Interesting People mailing list archives
re Why Google Fiber Failed to Disrupt the ISPs
From: "Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>
Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2017 15:46:10 -0400
Begin forwarded message:
From: Edward Almasy <ed () almasy net> Date: August 2, 2017 at 3:31:21 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: Re: [IP] re Why Google Fiber Failed to Disrupt the ISPs Ironic that Brett decries talking about ISPs as a homogeneous group, and then proceeds to do so at length, but more to the point: If running an ISP is so incredibly hard and unprofitable, why is it that so many community-based providers, often built by literal amateurs and many offering gigabit+ service, seem to be viable? https://muninetworks.org/communitymap It looks to me like the available evidence more supports the view that while not easy, setting up and running an ISP is markedly less difficult than Brett and others make it out to be, and Google likely scaled back their Fiber efforts for reasons unrelated to profitability. EdOn Aug 2, 2017, at 2:14 PM, Brett Glass <brett () lariat net> wrote: From: Brett Glass <brett () lariat net> Subject: Re: [IP] Why Google Fiber Failed to Disrupt the ISPs Date: August 2, 2017 at 2:14:37 PM EDT To: dave () farber net, "Ip ip" <ip () v2 listbox com> Dave, and Everyone: As an ISP with 25 years' experience, I can say with certainty that Google Fiber failed to disrupt "the ISPs" (as if we are a homogeneous group) because: 1. Being an ISP is incredibly hard, and Google didn't have -- or develop -- the chops to do it. One of the reasons Google has been so incredibly profitable in its other businesses is that it provides essentially no customer service or support for any of them. It is COMPLETELY inexperienced at providing personalized technical support, and is not willing to spend the money to do so. It is also unused to being blamed for every tiny technical problem which is not its fault (a situation which ISPs encounter daily). Yet its own lobbyists, and those of other edge providers, encourage consumers to blame any network, computing, or service problem on the ISP. 2. Google Fiber was never intended to be a long term, going concern. It was a money-losing publicity stunt, intended to stimulate governments at all levels to regulate ISPs. (They'd ask, "If Google can provide broadband that cheaply, why can't you?" Never mind the fact that Google Fiber was highly unprofitable and therefore unsustainable.) 3. Google Fiber was at cross-purposes with other efforts within Google -- in particular, its lobbying efforts in Washington DC. Google has been spending millions of dollars -- much of it flowing via foundations, dark money 501(c)(4)s, academia, "think tanks," and so-called "public interest" lobbying shops -- to lobby for government regulations that would make ISPs barely profitable or even unprofitable, allowing Google and other edge providers to collect most or all of the money flowing to and through the Internet ecosystem. Being an ISP itself exposes Google itself to the very attacks that other portions of the same company are mounting against ISPs. 4. To keep Google Fiber from being even a greater loss than it already was, Google was forced to go into the pay TV business -- a business against which it competes (via YouTube and its advertising businesses) and which is heavily regulated. It wasn't prepared for the enormous regulatory burdens of doing so, nor for the extreme difficulty of negotiating with content providers (including content monopolies such as ESPN and "must carry" local TV stations) for reasonable rates. And it did not get into the local telephony business, which is an even deeper regulatory tar pit, even though a "triple play" offering might have boosted revenue. Why? Due to the huge regulatory burdens that this would impose. In short, Google found out that this money losing publicity stunt -- which it listed in its financial reports as one of its "other bets" -- was even a worse bet than it thought. Expect it to sell its last mile fiber networks to other carriers within the next 12-24 months. --Brett Glass
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- re Why Google Fiber Failed to Disrupt the ISPs Dave Farber (Aug 02)
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- re Why Google Fiber Failed to Disrupt the ISPs Dave Farber (Aug 02)