Google Bringing U.S. Internet Up To Speed

While the United States is used to the best technology in the world, the truth is we lag behind in Internet speeds. The U.S. ranks 24th worldwide in Internet speed with users receiving an average 11.6 megabits-per-second download speeds. However, new developments by Google may be working towards catching the U.S. Internet speeds up with the world leaders.

Google has begun installing fiber Internet service in Kansas City that is much faster than most consumers have currently available. They carved up the metropolis into 202 neighborhood areas, and requested interested residents preregister by paying $10. Once a threshold number of people registered per neighborhood (between 5-25%), the street-level installations were performed.

The service marks a different business model for the Internet search company. While Google has ventured out into many different areas, they have not yet been competing in the Internet and television service market. Some industry veterans question why Google would do this as it will be a challenge to make the service profitable any time soon, with an approximate cost of $850-1250 per customer for fiber installation. Google is only charging a one-time fee of $300, so clearly these numbers don’t add up. But Google insists this is “not a beta program or experiment” and is planning to make the process more efficient, cut costs, and make money through the endeavor. Of course for consumers, the more competition the more likely it is our prices will go down, so why not welcome it.