The company has been working on it for the last year and a half. The service was detailed today by Google, and residents of Kansas City can now pre-register to get it. According to Google, the connection will run at 1,Mb per second -- much faster than Verizon's Mb-per-second FIOS service, which is also fiber based.
Fiber-optic connections provide much faster speeds than DSL and cable. The faster Internet connection will enable faster web surfing, video streaming, and uploading; downloading a movie will take just a few minutes.
Google's Network Box, a box it will provide to customers, will serve as a hub for the service in houses, but it will also require special installation to get the hook-up. The box is also a Wi-Fi router and has four Ethernet ports.
Google's also providing the TV offering to compete against other cable and Internet providers. The company will provide the full TV channel lineup and an HD TV box that is capable of recording up to eight shows at the same time.
The box has built-in Netflix and YouTube streaming capabilities. Google's latest Nexus 7 tablet will also be included in some packages and will work as a remote. The pricing structure is also unique. On top of that Google is offering Internet with no monthly fee. There is no data cap on any of the plans, meaning customers will get unlimited Internet access every month.
