Last month, Google announced its Google Fiber initiative promising 1 gigabit of Internet speed for $70 a month and throwing in dozens of high-definition television channels for another $50 a month. The announcement was greeted with equal parts enthusiasm and skepticism.
The news elicited a lot of excitement and envy from geeks outside of Kansas City, where Google (GOOG) had chosen to do a pilot run of the project. Not only would Google waive the $300 installation fee for early subscribers, it would give them online access that's 50 times faster than the 2-megabits-per-second access most Americans have lived with for much of the past decade.
But that wasn't all. Google Fiber also offered the ability to record eight TV programs at a time. And to download a single high-def movie in seven seconds (versus 22 minutes for a 5mbps connection). And a free Nexus 7 tablet as a remote control. And a free terabyte of data storage on Google Drive. And, on top of all this, no data caps.
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