[studentrob]

Good question. I wouldn't say Google fiber failed. They've paused expansion.

Also, living overseas in Taiwan I get 50+ Mbps down/5 up for $4/month on a landline (cable), paid a year in advance, and in SE Asia you can get 3g Sims giving 5gb data for $10. Here I pay $6 for 1gb 3g per month, prepaid.

Granted, Taiwan is much more urbanized so costs for this go down, but it begs the question what sort of stranglehold ISPs hold over urban America. Perhaps urban America is subsidizing rural America, and Google didn't want to play that game to its finish. Just a wild guess. Anyway, much too soon to call that product a failure, particularly since it is still active.