Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

KC topics that don't fit anywhere else.

Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Currently have Google Fiber - 'free' 5M service
12
14%
Currently have Google Fiber - 100M or 1 Gigabit service only
17
20%
Currently have Google Fiber - TV + 1 Gigabit service
36
41%
Am in a deployed Google Fiber area but sticking with current or moving to other ISP
1
1%
Am in a planned area, intend to get Google Fiber
9
10%
Am in a planned area, sticking with current ISP
1
1%
None of the above/something else
11
13%
 
Total votes: 87

earthling
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by earthling »

Spectrum has dropped the price of 400/30 internet only to $30 (for my address) compared to Google Fiber 100/100 for $50. Is that offer city wide or just addresses that can get GFBR? Can check your address at spectrum.com.

Have cut 'CableTV' over a couple years ago and don't miss it. Don't do the live streaming services either but do the trials once in a while (Sling, YTTV, etc). There are so many OnDemand streaming services now, rotating them is a way to get all of them while saving a bundle. That is do Netflix one month every few months, Hulu every few months, HBO once in a while, etc. Can get the content of over a dozen services over a year for the price of just one or two. When you go back to a service, it feels new again with refreshed content. Disney+ and HBO Max are coming as well as NBC Universal. Rotating some might be harder to pull off with families.

Also check out Kanopy and Hoopla. They are free movie services with library card if your library participates. The Great Courses also come free with Kanopy, at least with KCMO library system. Hoopla includes music, audio books, ebooks as well.
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Critical_Mass
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by Critical_Mass »

What area are you seeing this price? I'm seeing $45 mo for 100+ Mbps in Longfellow / Union Hill which is comparable to Google Fiber
earthling
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by earthling »

For 64111. It says pricing 'locked in' for 3 years but not clear if a contract. Might not be available to existing customers.

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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by earthling »

Got a flyer, the $30 400/30M Spectrum price is locked in for 3 years with no contract. The 30M upload speed is good enough, might go for it.

Wonder what scenarios this is offered? If an exiting GFBR customer only?
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by bobbyhawks »

How reliable is the 400+ Mbps? Prior to GF, I never had the speeds that were advertised.
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by shinatoo »

i have found it to be very reliable. They also have a $45 a month cell plan.
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by bobbyhawks »

Good to know. I could never go back from 1 gig, though.
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by smh »

I continue to make do with the 5mbps free plan.
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by earthling »

I know a few on the 5Mb free plan (and have tinkered switching short term myself or when traveling) and it seems to work really well even with streaming services while also browsing. It might be 720 HD, maybe 1080 HD at times but good enough for many.

BTW, it's easy to switch between the free service and 100/1000 anytime you want as long as you don't have TV service. The days of usage are pro-rated. If traveling for a month+, can also switch to free service while gone.
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by smh »

earthling wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 3:58 pm I know a few on the 5Mb free plan (and have tinkered switching short term myself or when traveling) and it seems to work really well even with streaming services while also browsing. It might be 720 HD, maybe 1080 HD at times but good enough for many.

BTW, it's easy to switch between the free service and 100/1000 anytime you want as long as you don't have TV service. The days of usage are pro-rated. If traveling for a month+, can also switch to free service while gone.
Oh, that is good to know. I had no idea.
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by earthling »

Might confirm with them on current pro-rating if planning less than a month. When I did this last winter it was pro-rated by days. Is easy to switch online yourself.
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by flyingember »

earthling wrote: Tue Oct 01, 2019 3:58 pm I know a few on the 5Mb free plan (and have tinkered switching short term myself or when traveling) and it seems to work really well even with streaming services while also browsing. It might be 720 HD, maybe 1080 HD at times but good enough for many.

BTW, it's easy to switch between the free service and 100/1000 anytime you want as long as you don't have TV service. The days of usage are pro-rated. If traveling for a month+, can also switch to free service while gone.
The free service was for up to 7 years starting in Nov 2012, so I would expect their first customers on this plan will need to move to the paid services starting this November.

It was dropped as an option in April 2016. So no one adding service since then has this ability. So the last people could drop off in April 2023

And you needed to pay a $300 construction fee to be eligible versus taking the paid service where they waive this fee.

So it's easy if you meet all these requirements.
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by earthling »

The $300 fee doesn't apply to those in apt/condo buildings that already have GFBR installed. Will be interesting to see if/when GFBR kills the 'free' 5M. For now it still shows as an option for me. But it could be a problem if you leave 5M for 100 or 1000 with intent to got back to 5M later and it's no longer an option. Maybe around Nov or so, they haven't given any indication yet.

I haven't jumped to the $30 400/30 Spectrum offer yet, tempting.
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by taxi »

After so many years of headaches and disgust with Time/Warner (pre-Google Fiber), I would never switch to Spectrum – even if it was free. Even if they paid me.
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by rxlexi »

We recently purchased an older (1957) home in Riverside, MO, a couple blocks from KCMO city line, and evidently Riverside was never wired with Google Fiber. So AT&T or Spectrum it was, and we ended up going with a Spectrum "Double Play" package with the 400 Mb internet and cable (pretty extensive channels including sports like NFL and MLB networks). Using our own modem/router.

Cost is $101/month locked for 3 years, no contract. Internet performance has been satisfactory so far - speed test shows wireless download speeds approaching 400. Would most certainly have preferred GFiber, and the surrounding Briarcliff West area in KCMO was no doubt wired for it, but it is what is.
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by flyingember »

rxlexi wrote: Thu Oct 03, 2019 9:52 am We recently purchased an older (1957) home in Riverside, MO, a couple blocks from KCMO city line, and evidently Riverside was never wired with Google Fiber. ...
Would most certainly have preferred GFiber, and the surrounding Briarcliff West area in KCMO was no doubt wired for it, but it is what is.
North of the river KCMO and Gladstone got service and no one else. It's right on their website

https://fiber.google.com/cities/kansascity/
scroll down to the list of towns with it
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by earthling »

The $70 price for Gigabit is a great value but way more than most need. I'm somewhat a power user and 100M is more than good enough, but may not be for large families streaming 4K video.

Some scenarios where you might possibly push 400/30M limits that Spectrum offers is if streaming more than 10 4K videos at once while doing a large download you want fast or working with very large files that you need to upload often and need to complete by certain time. There are other use cases but you'd have to be a pretty hard core power user or extra large household to need a Gigabit. I stepped down from Gig to GFBR 100 because my connection was rarely stressed over 100. It's easy to switch back and forth online if no TV service but never needed to go back to Gigabit.

The Gigabit killer app never arrived. Most services still don't download much more than 100-300M anyway, though it has been improving with cloud storage sites. Unless you don't like Spectrum service the performance is likely good enough for most - $30 for 400/30 is something to consider if looking to save.
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by flyingember »

It's the upload that makes the difference over that 400/30 service. The 100/100 does work well as a comparable service

Security cameras, online backup are two very common uses that need upload

There absolutely never was a killer gigabit app. It more became about doing more at once in the end and doing it quicker.
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by earthling »

And still overkill for most. Cloud backups might take longer on 30M, but it's a backup. No big deal for most if it takes an hour or two instead of minutes as it's asynchronous and transparent (and it's really just the first sync that matters, the dailies or real time are usually pretty small). Even 4K video cameras only need 15Mbps or so uplink if even that. Typical home users monitoring one camera at a time at most. 30M uplink is probably good enough for most unless a power user. I do cloud backups with occasional large daily encrypted images (over 1GB) and would be OK with 30M and otherwise it really only matters for the first sync. Not ideal for everyone but probably good enough for 90% of avg joe consumers. The 400M downlink is likely more than enough for nearly all consumers.

Also, I was surprised how fast web browsing is on GFBR 5M while streaming a video. Not just because there was enough bandwidth room but the latency for GFBR is also better, allowing complex pages to load faster. And latency is another advantage GFBR has over Spectrum (and DOCSIS cable internet), which is a reason I'm reluctant to switch.
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Re: Do you have or plan to get Google Fiber?

Post by beautyfromashes »

Google Fiber raising prices again. Do we think they will crash out of this market? They seem to have lots of competition trying to win back customers with cheaper prices and comparable speed.
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