- San Antonio Digital Connects dedicated to increasing access to quality internet and digital skills
- San Antonio Food Bank’s Digital Inclusion programs
- Digital Inclusion Fellows at the San Antonio Public Library and Empower House.
- Digital equity bootcamps through the Institute for Local Self Reliance and the Digital Inclusion Alliance of San Antonio which empower other local organizations to take action
- And Latinitas workshops and afterschool programs to develop the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs
Author Archives: Google Fiber
The FCC’s "Broadband Consumer Labels” put customers in control, and that’s a good thing for ISPs
We’re living in the age of broadband internet — internet service providers (ISPs) are announcing major infrastructure investments, committing to fund significant network upgrades and building new high speed service in communities across the country. At the same time, the federal government is also investing unprecedented amounts to support the deployment of broadband in underserved areas. Given the ubiquity of the internet in our daily lives, these efforts are both long overdue and not enough to give customers what they really need from their ISP — yes, fast, reliable internet, but also a redefined customer experience that is both easy to navigate and to understand.
As part of its effort to improve broadband service nationwide — not just in terms of speed but also in terms of customer experience — the federal government is requiring all ISPs to provide broadband “nutrition labels” on their websites when purchasing service. The point of these labels is similar to the nutrition label on a cereal box (or any other food). They are designed to help consumers make clear comparisons between broadband plans based on key factors such as price and speed and to help them understand what they get for their money.
This type of transparency is a part of Google Fiber’s origin story. Google was built on the idea that information is powerful. And finding the information you need when you need it can change the game. In fact, doing this made the internet navigable — a digital world where information was readily and easily accessible to anyone online. Historically, easy and transparent are not words that many people would associate with ISPs, and that has to change. Nutrition labels are a start in the right direction for our industry.
Choice, and even more importantly, understanding that choice, benefits customers. Informed customers are happier customers. Since the very beginning, ISPs have played confusing games when it comes to price and speed. From that mysterious 13-month price bump to incurring extra fees for everything from equipment to data usage, it can be impossible to know what you are actually getting for your monthly payment (or even what that monthly payment will be).
That’s why GFiber has been fully supportive of the FCC’s broadband labels from the very beginning, and why we launched them early last October — six months ahead of this month’s deadline. These labels empower the consumer and set up a strong foundation for what will hopefully be an extremely long term & satisfying relationship for customers.
And that’s a big change. As an industry, when it comes to customer trust and satisfaction, we’re only beating gas stations. We have a lot of work to do. Internet access isn’t a luxury — it’s a basic need in a world where more and more of our lives are online. Helping customers understand what they are paying for, not only in terms of speed, but also the additional information on the broadband label, like additional charges for equipment rentals, installation fees and/or data caps, has the potential to change the ISP industry’s behavior radically. (Note: GFiber does not have these types of additional fees.) GFiber aspires to be a big part of that change — it’s what we’ve been working towards for the last twelve years and what we bring more places as we grow.
The FCC’s broadband labels put all the information out there, giving customers control so they can make the decision that works best for their households. Everything is on the table, so there’s nowhere for disingenuous tactics to hide.
As a country, we’re making a huge investment in our internet infrastructure. Initiatives like this one will help make sure that customers are getting a return on that investment, improving the overall customer experience and ensuring more transparency across the industry. And that’s a very, very good thing for all of us.
Posted by Dinni Jain, CEO
Source: Google Fiber Blog
Omaha – get the GFiber service of your choice!
Get ready, Nebraska! Beginning today, Google Fiber’s first customers in Omaha can sign up for the service of their choice. We’re starting in the Aksarben neighborhood — residents can choose 1 Gig, 2 Gig, 5 Gig or 8 Gig to meet their family’s internet needs.
And what better way to celebrate than with a little bit of BBQ (as a Kansas City native, we’re big on our barbecue). Thank you to Oklahoma Joe’s in Aksarben Village where we proved there was such a thing as a free lunch for the customers who came in today to learn more about GFiber. Omaha City Council Member Danny Begley, who represents the neighborhood, was on hand to mark the occasion and to welcome us to Omaha officially.
Whichever GFiber internet service new customers in Omaha select — 1 Gig for $70/month, 2 Gig for $100/month, 5 Gig for $125/month or 8 Gig for $150/month — they also get symmetrical uploads and downloads and equipment and installation included at no additional cost, along with no annual contracts and no data caps. We also offer GFiber for Business. Local businesses can choose between Business 2 Gig for $250/month or Business 1 Gig for $100/month.
GFiber is just getting started in Omaha. We recently started construction in Bellevue and Council Bluffs, and we’re hard at work to connect more of the city as quickly as possible. As new segments are completed in Omaha, we’ll offer service in those neighborhoods. To stay up to date our construction progress and service availability, sign up here.
Posted by Andy Simpson, Central Region General Manager
Source: Google Fiber Blog
Now, everything’s really up-to-date in Kansas City – 8 Gig available in all GFiber KC service areas
Source: Google Fiber Blog
Speed on Business-Trimming with Speed
Source: Google Fiber Blog
Get ready, Nashville: 5 Gig & 8 Gig are here
Source: Google Fiber Blog
GFiber coming to Missouri’s Capital
Source: Google Fiber Blog
Speaking out for Digital Inclusion at Net Inclusion Conference 2024
Source: Google Fiber Blog
Nevada is on the board
With this announcement, we have active projects underway in all five of the states we set our sights on back in August 2022. Clark County covers much of the Las Vegas metro area, and is just the first of GFiber’s projects in the area. We’re already working on engineering planning in Clark County, and construction will get underway towards the end of this year with the goal of serving our first customers by mid-2025.
If you are in the Las Vegas metro area and want to keep up with what’s happening in Clark County and beyond, you can sign up here for updates on construction and service availability. We’re betting big in Nevada.
Posted by Ashley Church, West Region General Manager
Source: Google Fiber Blog
KC Digital Drive – Digital Dignity and More Choices for Underserved Residents in Kansas City
Google Fiber partners with organizations working to make digital equity a reality in the communities we serve. KC Digital Drive was mobilized to combat the digital divide for underserved residents in Kansas City. Brynna Darley of KC Digital Drive shares the organization’s work towards the region’s digital transformation with an emphasis on digital choice and dignity, as well as support broadband connectivity and digital inclusion.
KC Digital Drive is an organization that focuses on civic engagement in digital inclusion and emerging technology. To do so, we offer several programs to help combat the digital divide in the bi-state Kansas City region. We leverage the talents and resources available to us in the surrounding community. Notably, the last two years of our collaboration with Google Fiber found us on the receiving end of 400 Chromecasts.
Wanting to make the best of this opportunity, Peter Smith, an AmeriCorps Vista member working with KC Digital Drive, got creative and developed a new educational workshop that illustrated the power of switching from cable TV to streaming services (like added flexibility and more money in your pocket each month). He developed a curriculum and connected with partner organizations to assess the demand for this new Cut the Cord (CTC) Workshop.
Each one-hour session focuses on:
Setting up and using Chromecast
Navigating the streaming landscape of free and paid services
Finding reliable home internet at speeds suitable for their streaming needs
Since introducing this curriculum in April of 2023, we’ve distributed more than 325 Chromecasts donated by GFiber, across 19 events with nine different partner organizations, including Phoenix Family, The Black Family Technology Awareness Association, and Jewish Family Services.
In October of last year, we integrated the workshops into our class schedule at the Digital Services and Support Center at the LAMP campus — a digital commons for training and support in Kansas City historic east side that serves low-income neighborhoods and residents.
One workshop attendee, Rodolfo ‘Rudy’ Mesa, is a perfect example of how transformative one device can be. Mesa is 82 years old, living in Kansas City but originally from Wyoming.
“Living on a fixed income, cable is a cost just like anything else, like a cellphone,” he said. He learned about our Cut the Cord workshops through outreach from our Digital Skills Trainer, Carol Meyers.
Mesa shared that being a nerdy type of guy, access to streaming content and entertainment with his new Chromecast allows him to explore interests of history, nature, civilization, different animals and people, and the planet and science.
We have been so pleased to see the demand for these workshops grow as our partners and community engage with options that boost equity and understanding of the technology and digital skills that fuel such a big part of daily life. We know that cable subscriptions can be expensive, and we are delighted to see these free devices help hundreds of households save money each month.
To learn more about Cut the Cord workshop and the digital inclusion ecosystem in Kansas City, subscribe to our Kansas City Regional Digital Inclusion Newsletter and visit us online at kcdigitaldrive.org.
Posted by Brynna Darley, State Digital Inclusion Coordinator
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