Google Fiber plots Provo 1 Gbps service plans

Three service packages, including one that offers ultra-high broadband Internet and TV, will be offered to Provo, Utah subscribers as Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Fiber pushes to connect its first customers before the end of the year.

The qualifier, of course, is that the fiber optic system must be made gigabit-ready, which, wrote Michael Slinger, director of business operations for Google Fiber in a corporate blog, is the first order of business.

"Secondly," he continued, "we're spending a lot of time talking with property managers and owners of large apartment buildings and condominiums" because "planning for and installing Google Fiber in these big buildings take a lot of time."

When all the groundwork is completed, eligible customers will be able to pick from three plans:

- Free Internet up to 5 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps up "for at least the next seven years."

- Gigabit Internet for $70 a month.

- And the aforementioned gigabit Internet and TV offer that includes an eight-channel recording capability and 500 hours of HD content storage for $120 a month.

Customers will be required to pay a $30 "construction fee" for every plan (likely a typo, as it's reported as $300 elsewhere on Google's site), including the free Internet (one that will be waived if subscribers sign up for a two-year term, according to a comment on FierceTelecom). Current subscribers to Provo's Veracity Networks service already running on the iProvo municipal network, will see no immediate changes, Slinger wrote.

"You can continue to use the service as you do today. later this year you'll have the option of becoming a Google Fiber customers and the option to sign up for any of the services listed above," he concluded.

For more:
- Google Fiber posted this blog item

Related articles:
Google Fiber announces 1 Gbps pricing plans for Provo market
Google Fiber has the makings of a national network, analysts say
Google Fiber goes to Utah on the cheap, buys iProvo for $1
Report: Google Fiber threat prompts Comcast to slash prices in Provo