You may have heard the recent news that Louisville, KY has been selected as the latest market for the rollout of Google Fiber, a high-speed internet provider to rival Spectrum/Time Warner Cable and AT&T as the big players in the local area. But, what does Google Fiber mean for Louisville? A few things…
First of all, Google is without a doubt a huge name in the internet space, but with its new ties to Louisville, local internet providers now have a level of competition they’ve not faced in our city. Lucky for us, competiton from other players in the industry should result in both lower pricing and better quality service overall. Why? Options. No longer will a customer be faced with feeling as if they need to stay with their current provider even after a poor experience. With nowhere to turn, many customers may have felt “stuck” with their provider, but now that can change. Broadband companies in the area will now feel the pressure of providing high quality service and products or watch their customer base decline as they jump ship to a competitor in the space. Although Google Fiber is being installed in Louisville, greater Louisville and even Lexington may benefit from competition driving prices and quality lower.
Being in the business, we know how much the services and products these companies charge actually cost to implement and service. A lot of what we come to expect from our local internet providers comes from a lack of challenge or significant threat to their business model.
Google Fiber should certainly be seen as a threat. Their business model is completely different than most internet providers. Why? Because the Google model hasn’t been perverted yet in this space. It’s fresh. It’s different, and for all the right reasons.
Google understands that their stake in this is to drive as many people on the internet using their services as possible, so in turn they will do this as cheaply as they can because they make their money on ads, when people search Google, etc. Their main interest is connecting as many people as they can so that their advertising is worth more money. It’s mutually beneficial, because while a user surfing the web may or may not care about the ads side of things, they are still benefitting from being on the internet using a good quality service.
This is only the beginning. Many believe that the internet is the foundation, the backend, the infrastructure for which everything will be built on moving forward. We’re already seeing that the way people are consuming data and entertainment is moving more and more toward phones, computers, and televisions connected to the internet rather than televisions connected to a cable box.
If Google can position ‘Fiber’ as the physical infrastructure for the future of data and entertainment consumption, using best-in-class technology to provide great service for its customers, it is sure to be a huge success, locally and beyond.
In summary, with Google Fiber coming to Louisville, you can expect more transparency from your provider, faster speeds, higher quality service (even if you choose to stick with your current provider) all because Google has set the bar so high in the competitive space.
