When introducing ourselves and explaining that we provide fiber internet service, people often ask if we deliver Google Fiber. To answer this question is somewhat complicated, and amusingly the explanation reminds me of a classic country song. So, before I tell you which song, let me give you the back story.
In 2010, Google made a big splash by announcing that it would select one American city and overbuild it with a fiber internet network with speeds up to 1 Gigabit per second. With extraordinary marketing efforts and fanfare, Google was able to educate Americans on the need for broadband speed and the importance of a future-proof and scalable network that only fiber-optics can deliver to-date. The competition to be the first Google Fiber Community was stiff at 1,100 applications. To gain favorable attention, Topeka, KS, changed its name to Google, KS, for the entire month of March that year. Alas, in 2011, Google selected Kansas City, KS, as its winner, and installed its first customers in November 2012.
Two & half years before Google’s first installed customer, Rainbow overbuilt its entire copper network of 837 miles—running fiber-optic cable not just to the customer’s neighborhood or curb but rather to the doors of seventeen hundred of our fine rural KS folks with 1-gigabit per second capability.
In the 2010 FCC’s Broadband Performance report, the average actual speed consumers received was approximately 4 megabits per second to give you some perspective. In relation, our 1-gigabit speed availability was over 212 times faster than the average American’s connectivity.
Now back to the future on why fiber-optic broadband networks are superior.
- Download Speed: Now 10x greater capacity than a 1 Gig connection with 10 Gigabit per second capability.
- Upload Speed: Faster upload speeds, which means you can work from home and share files without worry. Symmetrical speed availability is a game-changer for schools with remote learning opportunities and hospitals for telemedicine programs.
- Reliability: Fiber optics can handle more users and more data consistently at higher speeds—no more TV streaming interruptions from peak traffic overloading like on cable wires.
- Higher Quality TV: Thinking of buying a 4K TV? With 4x the pixels, 4K TVs suck more bandwidth than a typical high-definition TV. For the crisp 4K picture, a 1 Gigabit per second fiber connection will have no problem with your family streaming four 4K TVs at one time.
- Better Gaming: For gamers, it’s not about the speed but instead the consistency of your broadband connection. No hiccups at the wrong moment with fiber internet, the smooth and constant flow of data means that your avatar will move just as smoothly.
Yes, we are Fiber. No, we are not Google.
Google brought light to the importance of quality broadband service with fiber optics. So, while Rainbow offered fast fiber internet before Google, Google made fiber-optic internet, well, cool.
So, when people ask do you deliver Google Fiber, the old country hit song by Barabara Mandrell comes to mind: I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool. Thank you, Google, for making fiber cool.
Visit our website at fiber.rainbowtel.net to learn more about fiber internet and to submit your interest in fiber to your home or business.
Jackie Petersen
Director of Products & Services
Rainbow
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