Household Data Consumption

Interesting article on average US household data consumption:

Average monthly broadband usage in U.S. homes is 190 gigabytes per month, according to a new report from iGR Research. More than 95% of this traffic is video, researchers said.“TV has become a personal activity,” said Iain Gillott, president of iGR research, in an interview. “If you have four people in a household now, that means four times the data going in.”In the past all members of a four-person home might watch the same thing on the same TV set at the same time. But today, each family member may be watching his or her own Netflix or YouTube choice.

Google Fiber

AT&T took some not so subtle shots at Google Fiber recently. This happening among rumors of Google Fiber downsizing it's personnel and moving to a more wireless-centric solution. Everyone seems to be asking what's up with Google Fiber? An interesting observation from the AT&T post:

February 2010: Google announces its intent to build ultra-high-speed fiber-fed broadband networks with plans to serve around five million subscribers in five years; 1100 cities respond to Google’s Request for Information in an effort to become a Google Fiber City.
Today: Google Fiber has deployed a fiber network in parts of seven out of the 1100 interested cities, but otherwise hits the pause button as Google Fiber learns something we’ve known for over a hundred years – deploying communications networks is hard and takes an enormous amount of time, money and skilled labor.

Emphasis added. There are a lot of risks and hurdles in building a fiber network. An interesting take-away for many municipalities looking to build their own FTTH projects. Don't underestimate the risks and costs involved in such projects!