Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Google Fiber Hits Silicon Slopes

In only the third city in the nation to get high speed access from Google, the Internet giant said Wednesday afternoon that Provo, Utah will become the next Google Fiber city. In an announcement with Provo Mayor John Curtis, Google said it will buy fiber optic network iProvo, which is owned by the city, and will extend the network to every home along the existing iProvo optic network. Google said the move will allow it to offer up free, Internet access at 5Mbps to Provo residents, for a $30 activation fee and no monthly access charges. Provo is only the third nation to get Google's high speed Internet service; the service is currently only available in Kansas City and has been slated for addition to Austin, Texas. Google Fiber will offer up to 1 gigabit per second access--100x times the typical speed of the Internet now--starting at $70 a month.