I'm not sure how much stock to put in that. I can totally believe St. Louis is stodgy, but on the other hand businesses always seem to spin every rejection as "you aren't racing to the bottom fast enough".downtown2007 wrote:"Google is looking for a city that is receptive and collaborative and will remove any and all barriers," said Sandel, president of Sandel & Associates, a gigabit consulting firm. "St. Louis hasn't been known as a region that does that."
http://m.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog/b ... 020&r=full
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I can totally believe it. A lot of the cities Google has chosen already have some kind of infrastructure in place and will allow Google to use it. I'm not 100% on the infrastructure in St. Louis outside of the downtown core links, but I'm sure regional telecoms and public utility companies would not be happy with any movement to allow Google usage of the various rights of way. For all the rhetoric surrounding net neutrality, telecom in this country is very regulated. Google can't just waltz in here and say "we're building, suck it up". They need permission, and that permission is hard to get when the competition is in bed with the ones making the rules and holding the guns.
While St. Louis should continue to pursue Google Fiber - because it would be another tool in the box - Google Fiber's absence in St. Louis is not impacting St. Louis' ability to land start-up tech firms or incubators. St. Louis has one of highest-paying and fastest-growing rates for tech salaries. St. Louis is the 10th highest-paying city for tech professionals, which is a DRAMATIC jump - according to DICE.com.
I think this is a key factor people should consider when it seems St. Louis has lost out again. The region has grown tech jobs pretty remarkably without all of the bells and whistles of Google Fiber. What matters to start-ups is cheese, dinero, cheddar, pesos - ie. dollars.
Upon checking St. Louis against cities with Google Fiber (and cities that are about to get it), St. Louis is holding its own - for now anyway.
See here.
I think this is a key factor people should consider when it seems St. Louis has lost out again. The region has grown tech jobs pretty remarkably without all of the bells and whistles of Google Fiber. What matters to start-ups is cheese, dinero, cheddar, pesos - ie. dollars.
Upon checking St. Louis against cities with Google Fiber (and cities that are about to get it), St. Louis is holding its own - for now anyway.
See here.
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^KC is a Google Fiber city and we are kicking their a$$, according to the article and it's data.
I wonder if the presence of Charter here is an impediment to Google Fiber? I know it's no longer technically headquartered in the St. Louis metro but it does still have a significant presence...
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Doesn't every metro have a significant cable company presence?rbb wrote:I wonder if the presence of Charter here is an impediment to Google Fiber? I know it's no longer technically headquartered in the St. Louis metro but it does still have a significant presence...
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True, but remember DICE.com is just one resource. Even though DICE.com deals solely with tech jobs, tech trends and statistics etc,. I would caution against getting too braggadocios.DogtownBnR wrote:^KC is a Google Fiber city and we are kicking their a$$, according to the article and it's data.
Just as St. Louis is doing things to elevate its tech status, other cities are too.
St. Louis just has to stay on top of its game because other cities are watching and learning from St. Louis.
Poor and lazy leadership plus 1,000 municipalities - not Charter nor AT&T.rbb wrote:I wonder if the presence of Charter here is an impediment to Google Fiber? I know it's no longer technically headquartered in the St. Louis metro but it does still have a significant presence...
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Switching from U-verse to Charter is possibly one of the worst choices my family has ever made.
Until very recently Charter was headquartered here.MarkHaversham wrote:Doesn't every metro have a significant cable company presence?rbb wrote:I wonder if the presence of Charter here is an impediment to Google Fiber? I know it's no longer technically headquartered in the St. Louis metro but it does still have a significant presence...
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