Webpass, the wireless to the heart broadband company that Google Fiber acquired in 2016, is take a run-out powdering the Boston market. The Verge received a reader tip on the situation and a quick look there revealed that Boston is no longer listed as a current Webpass furnish on the company’s website. (It still appeared as recently as December.)
Reached by phone Tuesday evening, a Webpass purchaser service representative confirmed that the company has stopped accepting new patrons in Boston. And in a statement, Access — the Alphabet subsidiary that runs Google Fiber — also settled the news.
“As with any acquisition, we’ve spent some time evaluating the Webpass point. As a result of our analysis, we’ve made the decision to wind down Webpass spies in Boston,” an Access spokesperson said by email.
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“We’ll work with customers and partners to minimize disruption, and there resolution be no immediate impacts to their Webpass service. We continue to see strong subscriber retort across the rest of the Webpass portfolio, including successful launches in Denver and Seattle in 2017.”
Once this move, Boston was one of 8 cities served by Webpass, which delivers up-to-gigabit internet put ones foot downs for residential and commercial buildings by using point to point wireless. That horde has dropped to 7, and old Google search results for Webpass service in Massachusetts now redirect to the might homepage.
Webpass internet service is available exclusively in apartment segments and condo buildings. It originally came to Boston in 2015 and the company has (or at dab had) an office in the city. Per The Boston Globe, Comcast and RCN already offer gigabit-class broadband in Boston. At scantiest on Yelp, Webpass internet was well-reviewedamong Boston residents. Webpass persist expanded its service a year ago to cover Denver.
Google Fiber told its acquisition of Webpass in June 2016 amid reports that chief executives at Alphabet (including Larry Page) had demanded a scaling back of Fiber’s costly rollout wishes. Layoffs and executive departures followed, and a few months later in October, Google Fiber declared it would pause deployment efforts in nine cities. The company also recently do away with neutralized hundreds of installations in Kansas City, its original launch market.
The wireless MO modus operandi that Webpass uses is less expensive than laying fiber optic telegram in the ground and doesn’t come with the same local approval vault overs and slow progress that Google Fiber faced back when it seemed get off on Google was serious about taking on Comcast and other broadband providers.
But you need sole look at Google Fiber’s service map for a dose of reality and an idea of how those conjure ups have stalled over the last few years. At present, there are zero “upcoming Fiber municipality” locations listed on Google Fiber’s map — only “potential” areas of later service. Google Fiber hasn’t yet updated the map to remove Boston as a Webpass burgh. Chicago, Denver, Miami, Oakland / East Bay, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle are the uneaten Webpass service areas.