Portland’s Tech Community Reacts to Google Fiber Delays

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Joanna Evoniuk, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Photo Credit: Ministerio TIC Colombia via Compfight cc

Google Fiber announced a delay of its Portland launch on Thursday. Although many tech professionals and gurus are disappointed in a delay of access to high speed internet fiber, they are not worried about it affecting their businesses.

Anna Rinck, who works with the Portland marketing company Intrix Media, was sorry to hear of the delay.

“I’ve been hopping for something better than crap-cast,” Rinck said.

Although Rinck said she is frustrated with the high speed internet options in Portland, she doesn’t think that Google fiber wouldn’t actually help that much with business side of her job. CEO of Intrix Media, Will Davis agreed.

“Would I love to have 100 Megabits speed? Yes. Will I die without it? No,” Davis said.

Google Fiber may speed things up for internet users, but Davis says the company is slowly moving forward because it has shareholders to please who don’t see the venture as a money maker.

“It’s a stupidly expensive venture,” Davis said.

Jeff Martens, an entrepreneur and member of the tech community, agreed the fiber enterprise wasn’t a going to make Google any richer.

“[Google] never looked at it like that, and may not look to stay in the business for long,” Martens said.

Martens said Google’s goal with the project is to get people to do more things on the internet and advance the industry. This is reflected in the way Comcast and Century Link have increased operations in Portland, according to Martens.

Since Google Fiber was first announced, Comcast has since doubled its broadband and CenturyLink has upgraded its high-speed fiber network.

Even with the upgrades, Martens said Portland high-speed internet still needs improvement. In the process of moving to Pearl district, Martens said he is frustrated with his internet options.

“I’m in one of the hottest neighborhoods in Oregon, but I can't get fiber,” Martens said.

Gavin Bramley, Fleet operations manager of Curb in Portland, also finds the delay in expanded options disappointing.

“I was annoyed, I wanted a different choice,” Bramley said. “I personaly dislike Comcast. “

Bramley doesn’t think the delays will last forever, however, even if more follow.

“There will probably be more delays, but it should come here,” Bramley said. “Why not Portland?”

Mark Grimes, founder of Nedspace and who has been in the startup business for 20 years, said when he heard the announcement, he wasn’t expecting to see in Portland for three or four years.

Economic Impact

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If Google Fiber does come to Portland, how it will impact the city’s business and economic growth is uncertain.

Catherine Nikolovski is a technology consultant and founder of Hack Oregon, a nonprofit that turns complex public financing data into user friendly info-graphics.

“Google has been to Portland and said, ‘Look at what happened in Chattanooga [Tennessee], there was a lot of growth and companies moved there,’” Nikolovski said.

But she didn’t see an immediate pay off in super fast internet speed and economic development.

“I don’t inherently see the connection between the two,” Nikolovski said.

Nikolovski said the city of Portland seemed invested in landing the infrastructure investment, but that in the near term Google Fiber might pay off more for the city’s brand image than for existing companies.

“It could be a way to attract talent,” Nikolovski said. “I think they are just trying to make Portland as appealing as possible. Charlie Hales really wants it. But it’s ultimately up to Google.”