Tech giant Google announced that its free Internet service will be pulled out of Kansas City, the first city to receive the company's ultra-fast Internet service called Google Fiber.
Google's parent company Alphabet first launched Google Fiber in Kansas City back in 2012. At that time, interested customers have a few subscription options. They can choose to pay $70 per month for the one gigabit Internet connection or $130 for Internet and TV. However, there is a third option where they can opt in for half-speed of the gigabyte Internet and forego their monthly Internet service fee completely.
As part of the new policy, Google will start to charge $50 for the most basic package of Google Fiber in Kansas City. On the other hand, reports claim that about 100 low-income households that received free Google Fiber access recently will not be affected by the recent changes in pricing policy, according to Fortune.
The change in pricing policy will only affect new customers. Google said that existing customers can still keep their free monthly Internet until the expiration of their seven-year agreements. After the contract expires, the $50 charge will kick in if the customer wants to keep their Internet connection.
According to Slash Gear, the free Internet version of Google Fiber had a speed of only 5Mbps while the new $50 price option offers 100 Mbps speeds.
Compared to typical home broadband connection, Google Fiber is about two to five times faster in terms of download and upload speeds. This ultra-fast Internet connection, which is only available in selected cities, have sparked a serious competition. In Kansas City, AT&T and Time Warner were forced to increase their Internet connection speeds and cut off their prices in order to make their services compete with the one offered by Google.
Aside from Kansas City, Google Fiber has since expanded to three cities: Atlanta, Austin and Provo. Google said that the recent price change will not affect customers in the three mentioned cities, provided that subscribers have already paid the $300 installation fee.
As part of the company's expansion program for Google Fiber, seven more cities around United States are slated to get the ultra-fast one gigabit Internet connection.