Free Google Fiber Broadband Service Offered To Low-Income Families

Google will be offering free access to the Google Fiber broadband service to public housing residents, the company indicated through a recent blog post. The effort will start in Kansas City where the all-fiber network was launched by the company.

While free service is already available to low-income residents in Austin, Texas, the speed is not as fast as the 1-gigabit-per-second connection offered to paying customers. On the other hand, low-income Kansas City will be getting the 1Gbps service. The 1Gbps service typically has a fee of $70 and is 100 times faster compared to standard home broadband connections. Offering free high-speed internet to low-income residents removes one burden from them.

Google Fiber vice president Dennis Kish said through a blog post that internet access can be the difference between succeeding and failing for low income families. Kish added that getting online is a major obstacle for families living in affordable housing.

The recent announcement fulfills the promise Google made last year after signing up for the ConnectHome Initiative of President Barack Obama. The program aims to provide high-speed broadband internet access to more than 275,000 low-income families around the United States. Google made a commitment in July to provide broadband service to a number of cities, including Kansas City, Nashville, Atlanta, North Carolina, Durham and Missouri. The recent announcement surpasses this commitment as the company is promising 1Gbps access for free.

Free Google Fiber Broadband Service Offered To Low-Income Families - image credit: pcworld.com

The company is expected to provide the Google Fiber broadband service to around 1,300 families in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri. The company is also planning to expand the offer to a number of public housing buildings in cities where its 1Gbps service is available.

While offering a 1Gbps connection is considered too much by a number of experts, it can be used as a standard for broadband providers willing to offer consumers the best speed available in the market.

The speed of the free broadband service offered by Google comes after the Federal Communications Commission indicated that true broadband should have speeds of at least 25Mbps. The average speed of 10Mbps is not considered broadband by the FCC.

With a 1Gb connection offered by the Google Fiber broadband service, users can download a high-definition video within two minutes. It also allows the simultaneous streaming of five high-definition videos without buffering while leaving enough bandwidth for internet browsing and email. One of the main objectives of the Obama administration is ensuring all Americans are online. Internet access is considered as one of the ways in enhancing the education of school-age children and offer opportunities to job-seekers, who are currently accessing the internet to get employment.

Posted by George Daniels on Wednesday February 03 2016, 10:30 PM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Technology. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0