Google is entering into the ISP/Television Service Provider foray in a big way. They are offering Fiber Internet Service/TV Services and a Free Nexus 7 Tablet! But as always there is a catch. You’ll have to read on for the details, pricing, and availability!
What is Google Fiber?
Google Fiber is the new service offering for TV and Internet service at 1 Giga Bit Speeds. Although this isn’t new. It is the first to offer true gigabit speeds and bundling both TV and Internet services at a reasonable cost. Along with blazing internet download AND upload speeds. They are stating there are now bandwidth caps! Not to mention if you select the correct bundle they are offering a much sought after Nexus 7 as well.
Before I go into the packages and availability lets talk bandwidth and what this really means for those who might not understand why I’m personally drooling over this.
OK, So Whats So Special About Gigabit?
First you have to think about data sizes in relation to geek speak. Below shows the differences in sizes in relation to data. To help put things in perspective an average music file (MP3) is 2-3 MB (megabytes). Where as the first home computers had 128 Kilobytes of Memory! And now you can purchase a hard drive that holds a Terabyte worth of data!
- 1 bit = a single digit, either 1 or 0
- 8 bits = 1byte, a combination of 1′s and 0′s
- 1024 bytes = 1 KB (kilobyte)
- 1024 Kilobytes = 1 MB (megabyte)
- 1024 Megabytes = 1GB (gigabyte)
- 1024 Gigabytes = 1TB (terabytes)
- 1024 Terabytes = OMG that is a lot of Data!
So how fast are gigabit speeds?? Jimmy Johns fast (sorry bad joke to a local sandwich shop franchise). With today’s current ISP the average is anywhere from 5-10 mbs (mega bits per second). This translates to downloading a 1 GB (gigabyte) file in say a few minutes. (Sorry I’m not doing simple math.)
Now if you had a Gigabit connection? That same 14 GB World of Warcraft download would be downloaded in minutes instead of hours. Google’s video on Google Fiber is a cute way of showing you the differences in speeds with their intro video for their service:
What You Get With Google Fiber
Google is offering 3 bundles. TV and Internet, Internet, and Free*Internet. All are awesome deals. Even the Free package would be worth it. But, personally you would be silly not to go with the TV and Internet package.
TV/Internet Package
- Up to one gigabit upload & download speed
- Full channel TV lineup
- 2 year contract
- No data caps
Hardware
- Nexus 7 Tablet (To be used as the remote control!)
- TV Box (Bluetooth, HDMI/Component/Composite Connections, Additional Ethernet port, Wireless Access)
- Storage Box (DVR – 2 TB Storage – Ability to Record up to 8 Shows at a time.)
- Network Box (4 port Gb ports, Wireless, Built in Firewall)
- 1TB Google Drive (Cloud Storage – available anywhere)
- Optional – Chrome Laptop ($299.99)
Cost: $120/mo + taxes and fees
Construction Cost – FREE ($300.00 installation fee is waived)
Internet Only
- Up to one gigabit upload & download
- No data caps
- 1 year contract
- Network Box included
- 1TB Google Drive
Cost: $70.00/mo + taxes and fees
Construction Cost – FREE ($300.00 installation fee is waived)
Free* Internet
- Up to 5Mbps download, 1Mbps upload speed
- No data caps
- Free service guaranteed for at least 7 years
- Includes Network Box
* Cost: $300 construction fee (one time or 12 monthly payments of $25) + taxes and fees
Considering today’s costs that Cable and Telephone companies are charging (I pay waaaaay too much for my Cable services!)? All of these packages are a steal! Even the last option where all you need to do is pay the one time Construction fee and get better than most DSL speeds? Insane!
READ MORE: Google Nexus 7 Running Jellybean 4.1
With the Good Always Comes the Bad
As with everything good in life there are somethings not so great about Google Fiber.
TV Listings
You won’t be getting a full TV lineup like you could with your local Cable or Dish networks. You will be missing out on any channels that have Time Warner’s name on them. These include channels like ESPN and Disney. And at time of this writing I don’t see a listing for HBO or Cinemax.
But you do get a pretty full lineup along with local channels. Plus you can get premium channels like Showtime, Starz, and Encore. (But if you have a Netflix subscription. Do you really need it?)
Availability
So here I wrote an entire article about the potential joy Geeks and Gamers across the U.S. would have if they could get their hands on this service. Unfortunately it is only being offere in Kansas City, KS of all places. There was a bid from Google to cities all around the U.S. and Kansas City, KS won – congrats! :-/ (I must have missed that email – or I would have picketed Google’s front door!)
The other thing is even those people have to petition for their neighborhoods to get it installed by pre-registering. So if there aren’t enough people in your area? Your going to be out of luck or at least the very bottom of the list (if at all).
Live Date?
And if all that doesn’t suck? You might be online sometime in 2013 after you pre-register, get your neighborhood on the list to get installed, and if the techs over at Google can stick with their construction schedule.
Risk of Switching to Google
And the last thing that is kind of scary? Google is known for its search engine, online products like Gmail, Adwords, Youtube, and others. And of course they have the highly successful Android OS running on a TON of smart phones today. But as an ISP/Service Provider? Can they make it work? You’ll be taking a risk by signing up for a service that could end up being defunct and your stuck with equipment that no longer works.
Cable/Satellite/Telecom – Will they Allow It?
In this era of frivolous lawsuits I’m sure that the ISP’s/Premium TV Providers and Telecoms won’t take this lying down. You can be sure that there will be a big fight to keep Google out of our neighborhoods if this experiment is successful. Which completely sucks.
But who knows (*snicker*) maybe they will drop their prices (*giggle*) to try and be competitive to Google? (*HAHAHAHA*) – Sorry lost my composure for a second there.
Follow Up
So although I think this is 100% complete awesome sauce? I think that it sucks it is only going to be available in Kansas City (/jealous!) KS. Even if it is a screaming success it will be a cold day in hell before I ever see it in my area. I hope that Google is successful because it is about time that someone out there provides service like this without killing my wallet. And if it was available in my area? I would be one of the first people to sign up!
To learn more about Google Fiber I would suggest checking these links out:
- Google Fiber Homepage
- Google Fiber Official Youtube
- Google Fiber Wikipedia Page
- PC Mag – Kansas City Communities Jump on Google Fiber Bandwagon
What do you think about Google Fiber? Would you be ordering it if it was available in your area? Discuss it in the comments below!
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