Enlarge (credit: Google)

In October, Google Fiber announced a ridiculously fast new tier of its Internet service: 20Gbps symmetrical. While that’s 1,000 times faster than what some Internet providers offer (especially going by upload speeds), what we didn’t know was the cost. A new blog post reveals who can get this new service, and they’ll be paying $250 a month for it.

Google says, “We’re starting in Kansas City, North Carolina’s Triangle Region, Arizona, and Iowa.” (Google tells me the “Triangle Region” means Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill). Google Fiber is built on Nokia’s upgradable “Quillion” Fiber platform, and upgrading to the new 25G PON (passive optical network) technology allows it to push more data over existing fiber lines. Once it does more upgrades, Google says it can bring 20-gig service to more cities. Back in October, Google Fiber’s head of product, Nick Saporito, told Fierce Telecom that the plan is to bring 20-gig service to “in most, if not all, of our markets.”

20-gig will slot in as a new pricing tier at $250 a month, and other fiber pricing will stay the same. That means $70 for 1 gig, $100 for 2 gig, $125 for 5 gig, and $150 for 8 gig; 20-gig installations will start in Q1 of 2024.

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