Google Fiber No Longer Offers Free Basic Service In Kansas City

Google Fiber is the online search giant’s gigabit internet service that’s gradually becoming available in more cities across the United States. In most markets the gigabit internet service is priced at $70 per month but in some markets, Google also provides a 5Mbps service for free as long as the customer is willing to pay a construction fee. According to a new report, this option is now no longer available to customers in Kansas City, Google Fiber’s first market.

Google appears to have made this change quietly, replacing the free 5Mbps internet service with a 100Mbps option that costs $50 per month, so customers can only realistically save $20 per month.

Customers in Kansas City who have the free 5Mbps connection hooked up have until May 19th to inform the company that they want to retain this service. This change doesn’t apply to customers who are in a low-income area.

Google is still offering this option to customers in Austin and Provo so it remains to be seen if it makes the same decision in other markets as well.

The change isn’t a surprising one. Google may be gradually expanding Fiber’s reach but its ultimate aim will be to make this a commercial success, and that can’t happen when you have a lot of people on the network that aren’t paying.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: Google Fiber