Google Fiber nixes free Internet offering in Kansas City
April 11, 2016 | Bobby Burch
It’s often said there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
And in Google’s case, there’s no such thing a free fiber connection — at least anymore.
The tech titan last week nixed its free Internet offering, which dished out download speeds of 5 megabits-per-second and upload speeds of 1 mbps. Google has offered the free service — which required a one-time $300 construction fee — since its expansion into Kansas City about four years ago.
The company, based in Mountain View, Calif., replaced the free offering with a $50 per month plan that offers 100 megabits per second. The plan has no data caps, but doesn’t include added features of the pricer gigabit plans such as 1 terabyte of cloud storage with Google Drive or Gmail.
Google Fiber recently celebrated the five year anniversary of when it first announced that the service would be coming to Kansas City.
Google in March announced that it would be offering “fiber phone” service in its fiber cities, which includes Kansas City, Kan., Kansas City, Mo., Provo, Utah and Austin, Texas. The service — which provides unlimited local and nationwide calling — costs $10 per month.
Google is now expanding its fiber service into several other cities, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Raleigh-Durham, Salt Lake City and San Antonio.
Google will continue to offer free Internet access to people in affordable housing developments without construction or equipment fees, according to ARS Technica.
In February, Google Fiber began working with the Housing Authority of Kansas City to connect its super-fast, gigabit connection to residents of local public housing properties for free. Google launched the program at West Bluff Townhomes in Kansas City, Mo., connecting all 100 homes to its service. Through Google’s partnership with ConnectHome, a federal initiative to speed Internet adoption by families living in public housing, families who sign up for access may also purchase discounted devices and learn new computer skills.
Featured Business
2016 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Thank a community leader; Nominate them to win $50,000
Editor’s note: The following is a paid message from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Allison Greenwood Bajracharya, a fourth-generation Kansas Citian, is chief impact and strategy officer for the Kauffman Foundation. In communities around the country, people are doing uncommon things in the most common places — parks, food pantries, classrooms, soccer fields, and church…
Crossroads distillery asks KC to make a toast in honor of founder lost in weekend motorcycle wreck
Update: A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to support the family of the late Jeff Evans. Click here to learn more or to donate. With doors temporarily closed early this week (July 21-22) to mourn the loss of co-founder Jeff Evans, the team behind Mean Mule Distilling is asking its community to “grieve with us,…
KC govtech startup: You shouldn’t have to know how local government works to get answers (or make impact)
Even a ripple can make waves, said Mitch Mabrey, an exited cleantech founder whose new cause finds him on a mission to ensure that the voices of residents from all walks of life are more broadly heard — and answered — by their government officials. Resonus, his Kansas City-based political information platform is designed to…
Northland BBQ spot opens, building flavors, menu from side hustle to storefront
After a decade-long journey building his BBQ business — from tailgates to a just-opened brick-and-mortar restaurant — Wardell Hooks Jr. would only change one thing along the way: He’d have quit his full-time job sooner. “My thing is the joy,” said Hooks, founder of Off the Hook BBQ, describing the feeling of accomplishment from his…