In October, Google first announced it would start offering 20 Gbps internet speeds via its Google Fiber service. Today, the company announced that the new 20 Gbps plan is now available in select Google Fiber cities for the price of $250 a month.
In a blog post today, Google stated:
We’re starting in Kansas City, North Carolina’s Triangle Region, Arizona, and Iowa. As we continue to roll out Nokia’s 25G PON across our network, we’ll open up invitations in new areas, so make sure you’ve let us know if you are interested in being the one of the first to have this in your home. We expect installations to start in Q1.
Google previously stated that the service will be one of the first to use Nokia’s 25G PON (passive optical networks) technology. Google says that Nokia"s hardware can offer these higher fiber internet speeds without needing to upgrade the lines that are already in the ground in Google Fiber locations.
Along with the new 20 Gbps internet speed plan, Google Fiber will also offer one of the first Wi-Fi 7 routers for those customers. In a previous blog post, Google stated it worked with Actiontec to create a custom Wi-Fi 7 router for its 20 Gbps customers.
In a video demo, Google shows that its 20 Gbps plan, combined with the new Wi-Fi 7 router, will allow homes to access multiple multi-gig wireless speeds. With the router located in the basement of a home, a laptop was able to access over 5 Gbps in download speeds, while on the second floor of the same home, a smartphone was still able to connect to the router and get download speeds higher than 1.5 Gbps.
Google Fiber still offers its 1 Gbps service at $70 a month, and also offers higher speed plans of 2 Gbps at $100 a month) 5 Gbps at $125 a month and more recently 8 Gbps at $150 a month.
Update: We have corrected the post to show the correct 20 Gbps speeds. We apologize for the error.