Google's high-speed fiber optic Internet service is set to make its way to 18 cities across four metro areas.
Google Fiber which brings 1GB per second of broadband network will be coming to Charlotte, Atlanta, Nashville and Raleigh-Durham. The company has confirmed the roll out for metro areas in the south-eastern part of the U.S. as part of its expansion project.
Previously, we reported that Raleigh-Durham in North Carolina was next in line for the roll out and the Google announcement confirms the same.
"We're happy to announce that Google Fiber is coming to 18 cities across four new metro areas: Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, and Raleigh-Durham," said Dennis Kish, Vice President, Google Fiber. "We can't wait to see what people and businesses across the Southeast U.S. do with gigabit speeds."
This news brings the tally of metro areas with Google Fiber to seven. The service is already live in Kansas City, Provo and Austin. Moreover, Google also intends to expand the service to five additional metro areas and is exploring the same. These prospective metro areas are San Jose, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Portland and San Antonio. The company did not give an estimated timeline for the same but revealed it will give an update on Google Fiber roll out in these regions by end 2015.
The names of the 18 cities that will benefit from Google Fiber have not been divulged by the company yet. However, per ArsTechina, the new cities slated to benefit from Google Fiber are Brookhaven, Atlanta, College Park, Hapeville, Decatur, Avondale Estates, Garner, Charlotte, Durham, Carrboro, Sandy Springs, Chapel Hill, Morrisville, Raleigh, East Point, Smyrna, Cary and Nashville-Davidson.
Presently, Google Fiber offers a basic speed of 5Mbps free of charge. However, the customers are required to give money for the construction cost i.e. $300. Alternately, customers can choose the 1 gigabit/sec service that is priced at $70 per month.
Google has not given the exact time window by when the roll out will be executed, but said that it needs to work in tandem with officials from each city on the network design in detail over the ensuing months. Only post this can the company start the construction.
