Google to provide ultra-high speed net service to small businesses in Kansas City area
12 Nov 2014
Google plans to make its ultra-high speed fibre internet service available to small businesses, the company announced yesterday.
This comes as the first time Google's fibre service will be sold to businesses, and according to business owners who had tested it, it could be the application that closed the gap between fibre's hype in Kansas City and its actual utility.
The initial roll-out of the ''early access'' programme for small businesses, would see the company make its highest speed internet of upto 1,000 Mbps download speeds, available for $100 per month, to some areas, or what it calls "fiberhoods."
A Google spokesperson told 41 Action News that the company planned to expand the number of areas to which it would provide this service soon but did not have a timeline to share just yet. He added the company was working to bring the service as quickly as possible to businesses and hoped to have the first customers by the end of the year.
Over 50 local businesses took part in a three-month pilot programme ahead of yesterday's announcement. According to 41 Action News two business operators to whom it had spoken had started as sceptics of Google Fiber in general, but came away impressed by the service.
Currently, however, Fiber was only rolling out as part of an early access program, and only in select areas of Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri – or what the company calls "fiberhoods." Though Google maintains it plans to expand to more areas, no details were available just yet as to where or when.
The internet company had been slowly expanding its Fiber footprint this year. So far, only Kansas City, Provo, Utah and recently Austin, Texas, had been provide fibre access. Google needs a certain level of assurance before opening Fiber in various neighborhoods, and asks residents to commit to the service before it even arrives.
It looked as though a similar SMB offering will eventually be rolled out in Austin and Provo, but there has been no communication from Google to that effect.