News & Events

News archive: The Race to Light Speed is On

July 27th, 2012
Author: Chris Conder
Posted In: Archive News

Google made an important announcement yesterday, the launch of their much anticipated gigabit fibre internet product, Google Fiber.

We have been following this project since it was announced two years ago and we have made some good links with the team in Kansas City along the way, one of them even sending us a message of support at our share launch. Here is the Google Fiber launch video.

Looking at the reports last night, the announcement has definitely created quite a buzz. There certainly seems to be some good features and the pricing also seems to be reasonable too. Here are some key points.

Three plans are available. Gigabit Internet and TV, Gigabit Internet only and Internet only.

Gigabit Internet and TV

• Up to 1Gbs download and 1Gbs upload speeds
• Full channel TV line up
• Requires 2 year contract
• No data caps
• Nexus 7 tablet (acts as Remote Control)
• TV Box, Storage Box, Network Box & 1 TB Google Drive
• £77/mo + taxes and fees

Gigabit Internet Only

• Up to 1Gbs download and 1Gbs upload speeds
• Requires 1 year contract
• No data caps
• Network Box & 1 TB Google Drive
• £44/mo + taxes and fees

Internet Only

• Up to 5Mbs download and 1Mbs upload speeds
• No data caps
• Free service guaranteed for at least 7 years
• Network Box
• £0/mo + taxes and fees
• £192 installation fee

Google clearly have given this some thought as the packages seem well placed and attractive. The free internet Only option, (free apart from the installation fee that is), is a good idea as it allows reasonable speeds and the option is always there to upgrade. No data caps too which is always good to see. Two things that stand out, mainly because these elements really only come into play with good connectivity, are the IPTV and 1TB, (that’s 1000 GB, a lot!), of Google Drive storage. The latter meaning that it would be unlikely that you would need any local storage and all devices would be able to access data as it will be stored in Google’s data centre, in The Cloud as the buzz word is.

The next stage for Kansas City residents is to pre-register intent to take the service. Google have split the city into “fiberhoods” and asked residents to rally their community. They have until about the middle of August to do this then Google will prioritise the fiberhood in order of interest.

Google’s fiberhoods are exactly the same as B4RN’s as our routes branching from the core network, (only we didn’t think of a catchy name!), also the same as Google, some of B4RNs routes have more registrations than others, it is still possible to register interest, spread the word and do all you can to increase the registrations. Unlike Google, B4RN registration is free!

This is a very exciting announcement and it will be interesting to see how this develops. Some fiberhoods are already up to the count needed.

I’m sure that you can see how what Google is doing is identical to what B4RN is doing, albeit without a multi-billion dollar backer. The objectives are the same; to bring affordable, reliable and future-proof broadband to the community. We believe that this is the best way to ensure that we are not left in the digital slow lane and the fact that one of the biggest, if not THE biggest companies in the world is doing the same as B4RN confirms that we are doing the right thing.

The big question is. Who will connect up the first property?

B4RN are very close to first connection. Unfortunately we have been delayed by the English “summer” and also other essential farming activities, but the dates are not set in stone and this was expected. As can be seen from this post, the community is pulling together to get this work done. Keep up the good work and we could beat the Big G to lighting the fibre!