The murder of a promising new technology – coming to a neighborhood near you.
It all started out with so much promise and fanfare. The internet giant Google was going to take on the big telecom companies by rolling out its own version of an internet and cable bundle that would be piped to you at blazing speeds, but at lower costs. All of this was to be done through a remarkable new technology known as fiber optic cable.
At first everything looked great. It was a success! Life was good in Google-land. The first city to be chosen for the new experiment was Kansas City and its surrounding suburbs. But Google immediately ran into problems. The company discovered that those in wealthier communities were signing up for the service while those in poorer communities were not. This was a bit of a head-scratcher since the company offered a free internet version (up to 5 mbps for free!) to those who could not afford the bundle. Undaunted, the company decided to continue its expansion to other cities.
But a rather odd thing happened on the way to fiber optic utopia. People in other cities didn’t sign up for the new service as expected, either. The company has now fallen short of expected subscribers – by a substantial margin – and is now in a position where it has to cut costs. The head honcho himself, Larry Page, recently issued a decree from his throne to cut the Google Fiber staff in half and dramatically cut the cost of installations.
Recent rumors suggest that Google may have plans to kill off its Fiber division entirely in favor of a new wireless technology. While fiber costs the company about $1,000 per home to install, the new wireless technology can deliver high-speed internet for about one-fifth the cost. As a result of the new directive, the company has completely stopped fiber installations in both San Jose and Portland.
The fat lady hasn’t sang just yet on Google Fiber, but things are definitely looking like they might be coming to an end for the great fiber experiment. Only time will tell.