Saturday, July 28, 2012

Shades of things to come, if you live in Kansas City

Engadget reports that Google has officially launched its Google Fiber service in portions of Kansas City. The service breaks down as follows:
  1. A $300 "construction fee" (temporarily waived for monthly subscribers) gets customers a set-top box, a Storage Box DVR with a 2TB hard drive that can store 500 hours of HD video, a Network Box with a four-port Ethernet router and 802.11n Wi-Fi, and a free Nexus 7 tablet to serve as the system's remote control. 
  2. For $120/month, subscribers get "hundreds" of television channels, and most importantly, a fiber Internet connection with download and upload speeds of 1Gbps; only a few Internet Service Providers around the world offer Internet connections this fast. 
  3. The 1Gbps connection is available by itself without television for $70/month. 
  4. Any consumer willing to pay the $300 construction fee can get basic 5Mbps internet service free for "at least" seven years. 
  5. "Key institutions" (most likely local government and schools) will get the full 1Gbps service for free, 
Kansas City is the first city to get Google Fiber, but it won't be the last; the company is conducting a "rally" where the city with the most people who pay $10 to preregister for service will get Google Fiber next.

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