Sidecut Reports

While Google’s new instant search feature certainly impressed many at the news conference in San Francisco Wednesday, the impending launch of Google Instant for mobile devices might be the next application that brings fragile cellular networks to their knees.

Why? Though we probably won’t know until thousands start using Google Instant on their cell phones, the application’s feature of guessing what you are typing may actually mean fewer mobile searches since theoretically you will find your answer faster. But with new results appearing with each letter typed, Google Instant may also cause a lot of unwanted traffic as servers, cell towers and handheld devices engage in constant communications to support the “instant” search results. Could all that search traffic clog mobile networks to the point of saturation? We don’t know for sure, and didn’t get any confident answers Wednesday to make us think that the Googlers have thought this through completely, either.

Google reps at the announcement Wednesday all acknowledged that Google Instant would certainly increase bandwidth needs for either mobile or landline connections, but also pointed out that search results were typically very small bits of information, especially when compared to things like streaming video. But the increased amount of connections needed could cause less-than-instant search-result slowdowns, especially in a mobile situation. In demos of the mobile version (which Google said won’t be available for a month or more), there was a noted latency of a few seconds’ delay when compared to the desktop/laptop version of the program.

Google VP for search Marissa Mayer admitted that some beta testers of the service had to turn it off in cases where their broadband connection wasn’t good, and Google reps at the event said that it (obviously) would work better on Wi-Fi, OK on a 3G connection and not at all on “2G” wireless like AT&T’s EDGE network. Though Googlers Wednesday didn’t think the instant searches would cause someone to burn up their mobile data cap while looking for a nearby restaurant, the mobile version will come with a handy “off” button — just in case.

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We’re about a week behind here but think it is worthwhile to highlight DigitalBridge Communications’ recent win of a $4.3 million grant from the first round of the NTIA’s broadband stimulus funding. Though the award is just a small portion of the funds that rural-market WiMAX provider DBC had applied for, in a phone call with DBC last week executive VP William “Bill” Wallace said that the company is hopeful that it will get more of its last-mile requests approved in the second round of stimulus funding, now underway.

“It’s a good thing to have,” said Wallace of the grant, which will be used to extend DBC’s services to a few more towns in rural Idaho. The grant seems to be somewhat unique for the first round of NTIA funding, a process that seemed to put a priority on infrastructure projects like backhaul or other transport-related fiber builds. What Wallace and DBC really want to see, however, is some more last-mile love during the second stimulus round; according to DBC, it has submitted 31 round-two applications for a total of $150 million in potential grants.

“Receiving the stimulus dollars allows us to go [with network builds] to places we would not go otherwise,” said Wallace. According to Wallace many of the proposals revolve around extending services from some of DBC’s existing markets in what he calls “mid-size” cities to the rural neighborhoods near those cities.

And even though the Idaho grant is seriously small potatoes when it comes to infrastructure investment dough, Wallace said DBC is pleased with the NTIA process so far and hopes that the definitions of “underserved” markets that were shook out in the round one process carry on to round two.

“As a taxpayer, I felt that they [the NTIA] put us through the right amount of due diligence — the questions asked throughout the application process were very hard and very thorough,” Wallace said. “People may complain, but we felt it was an analytically driven process and was very merit-based.”

Clearwire’s ambitious schedule for 2010 market rollouts got a bit more clearer this morning with a flurry of press releases announcing markets where the company’s WiMAX services would be available sometime this summer, which means by Sept. 21. New to the cities list are a few big places like Orlando and Tampa in Florida, along with a host of smaller communities, many of which are current Clearwire markets that are being switched over to the mobile “4G” version of WiMAX.

More this afternoon after Clearwire’s Q1 conference call.