Google Fiber is coming to Las Vegas

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Vegas connectivity & hotel Wi‑Fi

  • Many attendees of Vegas conferences (e.g., DEF CON) complain hotel and convention Wi‑Fi is terrible.
  • Explanations offered:
    • Wi‑Fi congestion and undersized backhaul for thousands of rooms.
    • Hotels prioritizing profit and/or discouraging guests from staying in rooms instead of gambling.
    • “Peak vs. average” problem: upgrading for rare high‑demand events isn’t worth it to hotels.
  • Some argue this is mostly a skill/effort issue, pointing to events like CCC and re:Invent that deploy excellent temporary networks.

State of Google Fiber

  • Several commenters are surprised Fiber still exists or is expanding after a long “near‑dead” period.
  • Former insiders describe:
    • A major slowdown around 2016–2017, layoffs, and halted city rollouts.
    • Failed experiments (e.g., shallow trenching in Louisville, problematic TV set‑top rewrite).
    • Leadership indecision over wired vs. wireless futures and high physical infrastructure costs.
  • There is mention of Alphabet seeking external investors and possibly spinning Fiber out, causing concern but not outright shutdown predictions.

Pricing, speeds, and symmetry

  • GFiber plans: 1–8 Gbps, unchanged list prices since 2012, but at least one user reports past lower pricing.
  • Mixed reactions:
    • In many US markets, $70/month for symmetric 1 Gbps is seen as good and stable versus cable incumbents.
    • Others note much cheaper or faster offerings abroad (e.g., Switzerland, France, Japan, NZ, UK) and some US co‑ops/alt‑ISPs.
  • GFiber is symmetric; many cable offerings remain highly asymmetric and sometimes capped.

Infrastructure, regulation, and competition

  • Large portion of discussion focuses on why fiber rollout is slow:
    • Cost and complexity of last‑mile buildout (trenches vs. poles, permits, pole‑attachment sequencing).
    • Incumbents’ decades of lobbying and control over poles/ducts.
    • Economics of “overbuilds” where multiple ISPs split a finite customer base.
  • Several advocate municipal or open‑access fiber as the most efficient and competitive model.

Do households need multi‑gig?

  • Debate over whether >1 Gbps has real value:
    • Pro‑speed: huge game/OS/model downloads, multi‑user households, self‑hosting, low waiting times.
    • Skeptical: 200–500 Mbps already handles typical streaming, calls, and browsing; main pain points are latency, jitter, and Wi‑Fi, not raw throughput.

Privacy & data concerns

  • Some worry Fiber increases Google’s ability to observe all traffic.
  • Others note Fiber’s long existence and unclear profitability; claims about “spying making it worthwhile” are contested and remain speculative in the thread.