Recently, Google announced the third city that will receive its super fast Internet service. Provo, Utah, will be the third home to Google Fiber, with most residents connected to the grid by the end of this year.
“Once connected, Provo will be one of the first cities in the world where access to broadband will flow like water or electricity,” Kevin Lo, general manager of Google Fiber said. Kansas City and Austin, Texas are the two other cities slotted to receive the ultra-fast Google Internet.
Google Fiber is Google’s new ultra-fast Internet service. The cities chosen to receive this service will have access to 1 Gigabit, 100x faster than normal broadband. Google is also offering free broadband service in those areas for a simple $30 installation fee.
So What Does Google Fiber Mean to Small Businesses?
Well, Google seems to be targeting areas with lesser known, but thriving tech scenes.
“Utah is already home to hundreds of tech companies and startups, and many of them are based in Provo,” Google’s Kevin Lo wrote in a blog post. “In fact, the Provo area ranks second in the nation in patent growth, and is consistently ranked as one of the top places to live and do business in the US. We believe the future of the Internet will be built on gigabit speeds.”
Local companies such as Trafficado are excited about the growth that Fiber will bring to the Provo area. Austin, Texas, is also known as a hub for technology and innovation:
“Access to more bandwidth is like rain in Texas — it’s good for everyone,” said David Bresemann, senior vice president and chief product officer at Silicon Laboratories Inc., a locally based semiconductor company, in Statesman. “Austin’s tech-savvy residents and businesses have an insatiable appetite for higher bandwidth.”
Google’s targeting of areas that already have growing startup and tech scenes will bring even more growth to these areas.
Why would businesses care about being part of Google Fiber?
It’s the next big thing and any chance to be on board at the beginning is a good thing. Plus, with fast Internet you can get things done more quickly. This is especially enticing for SaaS businesses and any company looking to quicken their uploading and downloading processes.
It is not known where Google will be taking Fiber next, but they are set on expanding and making this the future of the Internet.
For any small start-up looking for excellent internet speed and bandwidth, without the huge costs, Provo just became a very attractive destination. Utah has a low cost of living and Provo has access to nearly 30K students at a nearby university.
Utah’s been a great hub for tech. Nice to get the vote of confidence from Google!
Michael Sproul
I think this is going to be great for the city of Provo and hopefully encourages more businesses to locate in the southern end of Utah County.
Ashley W
I am so excited! Google fiber will be awesome. Hopefully it will be available in most of the apartment complexes around BYU and UVU.
Bryan
I think Google Fiber is going to take over TV advertising. Look at how successful Adsense has been over the years. Should be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Tyler Fraser
Unfortunately google fiber is not available for small businesses. I hope this is available soon!
Anita Campbell
Hi Tyler, I believe it has to come to your area. Then if it does, doesn’t everyone get it? Problem is, it’s available in a couple of places now.
– Anita
John
Here is Kansas City they are not offering it to businesses yet. Homes are getting it first. I am dying for it for the small non-profit I work for. The options around have terrible bandwidth. Uploads are especially bad! I have three offices VPNed together and need a fair amount of upload speed for people to access data at my main site. ATT is the only option and at a snail speed. Unfortunately we are moving from a prime Google fiber spot to neighborhood down the list of areas to receive it. I expect that businesses will need to wait that much longer in the new spot.