Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Holy shit, Google!

So, Google. Right? Holy shit. They started off as a goofy sounding, puny little search engine, and now they more or less own the Internet. They're a huge, monolithic company with a motto of "Don't be evil," and they really do follow through on it. Usually - we all know there are some times when they get all up in our business, but I'm honestly okay with it considering how much they offer in exchange. I get free email, online storage, top-of-the-line search algorithms, and a kickass web browser, they get to show me unassuming ads that are relevant to my interests.

Most recently, Google took a look at our piss-poor broadband infrastructure (we rank 26th in the world for Internet speed) and said "Fuck that noise, let's fix it." Then they hauled ass to Kansas City and started offering mind-bogglingly cheap, really-damn-high-speed Internet access. Google is becoming an ISP. So far it's only a test market, but with what they're offering, I can't see them not expanding. Here are the details:

TV + Internet
$120/mo
Gigabit internet (!!!!) and Google HD TV + 1 TB Google Drive (!!!!) + free Nexus 7 tablet
$300 construction fee (waived with 2 year contract)
.
Internet
$70/mo
Gigabit internet + 1 TB Google Drive
$300 construction fee (waived with 1 year contract)
.
Free Internet
$Free (for at least 7 years)
Up to 5 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload
$300 construction fee (one time or $25/mo for a year)

Yeah, you read that last part right. Pay $300 up front and you get FREE GODDAMN INTERNET FOR SEVEN YEARS. I'm sure they'll jack up the price after that, but jacking up the price from FREE FOR THE LAST SEVEN YEARS is understandable.

I really have to hand it to Google. Sometimes, they'll do something to make me doubt their resolve to the motto, but free Internet? All in an effort to fix our terrible infrastructure?

Holy shit.

1 comment:

  1. I've wondered for YEARS why the US does not have a fiber-optic network. The answer I hear the most often is that our country is so spread out that it would be difficult to manage. I say bull. Let's do this

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