Salt Lake City Rolls Out Welcome Mat For Google Fiber

Salt Lake City, Utah residents rejoice! Google Fiber is coming to town. Salt Lake City joins a host of metropolitan areas that were selected to receive Google Fiber just this year alone. Those cities include Atlanta, Georgia; Nashville, Tennessee; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.

“Salt Lake has more than breathtaking mountain vistas and fantastic ski slopes. It also hosts a booming technology sector, world-renowned universities and a vibrant local culture,” said Devin Baer, the Google Fiber Associate City Manage for Salt Lake City. “We’re looking forward to seeing Salt Lake residents use gigabit Internet to spark creative ideas, jumpstart businesses and collaborate in ways they couldn't before.”

Google recently gave cities an ultimatum to put up or shut up when it comes to Google Fiber. Google would love to rollout its fiber Internet service to additional cities in rapid fashion, but bureaucratic red tape often slows the process.

“If you make it easy, we will come,” said Google VP of Access Services Milo Medin late last month. “If you make hard, enjoy your Time Warner Cable.”

Google Fiber gives customers 1Gbps upstream and downstream speeds in addition to television service. Customers can choose a gigabit Internet-only package and pay $70 per month. Gigabit Internet plus a TV package will run you $120 month. A $300 construction fee for either package is waived if you agree to a one-year commitment for service.

There’s also a “free” option that gives you 1Mbps upstream speeds and 5Mbps downstream speeds. The catch is that you have to pay the one-time $300 construction speed. If you don’t want to fork over $300 at signup, you can opt to pay $25 per month for the first 12 months. Google guarantees access to the free service for up to seven years.