February 12, 2010

Biznology Blog by Mike Moran

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Google as an ISP? Is there no end?

Image representing Google as depicted in Crunc...

Back in the early days of the Internet, there was a lot of talk about ISPs (Internet service Providers) and the power they had. They still have power today but they do not have the same pizazz. Having a connection to the Internet is not special today because it seems as if everyone has access in some way or another. Of course, that is a generalization and if I did more research I would guess that there are socio-economic lines drawn between the haves and have-nots, but that's just a guess.

Regardless, it takes a very big name to make the idea of an ISP interesting again, and in this day and age there is no bigger name than Google, and yes, they are looking to become an ISP along with everything else they do.

The Official Google Blog tells some of the story:

We're planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We'll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.

The underlying "altruism" of this program gives more speed for less cost to people so they can do more things with their time on the Internet. There are applications that are likely waiting in the wings for more speed on the net so that they can perform. Heck, even video still chokes with today's higher bandwidth connections.

So Google is looking to have a piece of the end user's life from the connection to the, well, whatever they want. I am still wondering if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Do I want Google to provide everything that could make my life better and also have more information on me than my closest family members do? Or should I even worry at all? Here's the official Google video about the experiment:

Is Google acting as an ISP a good thing? Let's let you decide whether this a blessing or something else.

Posted by FrankReed at February 12, 2010 11:47 AM

Comments

Google is acting as an ISP on this project because they have to: the idea is to introduce brand new hardware that the other ISPs have ignored. Its something of a scandal that the USA has such slow connections in most of the country.

Posted by: Jason Vaar at February 15, 2010 4:51 AM

G'day Frank,

After the recent drama google has had with privacy issues on buzz, I sure as hell don't want them controlling the actual pipe that my data flows through.

Can you imagine the kind of profile they'll be building on their clients? I'm horrified just thinking about it!

Posted by: Stu at February 16, 2010 12:52 AM

if they can compete in pricing than I would love to see them in the market. The more the merrier because pricing will drop for end users.

Posted by: G13 Media at February 16, 2010 5:51 PM

To be honest im suprised google have not done this before, the same with offering hosting etc, as im sure they could certainly have something to offer within these fields !

Woc

Posted by: Mr Woc at February 17, 2010 10:32 PM

Much as we hate being paranoid about it, but Google is getting bigger and they have more info about the individual person than before. All of which can be used by unscrupulous persons against that individual when the time comes.

Posted by: Raymond at February 18, 2010 2:47 AM

I don't mind Google getting into the ISP business. For starters, they tend to do things quite well. They also like to keep things simple. I think it is the perfect opportunity for a company with really deep pockets to help improve the internet infrastructure, even if it is only for 50 or so thousand people.

If they were totally committed to it, they could potentially become the Walmart of broadband internet providers.

Posted by: Dan at February 18, 2010 3:16 AM

That's just too much man... Google as an ISP is a search engine trying to gain an outright monopoly over the internet. If there were an internet police (wait - google?) then they should be arrested.

Posted by: buy propecia at February 18, 2010 2:09 PM

Google operates a WiFi network in Mountain View (California) and is getting ready to launch one in San Francisco, however, New York isn't on the list...at least not yet. If it wasn't a Google spider then it could have been a Google employee or contractor.

Posted by: clean whites at February 23, 2010 9:05 AM

wow...so google is exploring new markets..it'll be interesting as to what google comes up..there are some giants such as cyber net and supernet ruling the market

Posted by: logo design company at February 24, 2010 11:15 AM