It’s been a little over a year since Google announced it would be bringing its new high-speed internet delivery system, Google Fiber, to Kansas City. However it may be a little bit longer before the first houses in Kansas City get hooked in to the revolutionary fiber optic network. In late July, Google announced a six week pre-registration period, where Kansas City residents could log on to the project’s website and essentially “sign-up” for the service, to give the company an idea of interest among various neighborhoods.
Google explained the reason behind the pre-registration on the project blog, stating that “when we asked people what they value in their Internet service, the majority of them simply said, “choice.” So we listened. Kansas Citians will choose where we install and when.”
Google announced in early August it had settled “tentative agreements” to bring it’s service to Westwood, Westwood Hills and Mission Woods. These are the first cities Google has planned to hook up since it first announced its plan to come to Kansas City. Spokesperson for the tech giant Kevin Lo told the Kansas City Star that Google has plans for three new “fiberhoods” in the future.
However the absence of Prairie Village from that list has caused somewhat of a stir among the community. Organizer Mark Logan started a petition to bring fiber to Prairie VIllage in addition to encouraging residents to pre-register online. The Prairie Village Post reported that at a meeting between the Prairie Village City Council and Google staff, that fiber can raise the average price of a home $3,000-$5,000.
Google however has said that Prairie Village is not in any of it’s current plans for implementation, which they said will begin sometime this Fall.
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