My Adventures with Google Fiber - from a SageTV guy

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by wayner

While we are dreaming, my ideal product would be Google Fiber for internet services (1Gbps bidirectionally) and a streaming video service that combines movie and TV. I want to be able to watch any movie at any time on my TVs, PCs and mobile devices. - kind of like Netflix but with a much more complete catalog of movies. And I want to be able to watch any TV show, including live sports, with DVR capabilities from the minute that the program starts. I am willing to pay $200 per month for this (internet + TV).

Hollywood, et al, would get as much revenue as they are getting today and I would be able to get all of the content that I want, when I want and where I want. But there are too many vested interests keeping us from getting there and not everyone is willing to pay this much.

With that budget, you pretty much could do this. Vudu has a very good selection, at at $5.99/rental, you could watch a LOT of movies and still be under your $200/month when combined with any decent broadband internet (around $50/month).

[wayner]

Getting higher end internet isn't cheap. I pay $100 for 250/20 internet with a 1TB monthly cap. I could live with somewhat slower download speed but I regularly hit about 300 MB per month - mainly due to streaming on Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. That's why I would love Google Fiber.

And then my cable package is around $80 month. I also pay$8/ month for both Netflix and Amazon Prime plus $5/month for a DNS redirect service that makes me appear to be in the US.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by wayner

Getting higher end internet isn't cheap. I pay $100 for 250/20 internet with a 1TB monthly cap. I could live with somewhat slower download speed but I regularly hit about 300 MB per month - mainly due to streaming on Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. That's why I would love Google Fiber.

And then my cable package is around $80 month. I also pay$8/ month for both Netflix and Amazon Prime plus $5/month for a DNS redirect service that makes me appear to be in the US.

What streaming service are you using that needs 300Mbps down? Netflix maxes out at <4Mbps... As for the Cap, that is unfortunate - There are plenty of non-google ISP's that don't have a transfer cap.

[darcilicious]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

What streaming service are you using that needs 300Mbps down? Netflix maxes out at <4Mbps...

Netflix claims:

0.5 Megabits per second - Required broadband connection speed
1.5 Megabits per second - Recommended broadband connection speed
3.0 Megabits per second - Recommended for DVD quality
5.0 Megabits per second - Recommended for HD quality
7.0 Megabits per second - Recommended for Super HD quality
12 Megabits per second - Recommended for 3D quality

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306

There are plenty of non-google ISP's that don't have a transfer cap.

In Toronto?

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by darcilicious

Netflix claims:

0.5 Megabits per second - Required broadband connection speed
1.5 Megabits per second - Recommended broadband connection speed
3.0 Megabits per second - Recommended for DVD quality
5.0 Megabits per second - Recommended for HD quality
7.0 Megabits per second - Recommended for Super HD quality
12 Megabits per second - Recommended for 3D quality

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306

In Toronto?

I'm just saying google fiber isn't your only hope. The problem you have, is since apparently you DO have 'premium internet' available in your city, you will never see google fiber.

[wayner]

To be honest download speeds above 100Mbps are not of much practical value since it is hard to sustain speeds above that end to end. I have a Virtual Private Server in the Netherlands and the fastest I can download files, with multi-segment FTPs is about 10MBps (or 80Mbps).

But don't forget that faster download speeds are generally bundled with faster upload speeds and more data per month, both of which are very useful. High upload speeds he'll with Placeshfting and we generally hit about 300MB per month in data.

And the 4K streaming that Netflix is introducing soon will use 15Mbps.

[Fuzzy]

Right, as I mentioned, if your provider makes you pay for a cap, as well as the bandwidth, then yeah, that sucks - but so few customers ever likely hit that cap, that google fiber won't have anything obvious to sell to those customers. That makes it hard for them to move into the area. That is why they are targeting cities that are very poorly served.

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

Right, as I mentioned, if your provider makes you pay for a cap, as well as the bandwidth, then yeah, that sucks - but so few customers ever likely hit that cap, that google fiber won't have anything obvious to sell to those customers. That makes it hard for them to move into the area. That is why they are targeting cities that are very poorly served.

The most recent number I saw was that more than 60% of Americans now have a cap from their broadband provider. Comcast is the largest ISP and they are rolling out caps to most of their customers. The 2nd largest ISP, TWC doesn't have a cap yet, but if Comcast buys them they probably will.

So, it's clear that caps and metered internet usage are coming. There are only 2 things that could prevent it: legislation/regulation or competition. Neither are very likely.

The caps seem pretty high right now, but I guarantee that over time people will use more and more data and eventually those caps will seem small.

4K and later 8K video will gobble up more data. Also, services like Netflix, and YouTube will continue to grow in popularity and families will see multiple people streaming different video at the same time. What happens when you have 5 family members each watching their own 8K video stream?

The rise of the "Internet of Things" (IoT), means we will have more connected devices in our houses constantly collecting data and streaming it to the cloud.

Cloud backup and file hosting services (OneDrive, DropBox, Crashplan, etc.) mean people will be uploading large amounts of data too. Right now, if you have a laptop with a 500GB or 1TB hard drive, you probably don't want to do a full backup to the cloud (too expensive, too slow). But maybe it becomes practical with Google Fiber or similar services.

And in the future, who knows what other data-intensive services will become practical and popular. How about telemedicine?

[Fuzzy]

That's not a lot of reality though. The caps are there in the agreements, yes, but not many of the providers enforce it. My provider, Charter, DOES list a number that it considers is acceptable use limit of I think 250GB/month. As fas as i can tell, if someone exceeds it for 3 consecutive months, they get a letter asking them to cut it out - but that's about it.

Cell networks have cap limits because the usage actually really is near the max of what the towers can handle. Cable networks, on the other hand, end up being limited by individual network loads, and the fix for those is relatively inexpensive (splitting neighborhoods). For cable-co's, a lot of the reasoning for the caps is to make it harder to move away from their primary service.

[Tiki]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

That's not a lot of reality though. The caps are there in the agreements, yes, but not many of the providers enforce it. My provider, Charter, DOES list a number that it considers is acceptable use limit of I think 250GB/month. As fas as i can tell, if someone exceeds it for 3 consecutive months, they get a letter asking them to cut it out - but that's about it.

Cell networks have cap limits because the usage actually really is near the max of what the towers can handle. Cable networks, on the other hand, end up being limited by individual network loads, and the fix for those is relatively inexpensive (splitting neighborhoods). For cable-co's, a lot of the reasoning for the caps is to make it harder to move away from their primary service.

Cable networks are adding caps because it will create a new revenue stream. It's the drug dealer revenue model - they give you unlimited data at first to get you hooked, then they start charging based on how much you use.

I agree with your last statement - since your regular cable TV is outside the cap, while streaming from Netflix counts against the cap, you are encouraged to keep your cable TV.

[pjpjpjpj]

Brent.... your next mobile provider awaits??
http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/03/g...-service-leak/

[Brent]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

Brent.... your next mobile provider awaits??
http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/03/g...-service-leak/

Hmm. I always kind of expected city-wide WiFi was in their plans since every single TV box can be used as a WiFi box also, but didn't see the phone thing coming.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by Brent

Hmm. I always kind of expected city-wide WiFi was in their plans since every single TV box can be used as a WiFi box also, but didn't see the phone thing coming.

I really don't get why google would care about being an actual phone provider, when they already have a huge market presence in the data that travels over every other carrier's phones.

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

I really don't get why google would care about being an actual phone provider, when they already have a huge market presence in the data that travels over every other carrier's phones.

Any gig you can get where you have thousands or millions of people paying you monthly fees is a gig you want. You just need the upfront cash to get yourself set up... which Google obviously has. Frankly, I'm surprised they haven't jumped into this ring sooner.

[Fuzzy]

I don't think being an leech on verizon's network is as lucrative as you might think, especially when your natural target customer (based on your name alone) is going to naturally be data hungry.