Google the ISP Not Going to Happen

This week Google marks its third anniversary of hooking up its hometown of Mountain View with WiFi.  And the marking on the calendar has some rethinking a rumored plan that Google wants to become an Internet Service Provider.

The company says it's Tropos-based broadband network continues to have steady growth, boasting a 3,000 user jump in a recent 30 day period.  Google says it transports some 600 gigabytes of data each day. That's double from two years ago.

"We continue to experience extremely high demand – both in terms of users and bandwidth," said Karl Garcia, who heads up the project for Google.

And while those number are impressive, many in the industry had speculated the wiFi experiment was part of a new path to make Google an ISP.   That speculation is proving to be false.

Karl Bode's headline on DSLreports.com reads
"So Much For Google The ISP, Huh?".  Bode claims Google was never in the market to become an ISP and instead, "They just wanted a more efficient and less expensive transit network for services, user storage and ads." He calls that plan a "flame out."

Either way, Mountain View resident can count on the service for another two years.  Google signed a 5-year deal back in 2006 with the city. That will keep you WiFi covered through 2011.

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