Google is officially an internet service provider : It's offering insane 1000Mbps fiber internet and cable TV to Kansas City residents. But the impact will go way beyond Missouri.
Google's new 1000Mbps fiber internet service sounds a lot like a stunt: It's mindblowingly fast (3x faster than Comcast's very fastest internet); it's mindblowingly cheap ($70 a month! or $120 with Fiber TV); and it's only going to be available in Kansas City when it starts rolling out on Sept. 9. Oh, did I mention it's also giving away (slower) broadband for free? In some ways, it is a stunt. But it's a deeply important stunt.
To understand why, you need to understand the state of broadband in the U.S. It's kind of like the state of education — it doesn't seem all that bad from here, but then you compare how we're doing versus other countries, and you realize we're not doing all that great. In average broadband speeds, the United States, home of Silicon Valley, ranks 25th internationally according the Communication Works of America, and 13th according to a more recent report from Akamai.
A map of locations with three or more internet service providers.
Source: broadbandmap.gov
The problem, as the FCC sees it, is competition. There simply isn't enough of it between ISPs:
Given that approximately 96% of the population has at most two wireline providers, there are reasons to be concerned about wireline broadband competition in the United States. Whether sufficient competition exists is unclear and, even if such competition presently exists, it is surely fragile.
