Google Fiber is headed to two more towns in Kansas, expanding the availability of the gigabit internet service in the Midwestern market.
On Thursday night, Google announced the city council of Shawnee, Kan. had unanimously approved a plan to allow Google to offer the service to residents of the Kansas City suburb.
And today, the Kansas City Star reports Raytown, Kan. is also on the list. "On Friday, Raytown officials announced they've landed a tentative agreement to bring the TV and Internet service to their residents. A vote on the agreement could come in late May," writes the Star.
Google Fiber offers homes and business internet speeds 100 times faster than traditional broadband services, and at a much lower price point. For now, Google is just testing out infrastructure in relatively small communities like Kansas City and the surrounding areas, though it has plans to launch the service in Austin, Texas and Provo, Utah next year.
Google seems to be searching for towns that are tech-friendly and happy to let the search giant figure things out as it goes along. "We've also been impressed by Shawnee's vision to keep their citizens informed and involved using the Internet. Recently, the City modernized their website, so that locals can easily access city info-from crime maps to fiscal reports to streamed audio of city council meetings," the company wrote on the Google Fiber blog.
No word yet on when exactly the service will roll out, but it will likely take a while, depending on the current state of the fiber optics and other relevant infrastructure in the town. It seems likely Google will test out Fiber in these small towns before it makes the leap to cities like Austin next year.
Known as the location of the SXSW conferences and music festival, Austin is rife with tech heads whose standards will be much higher.
As for the rest of the country, we'll need to wait and see how the major broadband companies react to Google Fiber. They could start lowering their prices once their monopoly in particular markets is broken, but the mishmash of state and local ordinances will likely make that a long process.
Ideally, new regulations and investment in infrastructure can bring about cheaper, more widely available (and much faster) internet service, of the kind prevalent in many parts of Asia and Europe.