I live in Kansas City, and Google's gigabit fiber internet service rollout is in full swing. The way they're installing it and paying for infrastructure is pretty cool. You have two options, you can either sign a two year service agreement for one of their high speed packages or you can pay a $300 dollar infrastructure fee and get internet at current standard speeds for free for 7 years (the $300 can be split up over a year of monthly bills if you'd like). They're taking pre-registrations right now by neighborhood. Each neighborhood has to hit a certain percent of residents registered in order to greenlight the service for that area; the percentage varies depending on the amount of work required to update that area. The cool thing is that once a neighborhood has fiber, Google is going to offer free internet to libraries, schools, and other public/community organizations.

This has the other telecoms companies around here absolutely shitting their pants. I've been hearing that they're going door to door in already greenlit neighborhoods trying to get unwitting people to re-up on their old 2-year contracts and cutting deals - all in the hopes of locking them down before they hear about Google's insanely better deal.

I live in the ghetto so the odds of my neighborhood getting fiber is slim, sadly. Imagine what a gigabit up and down would be like! Imagine what that'd do for gaming if everyone had that kind of connection! It's kind of torturous being so close yet so far from that kind of speed.

Sounds very monopolizing, is this even legal ? Don't anti monopoly laws prohibit this in a way ? (but it's the US so ... fuck if I know)

Once they make it out of Kansas then maybe there will really be some change, until then. We will see.

Kansas? Seriously!

That pay 300 bucks for 7 years of internet sounds pretty cool is it uncapped? 3 dollar a month internet sounds pretty good.

Apart from being one step closer to Google ruling the world, that sounds cool.

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

Kansas? Seriously!

That pay 300 bucks for 7 years of internet sounds pretty cool is it uncapped? 3 dollar a month internet sounds pretty good.

It's gigabit internet, why would there be a cap?

@AlexW00d said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

Kansas? Seriously!

That pay 300 bucks for 7 years of internet sounds pretty cool is it uncapped? 3 dollar a month internet sounds pretty good.

It's gigabit internet, why would there be a cap?

Im talking about the regular speed package they were offering numb nuts. As in how much data you can download a month you know a cap.

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

@AlexW00d said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

Kansas? Seriously!

That pay 300 bucks for 7 years of internet sounds pretty cool is it uncapped? 3 dollar a month internet sounds pretty good.

It's gigabit internet, why would there be a cap?

Im talking about the regular speed package they were offering numb nuts. As in how much data you can download a month you know a cap.

Ok. It's fibre, why would there be a cap?

@AlexW00d said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

@AlexW00d said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

Kansas? Seriously!

That pay 300 bucks for 7 years of internet sounds pretty cool is it uncapped? 3 dollar a month internet sounds pretty good.

It's gigabit internet, why would there be a cap?

Im talking about the regular speed package they were offering numb nuts. As in how much data you can download a month you know a cap.

Ok. It's fibre, why would there be a cap?

You'd be surprised at how shit some companies can be.

But no, no download limit if that's what you mean. Only the 5mb connection is free though.

@Bourbon_Warrior: No data caps for any of their plans. Cable companies gouge their customers because they can, not because they have to. Google's trying to position themselves as better than the alternatives, and if they have no caps and outrageous speeds, anyone moderately tech-savvy is going to switch over. I seriously hope this does change the industry; the current plans and prices are complete bullshit compared to what Google's offering.

@Mageman said:

Sounds very monopolizing, is this even legal ? Don't anti monopoly laws prohibit this in a way ? (but it's the US so ... fuck if I know)

Is it a monopoly when literally everyone benifits from it? Like... Steam is amazing and no one complains about it. Why complain of uberfast internet?

Fuck yeah, Google.

@Bourbon_Warrior: Considering how Google makes the vast majority of its money from people being on the internet, why would they cap? That just pushes people off of the internet where they won't be making Google money from AdSense among other things. I know other companies cap, but they just do it because they can so they can slap you with overages, not because it's necessary.

Google fiber is great and all but I can't get too excited about it until it starts spreading beyond just a few cities.

@Mageman said:

Sounds very monopolizing, is this even legal ? Don't anti monopoly laws prohibit this in a way ? (but it's the US so ... fuck if I know)

it's not like Google is the only one offering internet service. There are plenty of other ISPs. They just choose not to offer gigabit speeds. Hopefully with Google shaking up the market like this, other ISPs will be incentivized to actually provide decent internet instead of the crap many provide today.

@Mageman said:

Sounds very monopolizing, is this even legal ? Don't anti monopoly laws prohibit this in a way ? (but it's the US so ... fuck if I know)

It's hardly a monopoly if competition exists but is grossly incompetent. Plus the fact that most of the market is cornered by the competition currently. I'd reckon this is the opposite of a monopoly, this is the service that breaks the stranglehold of an existing dynasty.

That sounds great, hoping when It officially coming out I can try it out.

I think google going to monopolizing the internet very soon.

Most likely going to be US only because everybody hates Canada.

@BRNK: Seven years free for $300? That sounds insanely cheap. Also, what do you mean by "standard speeds"? Standard speeds as of now in USA? Or standard with the new system? Cause if it's gunna take 7 years to install and you get non-fibre speeds then it's a little less appealing.

Also, there was already a thread on this recently with the stupid title "Google taking over the world?", and despite the title being dumb this probably would have been better situated there. Unless it got locked in which case ignore me.

@CL60 said:

Most likely going to be US only because everybody hates Canada.

As far as I remember yes it is USA only (heck it's Kansas only for now), and what about the rest of the damn world? Everyone hates them too it would seem.

if i was a livestreamer i'd totally move to kansas city... that download and upload speed is insane :O

@Chavtheworld: Here are there plans, all of them are much better then anyone else out there is offering for there prices. Cant wait till they start offering it where i live.

@Lego_My_Eggo: Ah I was gunna say, free at gigabit would be madness.

Still those deals are super exciting. How does $70 a month compare to standard internet prices in the US? Here in the UK the average is something like £10 a month (very rough amount). Heck, Virgin's fibre prices are only £14.50 a month (50Mb [sometimes to 100 they say]), but you barely get actual fibre anywhere in the UK.

@MarkWahlberg said:

Apart from being one step closer to Google ruling the world, that sounds cool.

In the future we will be in a war torn world ruled by two major factions. Valve and Google.

@Mageman said:

Sounds very monopolizing, is this even legal ? Don't anti monopoly laws prohibit this in a way ? (but it's the US so ... fuck if I know)

Monopolies aren't illegal in the US in themselves - it's abuse of monopoly that's against the law. And I get the impression that a lot of areas in the US don't really have a lot of choice when it comes to high speed consumer internet, so if anything this would be an improvement.

I don't even live in the country but seriously, good on them. This might actually give other businesses the kick in the dick they need when it comes to internet infrastructure.

@Irvandus said:

@MarkWahlberg said:

Apart from being one step closer to Google ruling the world, that sounds cool.

In the future we will be in a war torn world ruled by two major factions. Valve and Google.

Vagle.

*cough* wait

Come to South Florida damn it! I'm fucking sick of Comcast and their constant need to charge more each month bull crap, but it's the only high speed internet provider I can get around here.

If Google monopolizes the internet but continues to offer the same three internet packages at the same prices (or doesn't gouge them), then I will have literally 0 issue with that. At all. None, whatsoever.

I mean, c'mon, free 5Mbps? That's a thousand times better than any current competition can even think of offering.

It'll probably be ten years before Google comes to small-town Michigan.

...I'm 22, I'll probably have moved out of state by then. Hopefully, anyway.

I wonder if it could be called a monopoly if everyone signs up for it simply because its miles better, and cheaper. How would the government combat that monopoly? Tell google to offer a shittier product?

@Irvandus said:

@MarkWahlberg said:

Apart from being one step closer to Google ruling the world, that sounds cool.

In the future we will be in a war torn world ruled by two major factions. Valve and Google.

That would actually be an awesome war to watch... TF2 players versus Google drones... it would be the most insane yet awesome war of all time!

@BlackLagoon said:

@Mageman said:

Sounds very monopolizing, is this even legal ? Don't anti monopoly laws prohibit this in a way ? (but it's the US so ... fuck if I know)

Monopolies aren't illegal in the US in themselves - it's abuse of monopoly that's against the law. And I get the impression that a lot of areas in the US don't really have a lot of choice when it comes to high speed consumer internet, so if anything this would be an improvement.

This is true... In fact, I would even say that currently. Most internet services ARE abusing monopolies. Hell... Montana, you have only two choices, Direct TV and Optimum... That is it... both are insanely fucking expensive and have crap services! I can't even use my internet to host ANY video game out there! Tried it with L4D on xbox 360 once... yeah... everyone had a joy of a time when it came to teleporting for no apparent reason...

@Hunter5024 said:

I wonder if it could be called a monopoly if everyone signs up for it simply because its miles better, and cheaper. How would the government combat that monopoly? Tell google to offer a shittier product?

Oh man... if they actually did do that I think people would be fucking angry. I mean it... you take away great internet services because they are great is a bullshit move on all parts.

Sounds epic! Do they make money by charging business or something like that?

I thought this topic was going to be about BM.

@Chavtheworld: Around here we only have Time Warner and recently AT&T, i don't think they even offer fiber around here yet. The only thing Time Warner has close to $70 is an $80 plan for 50Mbs, and AT&T a $45 plan for 24Mbs, compared to Google's 1000Mbs upload and download for $70. Right now we have the TV and internet bundled with Time Warner, and the price is more then Google's $120 plan and we only get 20Mb down and 1Mb up with that.

You could get all the porn on the internet ever in like an hour.

Maybe someone knows better than I do, but I was always under the impression that the reason telecoms weren't using fiber before was because an optical signal requires amplification after a short distance. If that's true I can only assume that it's google's world-class engineers that have allowed them to develop a system that's scalable to such a large degree.

Does anyone know?

@Devil240Z said:

I thought this topic was going to be about BM.

Lol. Google keeps me regular.

@Jay444111 said:

@Hunter5024 said:

I wonder if it could be called a monopoly if everyone signs up for it simply because its miles better, and cheaper. How would the government combat that monopoly? Tell google to offer a shittier product?

Oh man... if they actually did do that I think people would be fucking angry. I mean it... you take away great internet services because they are great is a bullshit move on all parts.

C'mon now guys, let's not get all Ayn Rand about this. Although the idea of Google building a secret utopia is the perfect kind of crazy...

Sounds very monopolizing, is this even legal ? Don't anti monopoly laws prohibit this in a way ? (but it's the US so ... fuck if I know)

I don't think Google is monopolizing the internet. Monopolizing infers that they've bought out the competition or are temporarily undercutting the same service only to raise it up after the competition is out.  
 
They are doing neither, instead they are offering a service that is truly 100 times faster than all the services out there.  
  
 https://fiber.google.com/about/ 
   
Click on race against Fiber and see how your connection compares.

I want this in my town.

Hell, prices and speeds as good as they are, I want this INSIDE ME.

@MarkWahlberg said:

@Jay444111 said:

@Hunter5024 said:

I wonder if it could be called a monopoly if everyone signs up for it simply because its miles better, and cheaper. How would the government combat that monopoly? Tell google to offer a shittier product?

Oh man... if they actually did do that I think people would be fucking angry. I mean it... you take away great internet services because they are great is a bullshit move on all parts.

C'mon now guys, let's not get all Ayn Rand about this. Although the idea of Google building a secret utopia is the perfect kind of crazy...

Great Comment. I was half kidding, I don't believe the government would ever do that.

Google will provide you with inexpensive internet to provide the Google-distributed ads at lightning-fast speeds!

But for a one Gigabit connection, Google can have a detailed list of my hobbies, pets, and Social Security number.

Ma Bell (AT&T) is the mother of monopolies:

"The Bell System was the American Bell Telephone Company and then, subsequently, AT&T–led system which provided telephone services to much of the United States and Canada from 1877 to 1984, at various times as a monopoly. In 1984, the company was broken up into separate companies, by a U.S. Justice Department mandate." Wikipedia

IMO, Google are the good guys in this scenario. Inet speeds in other countries are cra fast, and relatively inexpensive compared to the U.S.

Why dont we just spend those billions of dollars we use to make missiles and planes and shit, give it to Goggle, and have them spread internet around the entire country for us :D

@Chavtheworld said:

@Lego_My_Eggo: Ah I was gunna say, free at gigabit would be madness.

Still those deals are super exciting. How does $70 a month compare to standard internet prices in the US? Here in the UK the average is something like £10 a month (very rough amount). Heck, Virgin's fibre prices are only £14.50 a month (50Mb [sometimes to 100 they say]), but you barely get actual fibre anywhere in the UK.

Here in Wisconsin, in the Midwest of the United States, $70 gets me 100 mbps down and 5 mbps up. Google is offering 10x the downstream and 200x the upstream bandwidth for the same price. That is absolutely incredible! I want it so much!

100mbps is already friggin' fast. I downloaded BF3 in ten minutes at that speed. Imagine downloading Battlefield 3 in one minute. That would be absolutely insane! Of course, many services won't support that speed, but you could have 10 different things downloading simultaneously, all at 100mbps(12.5 MB/s). You could upload a 3 Gigabyte YouTube video in 24 seconds, instead of the 80 minutes it would take me now.

@insane_shadowblade85 said:

Come to South Florida damn it! I'm fucking sick of Comcast and their constant need to charge more each month bull crap, but it's the only high speed internet provider I can get around here.

It's either that or Centurylink which has the worst internet that I have ever had with disconnects happening almost 10 times a day.

More competition in this space is always better. I hope this works out. The big boys need to be taken DOWN! Google would never institute data caps or anything. They make more money when you watch you tube videos. I live in such a locked down city that I can't even get Fios. One more time. Bring this shit on!

@Scrawnto: 100 Mbps for $70 is a hell of a bargain. The fastest non-business plan even available where I am in Central Florida is 40 Mbps, and I think that costs about $80 per month.

Right now I'm paying $50 for 10 Mbps, which I thought was pretty decent considering that two years ago when I was living in SC, I was paying $50 per month for only 3 Mbps.

@Mesoian said:

I want this in my town.

Hell, prices and speeds as good as they are, I want this INSIDE ME.

If I could get internet inside me that would be awesome.