It wasn’t exactly a closely-guarded secret, but Google’s fiber TV installations kick off in Kansas today.
This follows yesterday’s news that Google Fiber was getting more TV channels, to sweeten the deal for Kansas City residents, including Fox Business Network, Fox College Sports Atlantic, Fox College Sports Central, Fox College Sports Pacific, Fox Deportes, Fox Movie Channel, Fox News Channel, Fox Soccer, as well as other non Fox-related channels.
Google first announced it was getting into the Internet Service Provider (ISP) game back in July, with the service being restricted to Kansas only at launch. For $70 a month you get “gigabit Internet service”, which is roughly 100 times faster than your standard cable modem. Throw in an extra $50 a month and you get cable-TV-like-service too.
Now, after months of building the new Fiber infrastructure, Kansas City homes are being hooked up to Google Fiber from today.
“We’ve been working in a few homes over the last few weeks to make sure we can deliver a great experience, and along the way we’ve thought a lot about what ‘great’ might mean,” says Alana Karen, Director, Service Delivery, Google Fiber. “We want it to take the amount of time we (and you!) think it’s going to take. We want to be able to explain what we’re doing in easy to understand language, so it makes sense to you and it’s not just tech jargon! And of course we’re aiming for ‘one and done’—one visit, everything working when we leave your home.”
The “getting connected” process consists of two stages – first, Google pulls the Fiber from the street to the side of the user’s house, then they get in touch to schedule the actual installation.
This is a huge moment for Google and is taking the company in an entirely different direction. There’s no indication yet as to when the service will be rolled out nationally.
Google has pulled together this short ditty on what to expect with the rollout.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.