Newsletter
While Google continues to remain the single largest company within the Alphabet fold, there are numerous other businesses that the company is involved in, and one of them happens to be the Gigabit internet service called Fiber. For those unaware of the tech giant’s high-speed broadband service, Google Fiber started commercial operations in the Kansas City metropolitan area back in 2011, and has since expanded to only a couple of other locations around the country, including Provo, UT and Austin, TX. While Google has been slow to roll out its service to more areas around the country, the company has already announced plans to take its Gigabit FTTH (Fiber to the Home) services to at least seven other locations including, but not limited to, Atlanta, GA; San Antonio, TX; San Francisco, CA and Huntsville, AL.
While Google is toying around with the idea of taking its high-speed broadband services to more locations around the country, people in at least one existing Fiber city has lost out on a pretty compelling deal the company had been offering in at least three of the markets it’s currently operating in. According to reports this weekend, Google will be making a significant change to how its prices its Fiber services in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The company will reportedly no longer offer the ‘free’ broadband option that allowed subscribers to pay a one-time ‘construction fee’ of $300 or 12 payments of $25 each over the period of one year and get seven years of free 5 Mbps broadband without having to pay any further monthly charges. It isn’t immediately known whether Google intends to implement the policy in other locations as well.
While no reasons have been attributed to Google’s impending move, a company spokesperson is understood to have confirmed the report, meaning from now on, new subscribers in Kansas City will no longer be able to sign up for the free broadband scheme. Although, those who have already signed up will continue to receive their free services for the duration of the contract. Instead of the free tier, Google has added a new 100 Mbps option at $50 per month, and the Gigabit option will continue to be offered at $70 per month. One important point to note here is that Google says it is committed to its stance of wiring low-income neighborhoods free of charge, so qualifying families will continue to receive broadband for free or at just $10 per month (plus taxes) thanks to an initiative from the federal government last year.