Google breaks fiber promises in Kansas City

Google broke its promise to deploy gigabit Internet and video service to the Kansas City metro area within agreed-upon timeframe, according to a report by local media outlet Kansas City Star. The report found that Google failed to deliver service to all of Mission Hills, Westwood, Westwood Hills and Kansas City.

“Google Fiber still hopes to be able to serve 100 percent of those service areas, but it was not able to do so within that initial five-year period,” said a company attorney.

The results of the report are not a surprise, but they do provide new details of Google’s fiber failure. Earlier this year, Google Fiber cancelled customer accounts in Kansas City, the company’s one-time flagship city, where they built a fancy office and hired “brand ambassadors.”

Google Fiber has said they will no longer be expanding service to new cities, but they did announce a technology architecture change. It’s still unclear whether the technology will work.

Links:

Google Fiber misses installation goal in Mission Hills, parts of KCK (Kansas City Star, Sept. 22, 2017)

Google Fiber cancels customer accounts in flagship Kansas City (Speed Matters, Mar. 23, 2017)

Is Google Fiber back from the dead? (Speed Matters, Aug. 18, 2017)