Yes, Google's ultra-high-speed internet service may finally be scaring the big internet providers into action. Following Google's announcement that it will expand into Austin, Texas, AT&T announced it will offer fiber internet in the city, and Time Warner Cable announced it would offer citywide wireless internet service.
But smaller companies are also trying to head off Google before the company even makes an announcement in their communities. This week, for example, the Lawrence, Kansas-based internet provider Wicked Broadband began taking pre-orders for a residential fiber internet service with speeds to rival Google Fiber's. A gigabit connection will cost $100 a month.
Lawrence, home of the University of Kansas, is just 40 miles away from Kansas City, the first city to have Google Fiber service, and 30 miles from Olathe, the second city that Google announced will eventually receive service.
"Google is right next door. They might not build Olathe for several years, but they've cut things off for anyone else coming in," says Wicked Broadband co-founder Joshua Montgomery. "If you're a small ISP in Olathe, you're not going to get anywhere building a new service."
That motivated Wicked to up the ante on its existing fiber service, which is only available in a handful of locations so far, such as the off campus sorority and fraternity houses.
"If Google calls the local paper and says 'We're coming to Lawrence,' the banks' doors would be closed to us, even if Google doesn't come for five years," says Montgomery.
Montgomery and his wife founded Wicked Broadband, originally called Lawrence Freenet, in 2005. The company started out as a wireless internet provider with a single access point from a DSL line. It gradually expanded to 700 access points when it began straining its bandwidth capabilities. That's when the company realized it needed to tap into the city's fiber infrastructure.
Now Wicked is working on bridging the gap between the city's underground fiber pipe and the city's homes -- the so-called "last mile" connections. The company is using traditional financing to build this business in a single neighborhood, and then use the demand from this offering to raise money to build a larger infrastructure. Eventually Montgomery says he hopes the company can lay new pipe in the city.
And what if Google Fiber does eventually come to Lawrence? Montgomery says that Wicked is actually running four fibers into each house, while most service providers will only run one. "The cost of running extra fibers is negligible," he says. The company is only using two for its service, so it will be able to lease the other two to other companies, such as Google.
Wicked will also continue to offer wireless service, he says, including a free network that enables users to access public resources such as the city's website, and free service to low income families.
It demonstrates the role that small providers can have in bringing faster and more affordable internet connections to cities across the U.S. While incumbent providers are reaping enormous profits from existing services, municipal networks like those in Lafayette, Louisiana and Chattanooga, Tennessee and startups like Wicked Broadband and Gigabit Squared are picking up the slack.
