Our long national crisis is nearly over... for South Austin at least! Austin's own Stacey Higginbotham attended a meeting held at Google's Austin office to educate the local press. Details divulged were in line with what we have been expecting:
For "free" Google Fiber at 5x5Mbps, the installation fee will still be $300, payable over 12 monthly installments. Those customers will enjoy a decent connection for the next 7, perhaps 12 years without further expense. That's about $3.57/mo for a term of 7 years! The price of Gigabit Fiber was not confirmed, but in other cities it has been $70/mo. Split that with your neighbor if it's too much for your budget to cover alone*. Google Fiber can also come packaged with TV service for around $120, and you can rent as many tuner boxes as you require for $5/mo each. Google is already talking about upgrading their network to offer 10 Gigabit connections in coming years!
Unlike AT&T, Time Warner or Comcast, Google will NOT interfere with your Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu, Vudu, iTunes or other subscription Internet movie providers. There are also hundreds of sites showing free movies. Say goodbye to "buffering... buffering...."
Google is not providing a phone service bundled with Fiber, even though they have offered a very good one for years now. Google Voice offers free calls throughout the USA and Canada, and one cent a minute in many foreign countries. News of Google Voice shutting down has not come to pass, though it has been phased out of Gmail and into Google Hangouts. It's mainly designed for use with a PC and headset.
For folks who have a perfectly good house phone and prefer a physical handset, Obi will continue to support their line of network gear that bridges Google Voice to your favorite Princess phone. As low as $40 dollars, and the size of a pack of playing cards, it is easy to configure and well worth the price even if Google Voice shuts down a month or two later. Your PC does not even need to be on to use it. We have one and love it.
Google will NOT interfere with your alternate choice of Vonage, MagicJack, RingCentral, Ooma, or other Internet phone (aka "VOIP") providers. Your Obi will work with most of them, too. Rates are so low that you'll want to spit fire at the land-line phone company! For instance, we were looking at one plan that cost $8/mo and included 300 minutes.
The result is that you can have Internet, TV, and phone service for a price other Internet providers cannot beat.
It's important to remember that we need to show our interest in the service for Google to give us priority. They will skip us if there aren't enough customers in our neighborhood (they call them "fiberhoods"!). Please visit the following address in your browser, check your address, then provide your email address to receive updates. My email has never been misused by them for spam or such. In fact, they mailed me a free T-shirt several months ago!
*Sharing your service is certainly against the Terms of Service, but I think Google will look away if there's a chance to get your neighbor hooked on Fiber too. They'll want to get their own house installed. You'll find the incredible speed worth the money even if you end up paying the full bill later. Whether you decide to share over wifi or run a cable to your neighbor next door, you can hire a local tech like myself to consult and plan your installation.
