Quarter of Kansas City, MO areas sign up for Google Fiber
updated 02:44 pm EDT, Mon July 30, 2012
Large number of preregistrations four days into 6 week rally
A quarter of the neighborhoods in the Google Fiber project in Kansas City, Missouri have either approached or achieved their preregistration targets. A dedicated page for the pilot program shows that out of the 128 "fiberhoods" organized by Google, 31 have reached their target within four days of the registration rally commencing.
By comparison, the same project in Kansas City, Kansas has only three fiberhoods reaching their target in the same timeframe. In both fiberhood lists, a number of locations are quite close to the target, however the differences in local populations and the goal percentages makes it difficult to work out a relative "completeness" to each individual fiberhood goal.
Google Fiber opened up to preregistration on Thursday, enabling interested residents to pay a refundable deposit of $10 and hasten the rollout in areas that show particularly strong interest. Google suggests it will deploy its fiber services in both the Kansas and Missouri locations based on preregistration numbers, with targets based on the cost of infrastructure installation in each location.
The service itself consists of either an Internet and TV pack for $120 per month, or a standalone 1Gbps Internet connection for $70, with an initial construction fee of $300 being waived. A "free" service of 5Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream, guaranteed for at least 7 years, is also available in areas where fiber is installed, though subscribers would be required to pay the initial construction fee.
