Google Fiber will be sold to private equity firm and merge with cable company

The real loss here isn't Google Fiber itself, it's the competitive pressure it created. Every city where Google Fiber launched or even announced plans saw incumbent ISPs suddenly "discover" they could offer faster speeds at lower prices. That threat alone was worth more to consumers than the actual service.

PE firms optimize for cash extraction, not market disruption. Expect the new entity to quietly stop expanding, raise prices to match competitors, and eventually become indistinguishable from the cable company it merged with.

I remember when it was released and I wished I was in Kansas.

I'm smack in the middle of debating Google Fi, this probably won't impact my decision, but I wonder if it will suffer a similar fate.

Ah the Google graveyard thrives.

Well, shit. Google Fiber has been the least-bad residential ISP I've dealt with. They put the fear of Competition in all the other ISPs in town, giving us an immediate free speed boost years before Google Fiber actually made it to our neighborhood.

But more than most Google projects, it's always been clear that they could at any time get bored with it and give up.