On July 26, Google declared war on other American internet service providers (ISPs) when they formally announced Google Fiber, a new move towards offering fiber internet in the United States. Google Fiber offers a service that, when completed, will be strides ahead of any other internet in the United States today.
Google offers two different options – for $70 a month, you can receive one gigabit per second (1024 megabits), or for a one-time fee of $300, you can receive five megabits per second with no money required every month. How does this compare to internet in the United States, or in Canada today? According to a recent study done by Akamai, Canada’s average speed is 5.5 mb per second while the United States has an average speed of 5.7 megabits per second. With this in mind, this means that Google is offering an internet connection that is nearly 180 times faster than the current average and many times cheaper. Right now, companies in Canada and the United States are offering 20 megabits for around $40 a month, with most companies offering a maximum of 250 megabits for around $110 a month. Google’s offering is currently better than any other connection offered in the market, promising to increase the average internet speed in North America, bringing it ever closer to the most advanced countries, with South Korea, the country with the fastest internet, having an average speed of 17 megabits, nearly three times as fast as Canada’s, but nowhere near as fast as what Google is offering. Google’s recent actions will change internet access in the United States, as it will bring down the cost of internet and ensure that all companies will stay competitive and offer faster speeds.
How does Google intend to make this work? They have created an innovative system to ensure that they can afford to install fiber cables, which transmit the internet, in each neighbourhood they enter by making signups into a competition. Right now, with Google Fiber being offered only in Kansas City, they have charted the entire city into “Fiberhoods,” with each Fiberhood requiring a certain percentage of the population to preregister to make them enable to receive Google Fiber when the preregistration time ends. This plan has set Google up for success – by starting small, they will be able to work out any of the problems with their mission of providing internet, and will also engage consumers in every area they go into, making sure that they will be able to keeping making money, not damaging their company, while also allowing more people to receive faster internet.
What does this mean for Canadians? Sadly, we can’t expect Google to offer Fiber in Canada due to the Telecommunications Act, which states that any company offering a telecommunication service must be Canadian owned, preventing Google from offering internet in Canada. What Google Fiber can do for Canadians, however, is encourage our current ISPs to offer faster internet for a lower price, as a result of more fiber being used in North America, making connections faster, and cheaper. Though we only have an average speed of 5 megabits right now, if Google is successful, we may be able to look forward to a gigabit in the near future.
