Google Fiber, now operating or planned for Kansas City, Mo., Kansas City, Kan., Austin, Texas and Provo, Utah, seems to be having the intended effect of spurring other ISPs to move much faster in the area of access speeds.
AT&T now has said it will build a 1-Gbps network in Austin, while Wicked Broadband in Lawrence, Kan., which is close to Google Fiber in Kansas City, Kan., also says it plans to offer 1 gigabit service as well.
Wicked Broadband plans to offer 1-Gbps residential service for $99.98 per month; 100 Mbps service for $69.98 per month and 20 Mbps service for $49.98 per month.
None of the Wicked Broadband plans will have usage caps, nor will uploading speeds be reduced. The availability of nearby Google Fiber, also offering 1 Gbps service, clearly is a factor in the decision to move ahead with 1-Gbps service.
Wicked Broadband also will be offering business services at various prices and rates. The 1 Gbps service will cost $59.98 with committed rates.
A multi-tenant service operating at 100 Mbps will be sold for $12 a member. The 1-Gbps version of the multi-tenant service will be sold for $24 a member, per month.
Consumers or businesses that sign two-year contracts will have a free installation charge. Customers who sign a one-year contract will pay a $149 installation fee.
A 10-month contract will come with a $199 installation fee. Service on a no-contract basis will have a $300 installation fee. The latest expansions of Google Fiber likely will have further impact in the commercial segment of the business, even as non-profit efforts also continue.
While less than a dozen U.S. cities offer ubiquitous municipal broadband, perhaps hundreds offer free Wi-Fi in certain public areas such as parks.
Petaluma, California is among the latest municipalities to offer municipal Wi-Fi, adding to the existing Wi-Fi hotspots it already provides as “CityGuest” in the Petaluma Community Center, at City Hall and the Senior Center. The Petaluma branch of the Sonoma County Library offers access to library patrons.
Where some municipal efforts concentrate on outdoor areas, at lower speeds, those efforts complement commercial ISP efforts that emphasize indoor coverage at medium to high speeds.
Also, there is movement on the “high end,” especially for university communities. The Federal Communications Commission wants to encourage creation of gigabit cities in every U.S. state, by 2015. That effort is better described as “gigabit communities,” built around “anchor institutions,” not full “cities.”
The general idea is that creating test beds is the best way to foster the creation of new applications that presume ubiquitous gigabit communications. That is a demand side effort, intended to allow development of compelling new applications, rather than an effort to change the cost of supplying high speed access.
Likewise, Blair Levin, Gig.U executive director, points out that by creating anchor communities built around universities, compelling new applications can develop, proving that more investment in very high speed access has a revenue driver.
The whole point of Google Fiber, the “Gigabit Cities” initiative and Gig.U are to try and change the math in a positive direction (lower cost, higher revenue) while changing the competitive climate (force incumbents to invest faster). But those efforts at at the other end of the barbell from the low speed outdoor access provided by 1 Gbps municipal Wi-Fi access.
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