Google Fiber's Blistering 20 Gig Service With Wi-Fi 7 Is Here For $250 Per Month
We sure have come a long way since the days of dial-up internet access, which for you young folk, was really, really slow compared to what's available today. As in, you were boss level if you upgraded to a 56.6K baud modem, and achieved god-tier status if you were one of the first to jump aboard DSL or cable. And now? God-tier status on the consumer level is represented by Google rolling out its 20 Gig + Wi-Fi 7 service.
One of the caveats is location—the blistering speed that's on tap with Google's top-end consumer GFiber service is not available to everyone, or even a lot of people in the grand scheme of things. To kick things off, Google's rolling out is 20 Gig + Wi-Fi 7 plan to residents in parts of Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, and North Carolina's Triangle Region.
"As we continue to roll out Nokia's 25G PON across our network, we'll open up invitations in new areas, so make sure you've let us know if you are interested in being one of the firs to have this in your home. We expect installations to start in Q1," Google stated in a blog post.
The other caveat is cost—you're looking at paying $250 per month, which Google says is "a lot of speed for that price, and we know it will enable innovators who want to be able to push what's possible to truly get to work." And that's true, it is a lot of speed for the money, especially in the context of what other broadband speed tiers cost, both within and outside of GFiber. But it's also a big monthly bill that works out to $3,000 per year.
"At our core, we believe speed should always be accessible—that’s why we haven’t raised our 1 Gig from $70 ever and why we’ve priced 2 Gig ($100/month), 5 Gig ($125), and 8 Gig ($150) right along those lines," Google states.
Those who sign up for the service will receive a pre-certified Wi-Fi 7 router. While the Wi-Fi 7 standard has not been fully ratified yet, the protocol boasts a peak wireless speed of over 40Gbps.
It's also worth noting that Google's 20 Gig + Wi-Fi 7 service doles out symmetrical 20Gbps speeds, meaning it applies to both downloads and uploads. Symmetrical speeds has been one of the highlights of fiber in general, as a lot of broadband services cap upload speeds at much slower rates than downloads.
Google has an online form to fill out for anyone interested in the service.
