Last year, Google went to Kansas City and began providing an Internet access service that is 75-100 times as fast as cable Internet service.
It's called Google Fiber.
Venture capitalist Hunter Walk just spent a day in Kansas City, and he's written a short report on what using Google Fiber is like.
Walk:
Since Google Fiber is just rolling out, it's not like there's a whole bunch of specialized web products built around having 1GB speed. But when you play with it, the gap between you and Internet totally disappears. The computer is responsive in a manner that I've never experienced before. You can play multiple 4k YouTube videos without buffering. You download 1GB files during a tv commercial break. You just get more done.
Google Fiber is coming to Austin, Texas next.
Walk, a former Google executive, has a theory on why Google is rolling this product out.
People ask me what's Google's metagame with Fiber. My guess is the following: Use Fiber to reset consumer expectations of what a connected home should feel like. Continue to drive down the cost of deployment and sign up customers for a very sticky (high LTV) service by being first to market. If existing ISPs follow - or even beat Google in some many markets - Google still wins. Why? Because as I found out personally, when the Internet is this fast you do one more search per session, watch one more video per session, send one more email per session. A connected population benefits Google. Period.
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