The DNA of AT&T: The Bell Tolls for Google Fiber
September 7, 2016
In the great chain of telecommunications, AT&T (aka Ma Bell) sat at the top of the food chain. Today the DNA of the original Ma Bell lives on its chubby Baby Bell progeny, Verizon and the former Pioneer Telephone and Telegraph Company of Oklahoma along with a few other properties like Southwestern Bell.
I read an interesting blog post which I am confident was reviewed by at least one legal eagle, perhaps as many as several dozen. One cannot be too careful, which is one of the twisted copper pair truisms. Those with the sprit of the Young Pioneers are essentially conservative, preferring old fashioned Edison inspired virtues: Kindness, patience, courtly behavior, etc., etc.
“Broadband Investment: Not for the Faint of Heart” essentially pats Google on the head and says, “Nice try, kids.” The Alphabet Google thing bought some fiber optic long lines. The Alphabet Google thing wanted to use its fiber to become a reinvigorated version of Ma Bell. Sure, wireless is an interesting technology, the Google apparently assumed that old school infrastructure was not particularly challenging. I recall one Google presentation in which a pizza delivery vehicle was a mobile hot spot. Despite that awareness of wireless, the AT&T write up points out that old school phone work is different from selling ads to users of an online search engine. But the fiber thing and the wireless thing combined may be as tricky a problem to solve as death. Alphabet Google’s X Labs bet is that immortality is within reach. Perhaps mind uploading via Google fiber will do the trick for some Googlers. Sounds more digital than cyonics, which reminds me of my mother’s freezer filled with frost covered packages of mystery food.
I highlighted this passage:
Building reliable, ubiquitous high-speed broadband connectivity is tough. It takes an enormous commitment of capital and resources and a highly-skilled and capable work force. Yet AT&T has been at it for over 140 years. Between 2011 and 2015, while Google Fiber was cutting its teeth on fiber, AT&T invested over $140B in its network, building to over one million route miles of fiber globally and deploying ultra-high-speed fiber-fed GigaPower broadband services, reaching over a hundred cities. Along the way, AT&T spent over $13B with minority, women and disabled veteran-owned suppliers in 2015 alone.
I formulated several questions based on this excellent write up. (Full disclosure. Gentle reader, I was a contractor to Bell Labs and then to Bellcore for a number of years.)
- Does Google understand the nature of the put down AT&T presents in the blog post?
- Does Google accept the fact that the DNA of AT&T and Verizon spawn powerful antigens. These antigens may not make the Alphabet Google life form live without some troublesome outbreaks of psoriasis or worse?
- Does Google care what an old fashioned outfit based on physical switches, tubes, and low bandwidth copper thinks, says, or does?
I will leave you to ponder these issues. In the meantime, the disruptive forces of the Alphabet Google thing seem not to trouble what seems to be a tough, gritty, and resilient Ma Bell. I think in Harrod’s Creek we visualize Ma Bell with a chewed, unlit cigar clenched in her teeth. But we can confuse Ma Kettle with Ma Bell.
Stephen E Arnold, September 7, 2016
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