This is what the rest of us can hope for. The mere threat of Google Fiber will hopefully lift all boats everywhere since it will never be a nationwide service.
ITS OFFICIAL http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/8/4201722/google-fiber-is-coming-to-austin-texas http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/08/google-fiber-is-officially-coming-to-austin-texas/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+weblogsinc%2Fengadget+%28Engadget%29
Pretty sure it's only for that location. There's a lot of work that goes into bringing fiber to a singular location (that's why there is the $300 set up fee).
If the pricing posted earlier is correct, that fee is waived if you choose the $70 a month fiber connection. $300 is only paid as a construction fee if you choose to go the "Free" internet route.
I wouldn't get too excited about this. Much of Kansas City is not covered. Prime locations will be the ones who will get google fiber.
I believe this is only due to slow adoption. Most households seem to be going the free route and only paying the set up fees. This naturally doesn't help google much, which is another reason to expand elsewhere.
It has to do with cost. Fiber is much more delicate than standard cable. I live in an area where there is no cable. All we have is DSL, and the few who are lucky, can get a 12Mbs/.75Mbs. Additionally, we are sitting on a Fiber loop capable of 1Gbs full duplex speeds. Im a 1/4 of a mile away from it, but I will never get it where I live due to utility rights. There are businesses who sit literally right across the street from it, but the provider will not split the lines for just a couple customers. Google is spending a lot of money to get this rolled out. I really do not see them trying to roll this out extensively.
The goal of Google fiber is not to make a profit (even though I am sure it will be making one) it has more to do in forcing the ISP to innovate, right now they are capping speed and stifling innovation because there is no competition and they see internet as a threat to their core business which is TV. Think of this like how google chrome and Mozilla firefox forced Microsoft to make improvements to Internet Explorer.
Google does a ton of stuff that aren't profit-focused. They build "moats", throw crap at the wall - crazy business model. Android wasn't profit-centric when it was created.
Android is essentially designed to make sure Google dominates mobile search which in turn gives them more revenue from mobile ads. This is why Android is "open"... get it on as many devices as possible.
yeah...i wonder how long this will take to make its way across the US...obviously major cities are going to get the nod first. just hope google sticks with it and continues to add as time goes on. at the very least as others posted this might help rattle the time warners of the world to stop capping and increase speeds.
Of course it's costly, but I guess I should have been clearer in my statement; it is being rolled out slowly due to slow adoption like I said. Its not a personal theory, this has actually been reported.
I have signed up - well to be notified of when I can sign up. Whether construction fees are waived or not, this is clearly the best bang for the buck. People in Kasas City only signing up for the free service? Why? I mean, I get that free is better than not free. But you can get the free internet speeds they offer at really cheap prices these days anyway. $70 a month for Gigabit internet is a no brainer. Plus a free TB of storage. C'mon. I'd pay $300 set-up fee happily. Now, I live in my own house. If I was in an apartment I might think a little differently... but even still, it's basically an extra $25 a month... so instead of $70 you'd be paying $95. And while it does seem expensive to say I'm paying $95 a month for internet... it's gigabit internet man. But that doesn't matter anyway, since they waive that fee. The TV portion needs to catch up. I'll stay with DirectTV for now. Problem is, I'm not sure my "fiberhood" will reach their sign-up %... at least not super quickly. You never know - my neighborhood can certainly afford it, but not sure they're the folks on the cutting edge that even care enough to sign up. If google did some "fiberhood" specific marketing, maybe
