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Google becoming an ISP? omg skynet
Michael H
Registered User
Registered User
Google is working on test markets for their own internet service. It's called Google Fiber.
Can't wait for the day when we all use Chrome OS and the Chrome Browser to get turn-by-turn navigation, check Gmail, Buzz, Wave, Reader, Calendar, Picasa, Docs, compare shopping prices, all while hooked up to our Google internet connection.
mmm... kool aid.
There are some answers to basic questions in their faq.
Google is planning to build, and test ultra-high speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the country. We'll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We'll offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000, and potentially up to 500,000 people.
Can't wait for the day when we all use Chrome OS and the Chrome Browser to get turn-by-turn navigation, check Gmail, Buzz, Wave, Reader, Calendar, Picasa, Docs, compare shopping prices, all while hooked up to our Google internet connection.
mmm... kool aid.
There are some answers to basic questions in their faq.
Michael H on
Posts
Or anything non-Comcast, really.
They'd probably offer me a decent rate without also trying to cram cable TV or digital phone services down my throat.
Considering the only "choice" in my area for the past 10 years has been Comcast, I would gladly welcome ANY competition, since Verizon seems less than willing to roll out fiber at anything other than a snail's pace.
Backloggery XBox Live 3DS: 1805-2274-4550 (Jonathan)
It was meant to be tongue in cheek. You know, get on the bandwagon, join the cult, etc. A joke son, ah say a joke.
I'm not impressed with the service providers in my area. Time Warner is the suck but right now is also my only option. AT&T is coming to my area (gradually), but when AT&T is the "other guy", you know choices are limited. I'm all about the Google internets. Sign me up.
At the same time, the tinfoil hat crowd might not be down with giving their online lives completely over to Google. Some people are already divesting themselves from Google services, lest the once-upon-a-time-little-guy-to-root-for gains too much control over their information/lives. The forays into the physical world (phones, internet connections) help illustrate just how big Google really is. (As if we all needed a reminder.)
Robots Will Be Our Superiors (Blog)
http://michaelhermes.com
Me want sooooo baaaaad.
But of course being in Ohio means I'll never ever see it.
God knows our government can't set up modern broadband for the life of them.
At least they didn't start to roll out FIOS in your area, just to sell it all to some shitty carrier who's never dealt with fiber before with no promise that even existing service will continue.
I'd like that here but I'm guessing the US needs the boost a lot more
Nah, I'm also willing to suck Google's balls pretty much whenever.
Xbox Live: Kunohara
And even longer if you don't live near a US border or in a major city.
Yes, a good evil corporation will never appear to be evil. No would ever trust MaliceCorp, with their logo of an eagle carrying a baby away from a playground. But GOOGLE, with their happy go lucky colors, is lulling us into a false sense of security.
I mean, stating that their mission statement is to NOT be evil is almost a guarantee that they really are evil and just trying to cover their tracks.
Robots Will Be Our Superiors (Blog)
http://michaelhermes.com
That sounds like what happened here...
Comcast can suck it. I want my FIOS
my unofficial autobio will be accompanied with tips on how to smile
cause I've found that when they don't see you frown, they never know that you're a threat
and they don't sweat you when you came around
Their motto may be don't be evil, but I can't see anything good from all this information they are capable of collecting through their various offers.
Verizon's rollout is slow because they have to get approval in every area, and the local providers are fighting it tooth and nail bogging it down in bureaucracy.
I'm not sure what lawsuit another country could levy regarding "fairness," but Google has already pledged "open access" to their network so other providers would be able to resell it, therefore existing ISPs probably aren't going to mind should Google roll this out in their area.
Residential 1 Gbps sounds cool, but unless nationwide and international/intercontinental trunks are also upgraded it seems likely this is going to saturate the major Internet Exchange or MegaPoP wherever the service is rolled out, at least once all the subscribers who share files get their bittorrent clients up, or once some small percentage of subscribers gets infected with a mass-emailing worm.
Once you and your local friends have traded your libraries of HD video, what are you gonna do? Your connection to everyone else in the world is still going to be limited by the existing infrastructure or the target server capacity to upload. I suppose it would allow some cool telepresence development which could allow some interesting telecommuting, collaborative development, and surveilance applications, in the city who wins.
It'd be like connecting every address in a city with 100 lane highways. And that's my shitty analogy for the day.
That may be the case in areas they have actually started to work with to try and roll out to, but I work at city hall, and I know that Verizon has not even started to work towards rolling out in my city. When we asked them (after a citizen asked us to ask), they said they don't have plans to even consider our town for the next few years at least. If they are hitting legal issues where they are rolling out, why not start the ball rolling early so they can move more quickly from one area to the next?
I also blame the government though for allowing the monopolies on the whole industry which was supposed to help things like this roll out, and instead it seems to have stifled any sort of competition and improved networks.
Backloggery XBox Live 3DS: 1805-2274-4550 (Jonathan)
And, uh, that's not a high bar to reach.
"We're not evil" is taken by the indie label Magnatune.
http://www.google.com/tisp/install.html
Really? Come on...think about it for a second.
Although, to be fair, I'd say yes and see how far it goes.
Unless it involves your toilet, which case tell him/her it's fake.
That was their April Fool's joke from either this year or last year. Kind of loses the effect when it's not April 1.
Robots Will Be Our Superiors (Blog)
http://michaelhermes.com
So unless you're getting your jollies by posting in a forum for terrorists, I doubt there will be much of an issue. Besides, it's not like the other ISP's have been averse to working with law enforcement.
Sad to say that Chrome OS will probably be taken out back and shot considering Android OS is pretty much better than it in every way.
Also Google is either not evil or actually the evilest corporation that may have ever existed and we just don't know it yet.
You do know that it doesn't matter whether an ISP is openly/not openly collaborating with the NSA? They will have your shit if they want it.
People and their illusion of privacy...sheesh.
I would love google isp, but since I live in the boonies, I take what I can get.
*Edit*
Also relevant =)
http://people.csail.mit.edu/rahimi/helmet/
Seriously, fuck Comcast to hell, Google hasn't failed me yet and they're welcome to bring some real competition to the world.
The innocent have nothing to fear. All we need to protect you from the terrorists is for you to give up your privacy. That's not so bad.
Anyway, it's not like you have privacy anyway. Pretty much any company will roll over the moment any governmental agency asks for aid.
I'm not one of those 'Give up all privacy for safety', but no matter what laws are in place, if agencies like NSA want something you have? You're in shit. It sucks, but it's reality.
*Edit*
Anyway, I wonder how many municipalities and cities will turn down google fiber? Didn't they try and fail this with the wireless/wimax type connections? Maybe they were against the fact that the wifi stuff was going to be free, and google is going to charge for this?
Confused.
To be fair, I'm gonna say there's a difference between saying "Hey government fellows, we had some private customer stuff lying around and decided, why the fuck not? So here are some e-mails." and what Google has said it's doing, which is consulting with the NSA on additional security measures to ensure your data is less vulnerable to the kinds of hacking attempts initiated from China recently.
And yeah, getting up in arms now about privacy concerns is kinda useless. The privacy ship sailed 8 or 9 years ago, when we saw 9/11 and said "who needs courage, conviction and liberty when we can have abject terror and ever-encroaching government?"