Google Fiber has announced that its 2 Gbps “2 Gig” tier is now widely available in Nashville and Huntsville. The plan costs $100 a month, compared to $70 for the 1 Gbps, and includes a WiFi 6 Multi-Gig Router, tri-band Mesh Extender and professional installation.
Google Fiber said 2 Gig is “ready for power users, the latest devices, and advanced smart homes that use lots of internet.” The company said you can download a typical 4K film in just 1.2 minutes, or a 10GB game in 42.2 seconds. Even a heavy game like the 150GB Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 will only take about 11 minutes. Keep in mind that uploads only operate at 1Gbps, however.
The Multi-Gig router has one 10G Ethernet port, though Google hasn’t specified yet whether that’s a copper RJ45 or optical SFP+ connection. If it’s the latter, you’ll need a bunch of other hardware to connect your computer at 2 Gbps speeds. And again, few if any PCs support those speeds natively, so you’ll likely need an adapter. If a mere 1 Gbps is good enough, however, it also has a 4-port autosensing 10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet LAN switch. Other connections include an FXS POTS phone port and a USB 3.0 master port.
If you aren’t lucky enough to live in one of these two cities, there still might be hope for a speedy Google Fiber connection. Those interested in the service are invited to sign up for the Google Fiber Tester program for the potential opportunity to try out Google Fiber products and services before they launch.
