I'm getting Google Fiber - 1 gigabit up and down

[friedo]

The CAT5 will probably work fine.

[gaffa]

@friedo

The CAT5 will probably work fine.

I re-terminated the connectors on both ends, and the switch and my desktop now indicates that I have a gigabit connection.

[friedo]

Schweet!

[Wesley_Clark]

@gaffa

I don’t expect it to ever get to Chicago. Google has not indicated that they have any intention to go national with this. The main idea was that it was intended to embarrass the existing ISPs into improving their terrible service.

It hasn’t worked. I pay almost as much as you do for 25Mbps download, about 5-10Mbps upload.

[Wesley_Clark]

@FoieGrasIsEvil

It really bugs me that this type of internet speed isn’t more widely available. I have a buddy in Japan that regularly clocks speeds of around 60Mbps down and 30 up and he pays a pittance for his internet. That’s not close to Google fiber speeds, but it’s far faster than most of America enjoys without paying through the nose for it. I realize that urban density affects what can be offered, but damn…my Comcast cable internet is pretty expensive and I get about 30 down and 7-8 up, and Speedtest.net tells me I am faster than 90% of America. That’s kinda sad, really. We can and should do better.

Susan Crawford on Why Our Internet Access Is Slow, Costly and Unfair | Moyers...

According to that video, the companies are colluding to keep prices high and service low. How they do that legally, I have no idea.

[gotpasswords]

Has there been any evidence that the “embarrass the other ISPs” thing is working?

I always thought it was crazy that I could throw an iPhone from my house in California and hit Silicon Valley, but the area was so overbuilt and the infrastructure was stretched so thin that I was lucky to get 3meg DSL as we were about 1600 feet off a remote terminal. The ILEC (SBC / Pacific Bell) truly took Lily Tomlin’s “Ernestine” character to heart and just did not care. They thought we were 15,000 feet from the CO, so they flat-out said DSL was impossible. Fortunately, I found a
CLEC that knew how to use an RT, and we had our “impossible” service, even though I don’t think the ILEC was sufficiently embarrassed.

[Johnny_Bravo]

@gaffa

The main idea was that it was intended to embarrass the existing ISPs into improving their terrible service.

I don’t know how anyone at Google would think that this would work. Companies that hold virtual monopolies don’t care if a non-competitor is offering a better service in another city. It’s not like I can call Cox up and tell them that I’m going to drop their service because Google has gigabit speeds in Kansas City.

[gaffa]

@Johnny_Bravo

I don’t know how anyone at Google would think that this would work. Companies that hold virtual monopolies don’t care if a non-competitor is offering a better service in another city. It’s not like I can call Cox up and tell them that I’m going to drop their service because Google has gigabit speeds in Kansas City.

I do know that it is working in Kansas City. All three other options - AT&T, Time-Warner and Surewest - are basically shitting themselves over Google Fiber. They are all rapidly improving the infrastructure that they haven’t touched in years. You can hardly drive a mile without seeing some crew working on a pole. And it seems that half of the billboards in the city are either for Google Fiber, or from Time-Warner insisting that they aren’t as terrible as they have been.

[gaffa]

I just uploaded a 600 meg file to YouTube and it took me 3 minutes. Previously on my cable connection, it would have taken 48.

[gaffa]

I’m using my Google Fiber connection every day. Sadly, there really doesn’t seem to be anything out there that can use this speed, including, surprisingly, Google’s own services. I downloaded a bunch of pictures from my Google Photos account, and it really wasn’t much quicker than cable.

I am quite happy that I’m able to upload my HD video clips in better than real-time.

One question: The router supports both IPV4 and IPV6, and I now have an IPV6 address for my Windows 7 computer. Is there anything special I can do with IPV6 that I couldn’t do with IPV4?