Although Google has been looking into deploying wireless technology for future Google Fiber cities, at least one metro area made the cut to get in with the same wired gigabit connection that Google Fiber started with. Sharing a state with Provo, the first Fiber city, the entire Salt Lake City metropolitan area in Utah goes live as of Wednesday. After being chosen all the way back in March of 2015 and having to wait while Google’s workers flitted about the city laying down the necessary hardware, Salt Lake City residents finally have a live fiber optic network in most of the city, and are able to sign up right now on Google’s official Fiber website.
On the web, Google took to Twitter to spread the good news. Fiber lead Scott Tenney, however, was on site at Google’s Fiber Center in Salt Lake to let the crowd know that they were live and ready to go. According to Tenney, the service area at the moment covers 112 blocks near the center of the city, with further expansion said to be coming in the next few months. As more areas of the city are lit up, the west side will be first on the list, but Tenney was noted as saying that the full rollout would happen over the course of “months, not years.”
Residents in the current service area, as well as businesses, can take advantage of the standard range of Fiber plans on offer everywhere else that the service has touched down. For residents, the standard gigabit internet package is available for $70 per month, while a cheaper plan will get you 100 megabit speeds for $50, and a plan that adds on 220 channels of HD television to the gigabit plan can be had for $140 per month. Small business plans range from $70 to $250 a month, while larger arrangements will have to be worked out on an individual basis. The rollout in Salt Lake City marks Google’s seventh foray into a major metro district with Fiber, and quite possibly the last such venture to use traditional wired connections. The service is also available in Provo, Atlanta, Nashville, Chattanooga, Kansas City, and Austin. For residents and businesses in the currently available service area, signups are open until October 20.