How Google Fiber may make you want to move to Kansas City



Contributing Writer
Photo: African Cats - Cheetah Credit: Sias van Schalkwyk


Google Fiber, an initiative to deliver gigabit-speed internet and television to consumers just launched in Kansas City.

According to Google, gigabit-speed is 100 times average broadband internet speed (supported by a fiber-optic network).  This is more than powerful enough to make Google Fiber users the envy of everyone (except their neighbors) and to bring high-def television to anyone with a compatible TV.  Also included is a DVR capable of recording eight shows simultaneously (I for one am constantly disappointed at the seven shows I miss when I settle on one), and one free terabyte of storage on Google Drive (that’s a lot of bytes).  It’s a value proposition consistent with the best products that Google has rolled out.  Oh yeah, and don’t lose the remote (because it’s a Nexus 7 tablet).

Google Fiber is priced less than (lesser performing) cable and ISPs and includes a free option.   The price for their internet plus TV package is $120 per month, internet only is $70 and Google is offering free internet at average broadband speed for a one-time $300 construction fee.   The only hitch to the television offering is that ESPN, CNN, TNT, TBS, Fox and HBO aren’t included, which may be a concern for some.   And this is only for residential customers, businesses can’t have Google Fiber yet.

This may sound amazing (and it kind of is), but gigabit-speeds may not be all that they are cracked up to be.  Stacey Higginbotham of GigaOm wrote a fantastic piece in anticipation for Google Fiber’s launch describing how one community adopted gigabit-speed internet only to find that because of the constraints of their hardware and the reciprocity between devices on the internet that the blazing speeds they anticipated weren’t blazing.  Which is not to say they weren’t still great.  Nevertheless this is an early-adoption problem which Google’s pricepoint seems to make irrelevant.

I’m curious to see how this plays out in Kansas City – if Time Warner Cable and AT&T have trouble retaining their market share all ISPs will probably be put on notice that the landscape is changing (and move in this direction).  If the channel restrictions don’t hinder adoption, then channels like ESPN, CNN and Fox are going to have to take a hard look at their business models.  There are a lot of stakeholders in television and the internet, and they’re probably pretty upset with Google right now.

Google Fiber is a game-changer.  It will just be a matter of time to understand which games it will change.

If you’re in Kansas City and interested to “pre-register” you can do that here.  And if the value proposition of such a high-performing (yet affordable) ISP compels you to move to Kansas City, hospitals seem enthused to relocate nurses but otherwise you may have to pay for the move yourself. :)

 

Photo Credit

Jim Dougherty

Jim Dougherty

Writer and chief of miscellany at leaderswest.com

I aspire to give people something to think about rather than tell them what to do. My favorite Google Alert is “social media research,” I am increasingly compelled by Gen Z, and I appreciate good writers agnostic of where they write. At one time I was Kred’s 12th most influential social media blogger and Klout’s most influential person on the topic of David Hasselhoff. Transplant from Seattle living in Cincinnati. Haven’t entirely adopted the local sports teams yet.

Jim Dougherty

@jimdougherty

Writer about social media and tech at Leaders West, I also tweet as @leaderswest.

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Jim Dougherty

Jim Dougherty

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  • Kat Zapp

    Well….sounds great doesn’t it? Well not so great unless you live in Kansas City, KS or Kansas City, MO proper. If you live in the surrounding areas…forget it. Plus, you have to pay for it up front when you signup for the waiting list!
    So, you can have the internet speed and the bells and whistles; whenever it actually gets here or your name comes up on the waiting list, but you won’t have the better school districts; KCMO is dismal at best as they can’t seem to retain accreditation more than months at a time and the entire school board and administration are moving on to friendlier climes, or better city/county governments; KCMO was literally decimated by the farces of the last Mayor and his wife, the police and fire chiefs and their top officers have retired, en mass…
    Suffice it to say, that Time Warner(TW) is probably not too worried, maybe AT&T and SureWest are (they still can’t compete with TW service/price/programming).
    So all the excitement here has been dampened by the decision to limit access to just the Kansas Cities.
    Those of us in Johnson County will let them work out the bugs before it rolls our way. We are very patiently waiting with our Time Warner ultimate programming packages, OnDemand, DVRs, state of the art remotes and blazing fast Roadrunner internet speeds and plenty of storage…here in OZ.
    Pour the margaritas Toto! :”p

  • http://leaderswest.com Jim Dougherty

    Thanks for reading and commenting, Kat! You bring up some really great insight about how we prioritize our community resources. Reading about the lobbying that went into getting Google Fiber to Kansas City, it is quite a diversion from what should be important to us. Quite thought provoking (and margaritas to boot!).

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