Here in the Netherlands we also have this but from more companies. A lot of cities now have fiber to the home, I have 50/50 + tv for 50 euro (100/100 would be 55). Some cities also have Gigabit, for about 100 euros/month (http://www.tweak.nl/consument/fiber/productoverzicht.html)
Google fiber doesn't seem so special to me. Maybe I should read into how the money from the fiber network is made here. I think there are some government loans involved in getting the infrastructure in place, even though there already was a cable network that is currently advertising up to 200 mbit/sec.
> A lot of cities now have fiber to the home, I have 50/50 + tv for 50 euro
I have 50/25 or so plus TV for about the same price in southeastern US. It's not fiber, but I end up with about the same service as you. At the level of service you and I are getting, fiber isn't necessary.
> Google fiber doesn't seem so special to me.
Probably not if you only have 50/50 for 50 euro. That's not nearly as great a value as Google Fiber, in my opinion. For that same amount, you get symmetric 1000/1000 with Google Fiber. Blows the kind of service that you and I are getting away, bigtime.
70 USD plus taxes and fees is about 70 EUR. I don't know if that's really so much better value.
The utility of an internet connection doesn't scale linearly with speed. Once you're at the point where you can stream HD video, diminishing returns start kicking in pretty hard. How often are you waiting for a >100MB file transfer and can't work until it's completed?
> The utility of an internet connection doesn't scale linearly with speed.
Sure, up to a point. But when you've got a family of 4+ sharing an internet connection, 50Mb can be used easily.
A recent example:
* Younger kid running HD Netflix stream downstairs.
* Older kid listening to music and downloading a game in his room.
* I'm watching an HD Amazon stream movie rental.
* Wife is shuffling large PSDs to/from remote storage.
This definitely doesn't apply to everyone, but a family can put some hurting on an internet connection. Particularly during the winter when it gets dark by 5PM.
Our internet in the US costs about the same for less bandwidth. Also our internet companies are among the most loathed companies in the country and consistently rank among the lowest large companies in customer satisfaction. They also build networks on government subsidy but generally have little if any competition. They also almost force you to bundle in phone and TV with a pricing scheme that makes no sense. They are also allowed to gobble each other up in a race to the bottom.
I just got connected to my 200/200 mbit connection in my apartment in Copenhagen, Denmark. I'm paying 200 DKK for it per month ($35 / €27).
There are at least four companies with fiber in the ground here in Copenhagen. I chose a fairly cheap company (http://andels.net/), with fiber in only the eastern and northern part of Copenhagen. They hooked up the apartment complex I live in (200 apartments) for 3800 DKK per apartment, which we pay off over 2 years, while everyone gets a 50/50 mbit connection for free in that period. You can upgrade to 200/200 mbit, which I did.
For the people who just use the 50/50 mbit connection, the investment will pay itself back in less than two years (because they save at least 100 DKK per month on Internet, while having a much faster connection than ADSL).
Multiple companies working in a much smaller area. (The Netherlands is smaller than 41 states http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territo... but has a larger population than 45 states http://www.ipl.org/div/stateknow/popchart.html) It costs an awful lot more to build the infrastructure needed. Because of this cost, many cities offer monopolies for a number of years so the city doesn't have to spend the money to build the infrastructure itself. In Austin, that is pretty much Time Warner Cable and ATT. Since the announcement ATT has been pushing to get Gigabit fiber out (I'm currently using it), that would have never happened if Google wasn't coming into town.
Google fiber doesn't seem so special to me. Maybe I should read into how the money from the fiber network is made here. I think there are some government loans involved in getting the infrastructure in place, even though there already was a cable network that is currently advertising up to 200 mbit/sec.