Google Fiber buys Webpass to speed up broadband deployment in cities

[RV_]

I live in a rural area and am lucky to have Cable Broadband Internet as many in the area do not. Google is modifying its plans to lay fiber everywhere in favor of also using wireless. AT&T is in a big push to expand GB Internet to all major markets they can. If the GB wireless is pulled off, one day RVrs will be streaming at will too.

 

Excerpt:

 

"The purchase of a company that delivers wireless high-speed broadband should help Google Fiber build its 1Gbps network quicker and for less money.

 

On Wednesday, Webpass, an internet service provider that uses point-to-point wireless to deliver high-speed broadband to apartment buildings and businesses, said it was being bought by Google Fiber for an undisclosed amount. Neither company has disclosed details of the transaction, but the deal is expected to close this summer after regulatory approval.

 

Webpass uses a combination of rooftop wireless networks connected to high-speed fiber connections to deliver broadband connections that it claims can be as fast as 1 gigabit per second. The company is already operating in five major markets, including the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Miami, Chicago and Boston. Google Fiber, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, revealed earlier this year that it plans to deploy its 1Gbps broadband service in San Francisco, and it has already listed Chicago and San Diego as potential future cities. The acquisition of Webpass should help accelerate those plans and could help Fiber push into other cities.

 

"By joining forces, we can accelerate the deployment of superfast internet connections for customers across the US," Webpass President Charles Barr said in a blog post announcing the deal. "Webpass will remain focused on rapid deployment of high-speed internet connections for residential and commercial buildings, primarily using point-to-point wireless."

 

Since 2010 when Google first announced plans to build a fiber network, the company has challenged phone and cable operators to deploy affordable ultrahigh-speed broadband. But the build-out has been relatively slow. Google started in Kansas City and now offers service in two other cities, Austin and Provo, Utah. It's building service in Nashville and Atlanta, and has several other cities on its road map.

 

Building a fiber-based network is expensive and time consuming. Streets need to be dug up to lay the fiber infrastructure. By contrast, point-to-point wireless connections that use high-frequency spectrum or airwaves can deliver high-speed access at a fraction of the cost, because all that's needed are radios and receivers mounted atop buildings. These networks can be set up within days rather than the weeks and months often required with a fiber deployment.

 

Though there are technical challenges associated with these wireless networks, they've been used for years to deliver dedicated data connections to businesses in cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

 

Webpass is among a growing list of providers extending this technology to residential customers. Like Google Fiber, it's offering high-speed service at affordable prices, selling a 100Mbps to 1Gbps service for $60 a month. Google Fiber's 1Gbps broadband offer is $70 a month.

 

Barr said the news is good for its existing customers because the companies share a similar vision of offering a "high quality internet connection to as many people as possible."

 

"Google Fiber's resources will enable Webpass to grow faster and reach many more customers than we could as a standalone company," Barr said."

 

The full article is here with lots of hotlinks to related stories to this move. is here: https://www.cnet.com/news/google-fiber-buys-webpass-to-speed-up-broadband-deployment-in-cities/

 

Like these:

Google Fiber just gave up on me -- and many of its employees: https://www.cnet.com/news/google-fiber-pause-rollout-october-2016/?ftag=CAD1acfa04&bhid=20640562413884385817807471581031

 

AT&T promises gigabit broadband to 11 more cities

AT&T is racing to roll out its ultra-high-speed broadband service as rival Google Fiber, which started the gigabit craze, seems to be scaling back its deployment: https://www.cnet.com/news/at-t-promises-gigabit-broadband-to-11-more-cities-google-fiber-gigabit-alphabet/

 

 

No matter it benefits all of us and may be possible for RVrs as well, but that may be ten years in the future or more. Or not. Things have a way of happening faster, when legislation that makes monopolies in our communications possible at the state level become known and repealed. We need to break up big cable like we did Bell. For the same reasons. They were coasting, and costing . . . US!

 

Internet is a public and private effort like power generation and water, sewage and garbage. Remember when the phone company would hook you up almost anywhere free? They had to by law. I am not poor nor a household in search of a handout. Too many like me get the shaft because of Cable company PR that claims the government has no business regulating the cable companies. THe cable companies in secret, already regulated their monopolies into legislation at the state level. Those who cry loudest against regulation are usually the ones gatting their regulation in that takes more from the rest of us.

 

The cell companies have three or four carriers everywhere and two in the boonies, right? Was the breakup of Bell a communist or political plot to undermine the rich? (The tin foil hat brigade would say so.) Of course not. If the cable companies spent all that lobbying money on laying cable in the boonies years ago they would still have no right to a monopoly on our emergency and day to day business communications. And yes they need FCC oversight.

 

I think we all will come to our senses within the next five years or so and see that the Cable PR and lobbying against regulation is a cover for their state level paid for regulation to prevent competition for them. Absurd because they have caused regulation to be enacted at the state level. Let free enterprise and competition take us to the next level by for profits, not government. People are looking at repealing the wrong regulation. We need two broadband carriers in every area that compete. Not one in this town and another monopoly next door like here in Shreveport/Bossier City.