Google Fiber continues expanding in Nashville, annoying people telling them that Fiber is coming
Google Fiber has been advertising “Fiber is coming” long enough to have earned the ill will of most of the target audience who wants it as the inevitable questions always is “when” and the answer is “no idea! Have a t-shirt! Soon… soon”
I’ve been watching as they slowly creep toward my house and my work, and yesterday a wild Google Fiber hub appeared reasonably close to me. By reasonable I mean within 1000 feet of me. I can walk to it, pet it, call it my precious, do bad things to it.
Still no Fiber listed in my hood after nearly 14 hours of that box being installed… seriously… speed of what?
Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Banana
Banana who?
Fiber is coming!
Whatever the case, the buildout is going strong 18 months after the initial announcement and at this point there have been some reported turn-ups in downtown Nashville.
Also during the past 18 months Comcast has done a bang-up job of advertising FOR Google with a series of advertisements that just make people hate Comcast even more, as well as misleading advertising indicating that somehow the WiFi from a 50mb connection is faster than the WiFi from a 1000mb connection.
Fastest in-home WiFi… based on a WiFi router Google used four years ago
It appears Comcast may have finally realized they were doing Google’s marketing for them and stepped off and just got Chris Hardwick to Talk for them. No hate, guy’s only got three TV shows and eleven jobs to support him. Seriously, watch @midnight, you’ll love it. Talking Comcast however, not so much.
Knock knock
Who’s there?
Boo!
Boo Who?
Fiber is coming!
On the other side, Google Fiber’s Facebook team has been doing a bang up job of irritating potential customers by posting Fiber is Coming ads filled with thousands of people asking when, only to be told soon. Their advertising has turned WANT to want to meh to rrrrr to DISLIKE!
In the meantime in Nashville, subcontractors earn the annoyance of motorists as fiber runs are being installed down main thoroughfares, usually blocking lanes of traffic and the few sidewalks this town possesses. The Nolensville Pike corridor near Thomson Lane, where nearly 73,000 motorists jam through daily (about 35,000 during rush hours,) has been subjected to lane closures.
But, fiber is coming, and interesting things are about to happen in cities where the average user now has the bandwidth capabilities you had to pay $5000-8000 a month for commercially a couple of years ago.
For those wondering the price, it’s generally around $70 a month for 1000mbit Google Fiber access, where Comcast plays fast and loose with pricing and bundles but comes out around $55 for a 75mbit connection. In costs per megabit that’s Google: $0.07, Comcast $0.73.
Comcast has pricing all over the spectrum however with intro packages that charge you reasonable rates for a year and then jack your prices 100%, so your package and pricing may vary.
Comcast likes to point out that Google’s on-demand library is inferior to Comcast’s, which is probably true. That said, Comcast’s on-demand free shows are pretty abysmal in my opinion. But, it’s TV, a vast wasteland being replaced by streaming services. Streaming services which with 4K and 8K video coming into the mainstream increasingly need 25+ megabits per second to stream.
Thanks to the 16th District Nashville FB page for letting me know a Fiber hub was installed yesterday!
