Google’s futuristic office has terrible WiFi and the staff has to go outside
GOOGLE may be one of the largest internet companies in the world, but its futuristic Silicon Valley office is still plagued by terrible WiFi.
The connectivity in the tech giant’s new chic, eco-friendly offices in San Francisco is so bad that staff have to go outside just to use the internet.
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The “Bay View” building in California was built at great expense to house staff working on Google’s latest artificial intelligence projects.
The tech giant said at the time that they had created a “prototype for the workplace of the future” with their design.
But the bizarre circumstances leave employees with no choice but to take their laptops outside to get their work done.
And despite Google’s valuation of $1.7 trillion (£1.3 trillion), managers would tell staff to go to a nearby cafe to get reliable WiFi connections.
Employees blame the problems on the undulating canopy roof, which is equipped with steel pipes and solar panels to fully supply the building with electrical energy.
They say the shape swallows the signal, like “the Bermuda Triangle,” according to Reuters.
Google was very proud of its eco-friendly building and even wrote a book extolling the virtues of its Silicon Valley office.
“Since Google was founded in 1998, we have relentlessly pursued this ethos of putting the user first,” reads a line in the publication.
“It’s a people-centered mindset that applies to the way we approach our products and services, but also extends to the way we design our physical spaces and places.”
The building offered ‘flexible places designed to inspire innovation, big ideas and community’ and was the epitome of efficient working.
In addition to open spaces, plenty of benches, an on-campus hotel, a laundry room and bicycles to charge phones, the building also had eco-friendly features.
It was designed by British architect Tom Heatherwick, who turned the BT Tower into a luxury hotel.
A Google spokesperson told Reuters that “we have been experiencing WiFi connection issues in Bay View” and that the company was working on a fix.
Bad WiFi isn’t the only fire Google has had to put out lately.
Last month, the internet giant had to respond to a viral post claiming that Gmail is being shut down.
The wild hoax was spread on X – formerly known as Twitter – leading to fears that millions could lose their precious emails.
Just days earlier, Google was forced into another humiliating apology after admitting that its woke AI technology “missed the mark” on historical facts.
And the US search giant was last night fixing its image generation tool, amid claims that it refused to create images of white people even when explicitly asked to do so.