Plans For GoogleFiber Cause Concerns

Google Inc.’s partly free Internet service has been lauded for helping to close the digital divide in Kansas City, but a local broadband advocacy group is concerned that the coming service actually may widen it.
Kansas City, Kan., volunteer organization Connecting for Good Inc. plans to hit up Google for highly discounted or free installations based on income for its planned 5-megabit-per-second Internet service in KCK and Kansas City, Mo., later this year. The service is the low-end option of Google’s incoming Internet and TV services, which will feature ultra-fast (1-gigabit) Internet speeds.
A Google spokeswoman said the technology giant was open to conversations with the group. She also noted that the basic service averages out to $3.57 a month during seven years and is extremely affordable.
However, Google’s $300 construction fee for the free service must be paid within 12 months. Monthly payments would total $25.
In a Saturday website post, Connecting for Good wrote, “Our fear is that bringing the ‘super Internet’ to our area would further separate the digital ‘haves’ from the ‘have nots.’”
Connecting for Good President Michael Liimatta said the group also is considering a fundraising campaign to help “the poorest of the poor” afford Google’s bottom-tier Internet service.
On Thursday, Google announced it would provide the service free for seven years to residents willing to pay a $300 construction fee. Google’s signature 1-gigabit service will cost $70 a month, or $120 when bundled with Google Fiber TV service. The services will go to “fiberhoods” that express enough interest — in the form of $10 pre-registration by enough residents in the area — during a six-week rally.
As of about 2 p.m. Monday, 34 fiberhoods had met their Google-determined pre-registration goals, most of them on the Missouri side of the state line.
“So far, many poorer urban core neighborhoods are expressing interest in Google fiber at a slower rate than middle- and higher-income neighborhoods,” The Kansas City Star wrote in a Sunday editorial.
See the current pre-registration results on the Google Fiber website. Click on “show all fiberhoods” for a complete neighborhood rundown.