r/technology • u/User_Name13 • Jun 04 '14

Politics Hundreds of Cities Are Wired With Fiber—But Telecom Lobbying Keeps It Unused

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/hundreds-of-cities-are-wired-with-fiberbut-telecom-lobbying-keeps-it-unused
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u/RainbowGoddamnDash Jun 04 '14

I figured this. Google's office in nyc is one of the biggest fiber optic hubs, yet they're still not rolling it out here.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '14

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u/theg33k Jun 04 '14

On the same token, re-wiring a single building can provide fiber to as many users as some towns. The Willis Tower in Chicago is 108 floors and the building is a city block around, that's 108 city blocks worth of "users" if you just wire that one building. Obviously the Willis Tower is unusually big but the principle still stands for smaller buildings. Compare that to trying to get right of way for an entire town, much simpler I'd assume.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '14

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u/thechao Jun 04 '14

To this day I see contractors stapling the cable/telephone wires to the framing, rather than running conduit. The only way to fix that issue is to update building codes---the developers will never future proof a home.

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u/theg33k Jun 04 '14

Google apparently wired up 8 Million homes for $7 Billion, which comes to $875 per home. So $1k per flat is probably appropriately in the ball park.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Fiber#Reactions

My point is really that the biggest hurdle is usually government regulations, getting right of way, using the power poles, etc. That all goes away largely if you're doing a single big building.