Google Fiber to sell 20-Gig broadband for $250/month

Just weeks after revealing Nokia as its 25G PON tech partner, Google Fiber announced this week it will soon start to sell 20 Gbit/s broadband services in a batch of markets for $250 per month.

Google Fiber, which is starting to rebrand as GFiber, is making the 20-Gig service, which includes a Wi-Fi 7 router, available initially to "select customers" in Kansas City, North Carolina's Triangle region, Arizona and Iowa. Installations are expected to get underway next month, GFiber Head of Product Nick Saporito announced in this blog post.

Depending on the market, GFiber's new offering will present a new level of billboard speed competition for incumbent broadband service providers such as AT&T, Charter Communications, Comcast, Mediacom Communications, Cox Communications and Lumen.

GFiber hasn't revealed where the new 20-Gig offering will show up next. Some possible candidates include Atlanta, Georgia; Austin, Texas; Huntsville, Alabama; Nashville, Tennessee; and Salt Lake City, Utah, among others.

GFiber's new, more targeted speed offering complements its other tiers: 1 Gbit/s ($70), 2 Gbit/s ($100), 5 Gbit/s ($125) and 8 Gbit/s ($150).

The big question is whether any residential customers actually need such lofty speeds – a similar question that Ziply Fiber faces with its new, Ethernet-powered 50-Gig service that fetches $900 per month.

Related:Nokia flaunts Google Fiber as 25G PON customer

"At $250, it's a lot of speed for that price, and we know that it will enable innovators who want to be able to push what’s possible to truly get to work," Saporito explained.

To help answer those questions, GFiber Labs recently launched an innovation hub focused on "what's next" for broadband.

Elsewhere in GFiber-land, the company announced Tuesday it has upped John Keib to chief technology and product officer, making him the first at GFiber to serve in that role.

Keib, who joined Google Fiber in 2019 as VP of product, will continue to head up the company's product, engineer and supply chain efforts, as well as GFiber Labs. He previously served as EVP and chief operating officer for residential services at Time Warner Cable and is also late of DirecTV and Thompson Media.