The Slow Hunch by Nick GrossmanFrom Crypto-Native to Crypto-Enabled
I’m not one to make big annual predictions, but one thing that seems likely to me is that 2024 will mark the emergence of mainstream apps powered by ...
The Slow Hunch by Nick GrossmanBitcoin as Battery
One of my favorite things about crypto is that, every so often, your conception of what it is changes.Bitcoin at first was "weird internet money...
The Slow Hunch by Nick GrossmanThe Butter Thesis
At USV, we talk a lot about our investment thesis. The USV thesis is a set of ideas that has guided our investing over the years. It is a tool we u...
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Investing @ USV. Student of cities and the internet.
It’s been pretty awesome to watch the roll out of Google Fiber.
For those who haven’t been following, Google is piloting a program to deliver gigabit internet service (symmetrical — equal speeds for uploads and download), starting with Kansas City and coming soon to Austin, TX.
This is important and interesting for several reasons: 1) the state of broadband access in the US is shameful, 2) the incumbent wired internet providers (Time Warner and Comcast) have divided up the US and essentially operate as unregulated monopolies in most markets, resulting in crappy + expensive service, and 3) gigabit service a game-changing 10-20x faster than the typical high-end cable service (which is 50-100mbit).
So it’s been entertaining to see everyone react to Google Fiber. I love Mike Masnick’s coverage yesterday of AT&T’s bullshit response to gFiber coming to Austin (“Hours After Google Announces Google Fiber In Austin, AT&T Pretends It, Too, Will Build A 1 Gigabit Network There”). See also: “Likely pressured by Google Fiber, Time Warner ups speeds, slashes rates”.
Maybe this is an argument that true competition is possible in the wired internet access space; I’m not sure. Google has successfully negotiated unusually favorable terms in each of these pilot cities so far, which may make it hard or impossible to do this on a nationwide basis.
I keep coming back to the idea that it may cost as little as $100 billion to lay fiber to every home and business in the US
It’s been pretty awesome to watch the roll out of Google Fiber.
For those who haven’t been following, Google is piloting a program to deliver gigabit internet service (symmetrical — equal speeds for uploads and download), starting with Kansas City and coming soon to Austin, TX.
This is important and interesting for several reasons: 1) the state of broadband access in the US is shameful, 2) the incumbent wired internet providers (Time Warner and Comcast) have divided up the US and essentially operate as unregulated monopolies in most markets, resulting in crappy + expensive service, and 3) gigabit service a game-changing 10-20x faster than the typical high-end cable service (which is 50-100mbit).
So it’s been entertaining to see everyone react to Google Fiber. I love Mike Masnick’s coverage yesterday of AT&T’s bullshit response to gFiber coming to Austin (“Hours After Google Announces Google Fiber In Austin, AT&T Pretends It, Too, Will Build A 1 Gigabit Network There”). See also: “Likely pressured by Google Fiber, Time Warner ups speeds, slashes rates”.
Maybe this is an argument that true competition is possible in the wired internet access space; I’m not sure. Google has successfully negotiated unusually favorable terms in each of these pilot cities so far, which may make it hard or impossible to do this on a nationwide basis.
I keep coming back to the idea that it may cost as little as $100 billion to lay fiber to every home and business in the US
Subscribe to The Slow Hunch by Nick Grossman
Investing @ USV. Student of cities and the internet.
The Slow Hunch by Nick GrossmanFrom Crypto-Native to Crypto-Enabled
I’m not one to make big annual predictions, but one thing that seems likely to me is that 2024 will mark the emergence of mainstream apps powered by ...
The Slow Hunch by Nick GrossmanBitcoin as Battery
One of my favorite things about crypto is that, every so often, your conception of what it is changes.Bitcoin at first was "weird internet money...
The Slow Hunch by Nick GrossmanThe Butter Thesis
At USV, we talk a lot about our investment thesis. The USV thesis is a set of ideas that has guided our investing over the years. It is a tool we u...
I am intrigued by the idea that we (we being everyone that has an interest in expanding opportunity on and by way of the internet) could just raise that $100b and build the fucking thing. Maybe it would take the form of a nonprofit utility-like company; maybe it could pile on to an effort like Google Fiber (with conditions about neutrality and perhaps wholesale resale); I’m not sure.
But the one thing I’m sure about is that the benefit of symmetrical gigabit fiber to every American is incalculable.
I am intrigued by the idea that we (we being everyone that has an interest in expanding opportunity on and by way of the internet) could just raise that $100b and build the fucking thing. Maybe it would take the form of a nonprofit utility-like company; maybe it could pile on to an effort like Google Fiber (with conditions about neutrality and perhaps wholesale resale); I’m not sure.
But the one thing I’m sure about is that the benefit of symmetrical gigabit fiber to every American is incalculable.
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