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Don't Get Too Excited About That Free Google WiFi

online.wsj.com — Earthlink's CEO says the free services will be much more limited, since he thinks it will be hard to generate the $7 per month per user needed to break even.

Who dugg this? Made popular Apr 14, 2006

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  • Ascendant, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15bah- you'd expect that from Earthlink, I suppose.

    Google, I'm guessing, aren't such cheap bastards. Plus, I think they're taking a longer-term view of things.

    In any case I don't think this applies to the Mountain View project, jus the SF etc.
  • dime, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15"Exactly, this article assumes that Google wants to make a profit off of the WiFi service."

    Hold my hair while I vomit a little harder.

    Google is not the Dali Lama of the business world. They are a corporation. And like every corporation, their goal is to make profit. Granted, Google's "goal" is to make that profit without comitting evil, their #1 goal is profit. Period.

    In fact, it's generally illegal for publically traded companies to do things without profit in mind.

    Either way, "free as in beer" service like this usually translates to "i'm better off just paying for it". We'll see.
  • Gigadafud, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12i would be a VERY easy decision to have to pay 7 bucks for internet access. i pay $45 right now.
  • hchaudh1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Pray, do tell me. Why should I take note of what EarthLink's CEO thinks abut Google? Google's intended service flies in the face of what ISP's do now. They will talk trash about it.

    I think Google's billions do prove that there is money in the advertising based model if you do it right.
  • ashtonium, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Exactly, this article assumes that Google wants to make a profit off of the WiFi service.
  • lnxaddct, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9If Google make's 12 cents per search then if a user on average makes 2 google searches a day, Google has made about $7.20 which will more then break even.
  • adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7sooo some people are paying 9 bucks for 56k? Don't they think for the same price people would be willing to pay for 300k? Two buck profit per person isn't bad in a large area. Hell I'd pay it on top of my home service (which I'd keep for my ISO and other big downloads) just so I could have access on my lappy no matter where I was at in the city.
  • thewebguy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Your lack of faith disturbs me, Executive Betty
  • bschroeter, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I guess you all don't understand dilution. So, let's say that Google is getting 12 cents per search off users right now. Well guess what? They aren't paying $7 per user right now are they? So, by now having to pay Earthlink $7 per user (or whatever their contract states) their value per user (and per search) in the SF and Mountain View markets goes down with their current business model. Now if they can get more per search based on being local and understanding the location of their client base (and perhaps some demographic questions they require) they can possibly make it up. Or if based on it being free people search more per user they can make it up. Or even if the huge influx of additional users helps out (although I doubt this since those people can't really afford a computer). I for one think that will be difficult - I think you will need to charge something per person to make money. Who knows though - Google has some smart people obviously, and MetroFi has taken a liking to that model as well (although they are probably just positioning themselves to get bought out; notice they didn't have that model until Google did).
  • antoniojvr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Must... Hold.... Excitement.
  • vatechtigger, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Yes, but they do not have to make a profit on everything they do. Perhaps the free service is a way to increase their brand image, which will increase their profits in other ways or drive users to other profit making ventures they have.
  • gekkokid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4the 12 cents, is that actually money from adsense on average or some random stock market fee value that does'nt really a exist?

    its a question not a comment :P
  • sert, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4All I need is a reliable service with moderate speeds. Most users will just use this for normal browsing and email rather than anything that would require major bandwith.

    I would happily pay 10 bucks a month for this kind of service but unfortunately it probably wont be coming to my area anytime soon. But hypothetically if I did have to make a choice between EarthLink and Google I would go with Google without a second thought.
  • Corsix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Google get 12c per search from the various forms of advertising and paid search results.
  • gschoots, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Interesting piece, the infrastructure required to build should be quite costly and then to maintain it will cost some serious money. Since your wireless networking experience depends largely on how much share you get it will be ineteresting to know how they will act against people that clog the connections with connection heavy protocols like FTP. It may sound fun to have roaming access but if everyone is experiencing modem like transfer speeds people will switch to dedicated bandwith subscriptions. I only see this happening if it will be web only.... which is still pretty cool!
  • Menel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3RTFA, Earthlink and Google are working together.
  • gekkokid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2300kbps service?

    months after its rolled out, they have an option to offer a higher speed service at a decent price that will pay for the free service,
  • gekkokid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2its a good marketing tool for now, when the competition gets too much and the hype has died google will prolly just sell it on
  • zydeco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Good point. Nobody seems to be pointing out this is municipal wi-fi, covering a whole city.

    ATT/SBC is charging me $35 a month for DSL, and wants another $2/month to use their 15 crappy wifi points at McDonalds restaurants around town.

    $7 for blanket coverage over a whole CITY? I think people will gladly pay, and don't care if they can't get krad-gamerz speeds from their connection. It opens up a whole new field of devices and ideas for net access when you can have a connection on almost anywhere you go.

    If the intial trials are successful, watch Google use some of those billions in the bank to expand as quickly as possible. It will probably take more money to fight off ATT and the Baby Bells in court than it will to actually build the towers.
  • oddball, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I heard somewhere its cool repeat the same comment over and over and over, 12 cents, 12 cents, 12 cents, 12 cents, 12 cents
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Since google does make money off ads, I'm sure they could throw up a splash page for the wifi that says your using Googles Free Wifi with a google add under it, that will get ya a few clicks and plus the changes of them going to google to search for something is very high, and then they're likely to click on an ad. Some people don't realize how many times you use google each day, I tend to just kinda not think about it but I make tons of searches.
  • Wolf451man, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I thought....you just had....to believe.
    Earthlink needs to believe that Google can do it.
    Maybe Earthlink can offer Google some fairies, trolls and unicorns to help....
  • Zero2aHero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Isn't the bigger story here that the Earthlink CEO just informed the world how much it would cost for google to break even? Thereby making it apparent to the rest of us broadband users that we are being vastly over charged.
  • joopp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1it will probably start limited... like all free services...
  • skipere, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1many of the people on this board have better vision and optimism for Google than Google partner (Earthlink)
    funny
  • linuxrebel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1While there may be a distinct advantage to advertising to people who spend indiscriminately, you are basing your ideas upon faulty assumptions. I use free wifi a lot, not because I'm too cheap to spend money on broadband at home. I do, I have. But because I'm waiting for a seat at a restraint and I get a page that a server is not responding. Pull out the handheld, SSH in and find out the problem. All over free WiFi. Most of the anti WiFi nay sayers I know of can't conceive of the idea that desktops are not the only users of broadband. Nor are laptops. In fact handheld units that can use 802.11/X are more numerous than you can imagine.
  • theone3, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2So what you're saying there is that you'd be willing to see more ads on _your_ google searches, so that some guy in another state can have free, slow, wifi access? Well, it makes sense to me. Except, you know.. competition.

    Frankly, I don't think that the Earthlink CEO is evil either. He's an expert in internet service provision for consumers, and Google isn't. They're partners discussing a two-tier service provision goal. Perhaps he knows something that Google doesn't.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Google will use their networks as insurance against Comcast, AT&T and Verizon. If cable modem and DSL providers begin charging users extra to access Google, Google will fight back and destroy them. The pipes are clueless when it comes to creating good content.
  • theOster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"wireless fidelity" what a bunch of nerds...
  • linuxrebel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I live inside of one of the largest "Free" Wifi Areas in the US. (Cupertino, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale CA) Not Google/Earth Link either. Now for free I get a nasty little add banner across the top of the screen and about 768mb down 128kbps up. If I do as I have done and go for the paid version (19 a month) I get slightly faster speeds and no banner. Compare this to DSL (256/128) for 25 a month (first 3 months) 35 after or Cable (6mb down 356Kbps up, maybe) at 59 a month. Personally I'm in heaven. Sure it takes a long, long time to pull down an iso file and movies have to be buffered a bit more. So..... I'm not paying 60 bucks a month for something that sits 50 out of 60 seconds unused. (like while typing this.)

    Will google make money off of the free WiFi ... yep. even when they lose. Depreciation on the equipment etc at tax time. But, most importantly, they can in the SF area, and others soon, tell ATT, and the Cables companies with their "Tiered Internet" extortion scam to go piss up a rope because they soon enough won't need them for the last mile.
  • TrueVox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm not too sure about this, but it seems to me that if you're computer literate enought to consider posting on Digg (not that you HAVE to be computer literate (I'm sure you can think of a few who aren't :D), but it seems that, being a tech site, that it's a common trait) you're not the primary target. I think that the main targets (70% or more) of the "Sponsored Ads" is the mom & pop who don't realize that there's a difference between that and a natural result.

    Of couse, just my thoughts on the matter. For what it's worth, I click on an ad for a company I dislike just to make them pay out to Google (I'd rather have money going to my hosting provider then to a particular cellphone company in my area).
  • jaybones1515, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Umm RTFA before commenting. It is a joint venture between Goog and Earthlink.
  • sony40x, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yeah, only that post didn't steal the headline and a line from the original:

    http://techdirt.com/articles/20060412/1147232.shtml
  • digjedi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0> 12 cents per search

    Crazy anyone pays for that. I use Google all the time... I don't believe I ever clicked on a google ad. Usually I do technical searches but even if searching for something to buy I go directly to known shops. Think I'd click on any of those typically unknown shops listed in the google ad space?
  • mdshort, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1deleted.
  • Joe_rigby, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I saw somewhere that Google gets 12 cents for every search you do.

    Assuming this is true, if you have to view an ad the entire time you use the free wifi, wouldn't it soon exceed $7 if you only view the ad for a very short time while using standard google search and still generate 12 cents?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Let me get this right, the CEO of a company that wants to charge you for internet access is saying it can't be done for free. What a shock!!!
  • jaybones1515, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1The inherent problem with Google's (and most internet services) business model is there is a free ad-supported service, and then a paid-for ad-free subscription service.
    Why would a company advertise a product to a market slice that is evidently too poor or too cheap to spend 20 dollars a month for internet service? Eventually, companies will come to the conclusion that online ads are a waste of time, and pull money away from Goog and the like.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2according to the article the other day google gets something like 12 cents per serch right so that is only what ... 58 searches per month per user to make them break even? i do 58 searches a day probably

    my vote? earthlink is riding the short bus to going out of businessville and they will say anything they can to hurt google
  • disgust, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2they totally don't get it. it isn't hard to generate that kind of revenue for google, not at all. especially when advertising can be determined not just by browsing habits, but also by physical location-- as mentioned in other articles, they could mention restaurants a few blocks away. with targetting like that, it wouldn't be hard to make their money back. that kind of advertising is worth a lot.
    ________________
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  • Izzie, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1don't google already make more than 7$ a month per user ?
  • Joe_rigby, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Oddball, I heard you are a dick head, dick head, dick head, dick head, dick head.
  • haochi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I think I have seen this more than 6 hrs ago...
    Yeah, here.
    http://digg.com/technology/Don_t_Get_Too_Excited_About_That_Free_Google_WiFi
  • lludacrisboy, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1cheap bastards. why cant google be different from everyone else and great and just help this country and make free wifi. and stop getting involved with these retarded companies that just want to make money and google wants to be number 1
  • _skin_, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1Earthlink is trying to convince the media that "Don't get so excited yet... What they are not telling you is, It is going to suck. Speeds will be slow and eventually they will not be able to keep it going because they will run out of money. They will not be able to afford the $7 a month. 7bux is a lot more money then people think."

    EARTHLINK say your prayers brotha... GOOGLE is going to take over the world and your going to LIKE IT!

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