dunk little company, and they did not have such a strong sales sheet - I would be less-inclined to think that installer was telling me the truth.
The fact is that I didnt reveal all info about myself - I asked him if he was installing for the [google code name for the FIOS project] and he said yes....
so - all the information that I have, leads me to believe them - though, obviously it is circumstantial.
On one hand, this is a direct shot across the bow of the cablecos/telcos. By essentially taking the roadmap of bandwidth expansion via slow, rolling upgrades over a long long period of time and going straight to the ultimate destination, GOOG is sucking a whole lot of "value" out of the existing infrastructure.
On the other hand, this will place enormous stress on the regional/long haul networks which I'll be forced to upgrade yet again. Unless they can charge more, this cant be good news for level3 or VZ or T.
I forsee an acceleration towards metered b/w in our future.
