If Google builds it, will the applications come?

Forget the public vs private infrastructure debate, when Google need a high-speed broadband network, Google just builds it. Addressing Broadband World Forum in Paris this week, Google Access GM Kevin Lo revealed that Google’s fiber network ambitions were forged when he and Chocolate Factory co-founder Sergey Brin discussed the …

[acbot]

They were probably laughing at how wrong his analogy actually was.

[Anonymous Coward]

google in a nutshell

“If we think this is so important – why are we asking the government to do it?”

generalise this to:

“If we think this is so important – why are we asking <someone else/> to do it?”

and you've pretty much defined the reason for their success.

them's priddy much got they's own intertube, sheesh.

[gautam]

We need it

.......here in blighty, instead of sucking up to incumbents who drip feed us at high costs.

Please Google, will u oblige us, and light a fire under BT. SKy, TT, Virgin et al?

[Woof !]

Nothing new under the sun

ITT (eventually to become part of STL (eventually became part of NTL)) tried this in my home town of Harlow, UK. They put in miles and miles of coax throughout the town and we all got free terrestrial TV without an arial. . . . . but nothing else.

Then, when the internet revolution came along the coax was found to be wanting so fibre had to be put in instead.

Bit of a missed opportunity I reckon.

Woof !

Xxx

[James 100]

@Woof: They actually put in fibre to the home instead of existing coax?! I wish they'd done that here ... for all the lies they spout on TV, Virgin's network is still coax not fibre, with fibre only being used to connect their cabinets together.

I finally got the date for the faster upload crawlout in my area: next February. Apparently the ex-Telewest coax kit can't handle higher frequencies, so they have to upgrade it first. If only their "fibre optic" broadband actually ran over fibre, like Verizon's FIOS in the US, instead of really being coax...

[Mark 65]

Porn?

"that if you put a 100 Mbps symmetrical connection in people's home, that they will figure out ways to use it"

See title.