Google Fiber hype machine's big KC victory
Yael T. AbouhalkahWow. Google’s hype machine was in full gear Thursday. It was a marketing masterpiece.
With almost nary a negative word said locally, news about Google’s proposed high-speed Internet service spread over Twitter, blogs and mass media - with over-the-top help from KC Mayor Sly James, geek heads and regular Kansas Citians.
Calm down, folks. It’s another newsworthy breakthrough in technology. But…
The skeptic in me wants to know a lot more details about what Google really wants in return for making KC the first metro area in the nation with this service.
We’ll learn more about that in the future, I’m sure, especially as Google rolls out its service. We’ll also see how it works in the real world, not the controlled environment of a special event, as Thursday’s was for Google officials.
And we certainly need to know more about how businesses in the Kansas City area might be able to use Google Fiber to improve their bottom lines, leading to a healthier economy and more jobs.
That’s my real measure of success - not the one promoted so often during Thursday’s Google-led announcement that people will be able to download movies, pull up hundreds of photos and do all kinds of other things to entertain themselves. Nice, but hardly a breakthrough that spells “KC’s kicking other cities’ butts in new industries.”
Put simply: Is it good for the economy, or just for more entertainment?
I will acknowledge that the announced monthly prices for the service sound in the ballpark of what’s now charged for Internet and TV cable service.
And this is competition that could drive down prices for current providers, such as Time-Warner. That’s potentially good. Then again, competition among cell phone companies hasn’t exactly provided super cheap service, either.
I did receive some backlash Thursday for this tweet: “Good #GoogleFiber: more speed. Bad #GoogleFiber: it’s for rich neigborhoods (pls. don’t pretend otherwise).”
That prompted some followers to make these points.
Early adopters often pay more in technological breakthroughs (says the guy who spent $1,000 on a VCR in 1980).
Google’s service will still be price competitive - and offer better speeds - than current providers.
Conceded.
However, Google’s own website showing which neighborhoods (I’m sorry, “fiberhoods”) were signing up for the service on Thursday and early Friday showed a predictable pattern:
The more educated, middle- to upper-income neighborhoods in southwest KC and in midtown were signing up for first crack at the service.
Meanwhile, the neighborhoods without as many computers and without the income to afford the $70 or $120 proposed monthly charges for Google Fiber were signing up at far slower rates.
None of that means Google Fiber won’t be a big success.
But let’s not pretend there won’t be winners and losers with this advance in technology.
If Google Fiber narrows that digital gap - and makes more information available more quickly to more people to help boost the economy of KC - that’s all for the good.
However, being able to hook up eight computers in a house so people can be more entertained doesn’t set my world on fire.
(Find a few other mostly positive but short-on-detail views on Google’s breakthrough here and here.)
Joe Quinn
10 months ago$25/month for 5Mbps is affordable.
I agree (shudder) Yael I haven’t seen any solid, business technological proof of concept stories are the use of this type of bandwidth, but it’s VERY easy to imagine how education will benefit.
That’s good enough for me, and you pointed out it’s the more educated neighborhoods taking advantage of the personal sign ups. The schools will help spread the bandwidth benefit since they’ll be hooked up to the pipe for free in ALL neighborhoods.
Matthew Nugent
10 months agoWe are less than a day after the rollout, so take what I’m saying with a grain of salt. September 9th is a ways away. But right now, 15 of 16 KCMO neighborhoods with 0 preregistrants are east of Troost. Each of the 7 KCMO neighborhoods who have made their goal are west of Troost. It’s something to keep an eye on, because Google Fiber says in their FAQ that after September 9th, it won’t commit to neighborhoods that haven’t met their goal. Like I said, it’s very early, but this is not a good trend.
Debi Spencer Barton
10 months agoI live in Kansas City and pay the Kansas City earnings tax but because I live south of 435, Google says I don’t live in Kansas City. Color me GoogleDisappointed. Is there a Google Doodle for that?
Brian S. Hand
10 months agoEarly adopters pay the higher price and take the risks. The standard is set from there based on the success or failure. Eventually the technologies benefit all if they succeed because they spread. Blu-Ray vs HDDVD, VHS vs BetaMax, even back to Alternating Current vs Direct Current, and steam engine cars vs internal combustion engine cars. All were only available to the those who could afford them and those who invested in the loser lost their money. Google Fiber is going to benefit the poor, because if my neighborhood gets it then Southwest High School gets it for free. This is the same in other neighborhoods. As for other neighborhoods, if it takes off in the first areas, the rest will follow shortly. This is how the market works.
Matthew Ulasien
10 months agoYou’re still ignoring the low end plan, which is $25/mo for 12 months for 5mb/s, then FREE for the next 6 years after that. That’s way cheaper than ANY plan on the market. Anything cheaper than that would be to give everything free to everybody.
Dennis Lawrence
10 months agoThe luddites would agree with this column.
It is a pretty good investment on a cyber infrastructure that can be built on for years.
Hard to find fault unless it is looking backwards in history
Leigh Taylor
10 months agoPerhaps many of the less “predictable” neighborhoods you are speaking of don’t have the access to the internet currently to get live stream of the announcement, the paper or other media online, or even an old fashioned paper subscription. It may not be a bad deal for them but they need to be plugged in to see it first…vicious circle huh…
Sara Mabin
10 months agoAm I missing something? Everyone keeps talking about “early adopters” paying a premium. So far everything I’ve read on the Google Fiber website indicates that you have one chance to opt-in - after September 6th, if your fiberhood hasn’t reached its goal, it doesn’t get access to the Google Fiber network.
Not like, too bad, now you move to the back of the line - just, no Google Fiber for you. Ever.
I get that there’s a chance that they’ll build on the network at some inconceivable date in the future, but come on.
What we’re saying here is that residents in areas with high concentrations of liquor stores and pawn shops do not deserve the advantage of technological advancements, regardless of their ability to pay for it. As long as you live near a Starbucks or Trader Joe’s, welcome to the digital age.
Also, why are we allowing Google to turn us all into Amway consultants? If we’re paying for their office overhead, dedicated city employees, and generally bending over backwards to pay them for their services, shouldn’t they be doing their own marketing?
Dave Young
10 months agoThe September 6th deadline is only for the first wave - they’re using this window to select the first group for installation, and I hardly think they’ve invested this much time and money to only select a small subset of a city for installation.
Also bear in mind that this initial rollout is for personal use only, not businesses - using this service for a server is a violation of their TOS. The commercial product will be announced later, and then we can judge what areas may or may not be interested. However, I suspect that liquor stores and pawn shops are not very likely to be interested.