This article expresses emotions similar to those that some of us techies had about Verizon FiOS, the first large-scale FTTH deployment in the world, back in 2004. Users love FiOS, but not so much more than cable to make a compelling case for continuing to push the experiment further. The reason we don’t have universal FTTH in the US is that users aren’t demanding it and aren’t willing to pay for it. 5G wireless is actually much more closely aligned with user preferences, and therefore will become the Next Big Thing at the edge of the Internet.

Dark fiber does not go everywhere, hence Google’s systems that use it are limited to apartment buildings.