Newsletter
Google Fiber, the Gigabit internet service from the Mountain View, California-based tech giant, has finally launched in Nashville, Tennessee, fifteen months after the company had originally announced the city as a probable new market. The service was first rolled out in the Kansas City Metropolitan area as an experimental project in February, 2010 and has since expanded to include cities like Provo, Utah; Atlanta, Georgia and Austin, Texas, among others. Meanwhile, even though Google Fiber is now technically open for business in Nashville, it is only available in four apartment and condominium buildings in the city for now. According to the head of Google Fiber’s Nashville operations, Ms. Martha Ivester, the company intends to scale up its service eventually, and although she refused to divulge more details at the time of the launch, she did say that the company’s goal is to connect “the lion’s share of Nashville,” with Google Fiber in due course.
Along with its famed Gigabit internet service, Google is also bringing its cable TV and Fiber Phone services to the city. While the entire triple play package including Gigabit internet, 150+ TV channels and unlimited talk on Fiber Phone will cost users $140 (plus taxes and fees) per month, Google is offering 100 Mbps broadband at just $50, while the Gigabit connection comes for $70. Subscribers to the Gigabit plan will also get 1 TB of free cloud storage across Google Drive, Gmail and Google Photos. Users will also have their $100 installation fee waived with a one-year commitment from residential customers in single family homes, although apartment dwellers will be spared the one-time charge whether or not they sign-up for the long haul.
It is important to note here that the 5 Mbps plan Google had been offering earlier is now no longer being offered at new locations. In fact, the company recently stopped offering the service in existing markets like Kansas City, although the company will continue to honor its commitment to users who signed up for the service earlier. As part of the deal, users had to pay upfront or in twelve equal monthly installments, a $300 ‘construction fee’, which then entitled them to receive at least seven years of 5 Mbps internet without having to pay any further monthly charges over that period.