Google picks KCK/KCMO for ultra fast fiber network

[NDTeve]

got my own 1GB wireless router after horrible speeds on google fiber. Seems to be doing the trick!

[SWFan]

For those currently with TWC for Internet and in a GF area that hasn't rolled out yet, did you get calls from TWC in the last month or two? I did, they called me and wanted to schedule a time for a service guy to come out and give us a new cable modem. The rep said they were rolling out a 300Mbps service that should be live between Jan and Mar and that I would be getting that service for no additional cost. She also said they were upgrading me immediately to 100Mbps service for no cost and once the 300Mbps was available I should start getting it. They never asked me to sign any contract, nor verbally asked me to agree to any contract. So I'm still month-to-month. And I did verify that I'm getting the 100Mbps, well around 94Mbps.

I still get routing issues with TWC though, some sites will perform horribly, and when I do a traceroute I find that the routing bounces around 20+ rr.com addresses before getting out of the TWC network and that seems to be causing the problem. I've never wanted to change my DNS server because we rely a lot on Amazon, iTunes, Netflix, and Youtube for video streaming and most have special routings by provider and a 3rd party DNS would route around that and generally cause worse performance.

Anyway, I thought it was interesting TWC called me and offered me all this "free" stuff. I'm thinking GF has them worried. I'll bet TWC in other cities haven't likely been offering these increased speeds for free. But maybe I'm wrong.

[flyingember]

I got a call saying TW will be calling at some point. Way underwhelming.

It's not just Google that they're scared of. KC didn't get just fast Internet and great options for low income residents, it got high tech startup jobs. It showed a lot of cities that exclusives for companies not doing speed upgrades while bumping costs was bad business overall. Lexington, KY is actually pushing back when the merger plan came through, they threatened (still are?) to not renew the franchise agreement.

I'm sure Google got exactly what they wanted, they upset the market in a tiny fraction of the country and it ripped outwards.

[grovester]

Nothing from Surewest, despite my neighborhood qualifying.

[brewcrew1000]

Does it normally take forever to get scheduled for fiber? I signed up in August and still haven't recieved a confirmation to schedule service. I signed up for free internet but then switched to the gigabit internet but after a week i just switched back to free thinking i would be able to schedule right away with the gigabit service.

[rxlexi]

brewcrew, I am in the exact same boat. Quite frankly, and based on my brother's experience getting hooked to Fiber in the DT loop (he loves the service, but hated the setup/install), Google has little idea what they're doing with a roll-out on this scale.

Really frustrating that a company of this size can essentially say "here, sign up for this service, and then wait to hear from us for 3 months plus", in my case. Still looking forward to it, eventually.

edit: I should clarify that I'm in a multifamily building, which no doubt complicates things. Still, just communicate with me, please.

[earthling]

I'm in a condo building and install was pretty straight forward. It took them a few months to get the building wired up to each utility closet but once complete, they then sent an email to schedule install and I was able to have final install inside unit 3 days later. If your building mgmt doesn't work well with Google or is not well organized, it could take longer.

Routing fiber/cable the first time city wide is a monumental task, especially for Google that doesn't have the right of ways that existing telco/cableco's have had for decades. It took most cable companies many more years to cover city wide several decades ago, especially those that were setting up right of ways for first time.

[brewcrew1000]

I am in a house in the Midtown Fiberhood one of the first place to receive service, i would think my area would be super easy to hook up, in fact a year or two ago a google contractor went into our back yard to look at the lines they installed, my install should be super easy since our area was built out first

[flyingember]

Nothing from Surewest, despite my neighborhood qualifying.

The CCI merger is killing any chance for them to be nimble and competitive.

[earthling]

I am in a house in the Midtown Fiberhood one of the first place to receive service, i would think my area would be super easy to hook up, in fact a year or two ago a google contractor went into our back yard to look at the lines they installed, my install should be super easy since our area was built out first

Hmm, yeah, your area should be complete. Some friends other side of Main from you got it early this year.

[grovester]

Nothing from Surewest, despite my neighborhood qualifying.

The CCI merger is killing any chance for them to be nimble and competitive.

Yes, that was my assumption. Sad, because pre-Google they were really grabbing a big chunk of dissatisfied TWC folks.

[lock+load]

Nothing from Surewest, despite my neighborhood qualifying.

The CCI merger is killing any chance for them to be nimble and competitive.

I keep getting mailers offering TV and internet for about $70 a month. It's not gigabit obviously, but at that price I would be surprised if they aren't picking up customers.

[earthling]

TWC is now sending a flyer with a $50 deal, 15Mbps and basic TV if I recall. Sounds like they are going after Google not offering a middle tier service - may be the only segment TWC can do well in.

[lock+load]

The CCI deal includes full cable and whole home dvr and 10 mpbs I think. I am somewhat tempted to switch. Not sure Fiber is worth $600 more a year.

[earthling]

Many in industry wonder if Google will eventually offer a mid-range tier. I suspect they need to still get a $70/month per sub avg to get ROI so may eventually come up with some form of $70 bundle - like full TV with <50M for $70 or limited TV with 100M+ for $70.

They may not go for it though as long as they get the subscription rate they want. And if they offer middle tier, a lot less would get a full Gbit, which is likely a user base they want to create in order to press other ISPs to keep capacity/supply ahead of demand and to be prepared for more demanding future services.

[SWFan]

Does it normally take forever to get scheduled for fiber? I signed up in August and still haven't recieved a confirmation to schedule service. I signed up for free internet but then switched to the gigabit internet but after a week i just switched back to free thinking i would be able to schedule right away with the gigabit service.

I signed up back in May and our fiberhood qualified in June. I received a generic email from GF stating that with winter coming they would likely not be doing any installs in our neighborhood until next Summer.

I live in a neighborhood where all the utilities are underground. Back in March and April they ran the conduit throughout our neighborhood. Then in July they ran fiber through that conduit. What is left for us is running an underground line from the sidewalk to the side of our house, then running a line inside the house. They probably don't want to bother trenching during the winter.

[flyingember]

Google Fiber website has an update regarding timing in Johnson County.

Johnson County (excluding OP and those 3 cities that have signups running right now) will have signups before the end of this year (2014).

Overland Park signups will be sometime next year (2015).

really, where?

edit, I see. not the map but the headers above it added OP

because the rest of JoCo was announced back in February

It's said 2014 since they started splitting joco up. That's not new. It's also not necessarily true anymore with only two months to go and then being quite behind in MO

[flyingember]

They probably don't want to bother trenching during the winter.

It's likely going to be run via underground directed boring. Way quicker to remediate than with trenching and they can go under other utilities safely

[davidc]

Central JoCo closes today. 28 of 34 already reached their goal. Of the 6 remaining, a total of 71 would get them all to their goals (3 need less than 10).

[earthling]

Is there a sense of 'rally the neighborhood' for Gfiber like there was in KCMO? Our building was initially very concerned about our fiberhood (Plaza Westport) not getting enough regs because the ones around us were qualified before we were - some were posting flyers in our fiberhood. Many were concerned about being left out, but it turned out to be registration issues for some large buildings at the time.

Is there that sense of concern of remaining fiberhoods not getting it in JoCo? I could see the light industrial areas maybe not getting enough regs.