Google starts connecting homes in Kansas City to high-speed fiber service

IDG News Service - Google said Tuesday it is starting to connect homes in Kansas City, Kan., to its Google Fiber broadband service.

The installation will have two phases, starting with pulling fiber-optic cables from the street to the side of the home, and then doing the in-home installation, a procedure it has already started for several houses in Hanover Heights, Google said on Tuesday in a blog post.

"If you live in Hanover Heights and see a new box on the side of your house (and have gotten a Google Fiber sticky note on your door), look for an email or phone call from us in the next few days to schedule an appointment," wrote Alana Karen, director for service delivery at Google Fiber.

Google said it had already worked in a few homes over the last few weeks to ensure it can deliver a "great experience."

The Internet giant said in February, 2010 that it planned to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the U.S., with 1Gbps fiber-to-the-home connections. It asked for responses to its request for information (RFI) from local governments and the public.

The rollout of the 1Gbps service will cover some parts of Kansas City, Mo., and neighboring Kansas City, Kan., which won out over 1,000 cities that applied for the service in 2010. (The installations at Kansas City, Missouri, will start next year, according to the Google Fiber website. Google has said it will set up in neighborhoods where the interest justifies the cost of setting up.

Gigabit Internet is priced at $70 per month, while high-speed Internet bundled with TV costs $120 a month, according to Google. Free Internet at 5Mbps downstream is available for a construction fee of $300. The construction fee for equipping a home for service is waived for those who sign up for the paid services. Users subscribing for a TV service also get a free "Storage Box" with 2T bytes of storage for recorded shows, 1TB of cloud storage, and a Nexus 7 Android tablet to use as a remote.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com