The Wall Street Journal has intercepted some news that Google is planning on announcing four new cities to receive its gigabit internet service, Fiber, this week. The lucky four? Well, if you’re a resident of Nashville, TN, Atlanta, GA, Charlotte, NC, or Raleigh, NC, the spotlight is on you!
When asked for a comment about Google Fiber spreading to these cities, Google declined to comment ahead of the official announcements. It has been confirmed through a variety of sources that the first of these announcements is expected to happen today.
It’s a sad fact that for all of the talk of the supremacy of capitalism in the United States, many areas are stuck in government supported monopolies. In fact, the United States is one of the slowest developed countries in internet speeds.
Google wants to end that with Fiber by providing one gigabyte per second of internet speed to consumers for a refreshing $80 per month. To put that in perspective, in my area, Comcast will let you suffer with 150 megabytes per second for $115/month and Cox offers 150 megabytes per second for $80/month.
It’s not entirely altruistic of Google, though. The Mountain View search giant needs you to have internet and it increasingly needs you to have it at breakneck speeds. Google’s products like the Chromebook lose a significant portion of their functionality without the internet. And no one would want a Chromecast if streaming high quality YouTube videos to their high-definition TVs landed users in perma-buffering.
Google hopes to inspire force these sluggish ISPs to up their game by offering consumers a far better alternative to the services these companies provide — services that would make Marie Antoinette proud — hitting the ISPs right in the pocketbook.
Google launched Fiber in Kansas City first. The service is now being provided to Austin and Provo as well. Other cities on the short-list include San Antonio, San Jose, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, and Portland.
Personally, I’d love to see Fiber come to Oklahoma City, but I don’t blame them for not wanting to visit the Quakenado state.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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