In September, Google Fiber announced a ‘2 Gig’ tier, and it’s now widely available in Huntsville and Nashville. As part of this, a Wi-Fi 6 Google Fiber Multi-Gig Router is provided to customers.
In recent years, Google Fiber has moved to just offer a single “1 Gig” plan at $70. For $100 in those Tennessee and Alabama cities, new and existing customers can upgrade to “2 Gig” now.
It’s catered as being “ready for power users, the latest devices, and advanced smart homes that use lots of internet.” Google estimates that you can download a 2.5-hour 1080p movie in 28.5 seconds, while it takes a 4K film just 1.2 minutes. A 10GB game is rated at taking 42.2 seconds. The 2 Gig plan does not currently offer symmetrical uploads, which is at 1 gigabit per second.
As part of a set-up process that requires “professional installation,” customers have to use the “Google Fiber Multi-Gig Router.” Leveraging the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard, the ISP custom-developed it with an unspecified “technology partner.” It features 4×4 MU-MIMO 2.4 GHz and 4×4 MU-MIMO 5 GHz, as well as WPA3. The port accompaniment includes:
- 1-port 10G Ethernet port
- 4-port autosensing 10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet LAN switch
- Dual band IEEE 802.11ax (4×4)
- 1 FXS POTS port
- 1 USB 3.0 master port
It includes a “tri-band Mesh Extender extends Wi-Fi coverage and adds a second 5Ghz band.” This component is tall and triangular-shaped with the following connections:
- Two GigE LAN
- 2x 1-Gigabit Ethernet ports with LED
This device is notable as the 1 Gig plan just uses Google Wifi, while Fiber in the early days provided a custom “Network Box.”
Looking forward, testing in other locations — the ISP currently offers service in 19 — starts this fall, with a launch in “most” Google Fiber and Google Fiber Webpass cities early next year.
Author: Abner Li
Source: 9TO5Google
