This really isn’t an article about how to help your business, not yet at least but it is something that I am very excited about. A few weeks ago Google announced it is getting into the Internet Service Provider (ISP) business which they have titled as Google Fiber. Right now they are testing it out in Kansas City. If successfully they will hopefully roll it out nation wide. I suggest you go preregister, even though it not available here in Toledo, it will let them know we want it.
The plans are as follows:
- Up to 5 mbps connection – Free with $300 setup fee
- Up to 1 gigabit connection – $70/m
- Up to 1 gigabit connection plus TV & extras – $120
That’s right, a 1 gigabit connection! That’s 1000 mbps. Right now I have a 12 mbp connection. It seems to be about average according to www.netindex.com. Which don’t get me wrong my 12 mbp connection is pretty fast for my needs but it doesn’t give me the freedom to do something better. Not without paying an arm and a leg each month.
Google has a history of throwing a monkey wrench into how other companies want things to work. Take gmail for example. Before gmail there was hotmail, aol, yahoo and a bunch of others email services. It was just amazing that these companies provided free email. After being a long time user of hotmail I remember the day I was upgraded from 2mbs of space to 10mbs of space. Holy cow, now I can keep emails for maybe a year before deleting them. Google changed all that with gmail. They gave you a gig of space which meant you didn’t have to delete an email ever. The competition scrambled to keep up. Most couldn’t and now gmail dominates.
Google went all in with gmail, well they are doing it again with Google Fiber. This is a game changer. My ideas wheels have started turning. For our current ISP’s it means they will need to step up their game. Which hopefully means better Internet service for all of us. As consumers, it means near instant access to data, large amounts of data. No more buffering that TV show only to watch it in a slightly grainy resolution. You will be able to get HD movies and video games in seconds. But what I’m excited about is the possibility of being able to provide internet access to everything in my house. We have some of that already, but there is a limit to what we can do because of shared bandwidth.
On top of that new businesses and technologies will start popping up. For example a Cloud Computer. Your data and your programs are in the cloud. All the processing happens there in the cloud. All you have is a display and input device. No more PC tower. No more external hard drive. Now your cloud computer can be taken any where there is a Google Fiber connection or fast connection.
The one thing I that I am most excited about, even more so than a 1 gigabit connection is with Google’s 5 mbp plan, for a small fee ($300 or $25/m for a year) you can get free Internet for life. Which right now I know several people still on dial up or are only getting 1.5 mbps for $30/m.
If you are interested in learning more about Google Fiber go here.
