By Isaac Warren
Print Editor
SPRINGFIELD — Google Fiber. It sounds like a weird cereal, but it’s much cooler than that.
Google Fiber technology uses fiber optic cables, hence the name, in order to deliver blazing fast Internet speeds.
Only a select few areas in the United States have Google Fiber as an Internet service provider, or ISP. Some cities have even gone so far as to change their name in an effort to get Google’s attention.
Internet is not the only service provided by Google Fiber. It also offers a television package for $130 a month. A search found one of Comcast’s more expensive package deals at about $60, but the performance leaves much to be desired compared to Google’s service.
With its most expensive deal, Comcast offers a 75 megabit per second Internet speed, “thousands of XFINITY On Demand TV shows and movies on any device” and Showtime. Comcast customers also get about 500 gigabytes of DVR storage space.
Google, with a price over twice that of Comcast’s, offers a 1 gigabyte per second Internet speed, which is about 100 times faster than the average American’s current speed, a television service and 1 terabyte of storage on Google Drive. The television package also contains a 2 terabyte storage space for DVR.
It is also worth mentioning that Google offers free, standard Internet speeds of 5 megabits per second, if customers pay a $300 construction fee.
Only Kansas City, Missouri; Austin, Texas; and Provo, Utah; have Google Fiber as the main provider, but six cities will be future Fiber sites, and eleven potential cities, including Chicago.
Customers who have Google Fiber have said that they enjoy the new interface, especially the television service. In a new interview, a woman stated that she enjoys multiple channels recording on a DVR.
With all new technology comes some glitches. Customers have said that there have been a few issues in the past, but they have always been resolved in a reasonable manner.
Google Fiber has been cited as scaring companies such as Time Warner Cable and Comcast. Comparing the companies, it seems rather evident that Fiber is worth the extra cost.
Isaac Warren can be reached at [email protected]