Google Fiber is a fiber-optic network with a connection speed that is 100 times faster than America’s average (1000 Mb per second). It’s Google’s foray into the world of Internet Service Providers (ISP), and should have a dramatic impact on
our activities online.
Currently, Fiber is being rolled out (though slowly) in Kansas City, where a few neighborhoods have become ‘fiber-hoods.’ Google is speeding things up, connecting more neighborhoods this year. The installation process is lengthy and complex (see their official video); you need to pre-register and then wait until enough people in your area want to try it as well.
As well as this, Google is “100% focused on Kansas City right now,” so if you’re hoping to get Fiber where you are, you’ll have a long wait. Your best bet for faster internet is checking out this networking guide to improve your connection speed.
What’s it got to do with TV?
Google’s plans to transform the web also extend to your TV consumption. Along with their gigabit internet connection, they’ve introduced Google Fiber TV, which allows users to easily watch video from lots of different sources (such as hundreds of channels of programming, video on demand, online streaming and DVR and personal recordings), and this, they’re saying, is going to drastically change the way in which we watch our favorite shows.
Is it any good?
Google thinks that by offering advanced DVR functionality (allowing users to record up to eight TV programs at once) and enhanced interactive search capabilities (so that you can stream content from third party services like Netflix), all in the extremely high quality HD allowed by the speed of their connection, we’ll all come flocking from our current TV providers.
But will we? Google has yet to sign up all of the big names in cable programming, and are missing HBO, AMC and Fox News. Their ‘Holy Grail’ of TV navigational systems allows you to search what you want to watch, so they can show you every place it’s playing, making your program accessible through one, easy to use interface.
What about the future?
DVR has already revolutionized the way we watch TV, kinds of programs we get, the networks that carry them, the ads that pay for it all. Even old fashioned Electronic Program Guides had network execs panicking, as we no longer had to endure anything we didn’t want to. Fox, CBS and NBC all sued Dish Network over their AutoHop ad-skipping service.
So surely, Google Fiber TV is bound to go even further towards ‘empowering the couch potato.’ Throw mobile devices into the mix and we’re entering a whole new world of viewer controlled programming, watching whatever, whenever and wherever you want.
So what does it all mean? Less direct advertising? Shows being sponsored? More product placement? The TV and advertising industries have proven themselves time and time again to be innovative when confronted with a challenge. I for one can’t wait to see what they come up with this time.