People living in the "fibrehood" area of Hanover Heights are among the first to use the service. They are reporting speeds of about 700Mbps (megabits per second). The product poses a challenge to established cable companies which typically charge more money with slower connections.
Google says it hopes its package will persuade people to spend longer on the web and try out new services. However, it will need to convince consumers that they would benefit from access to such fast speeds. In a blog post, Google Fiber’s director of service delivery Alana Karen promised a "great service" for residents in Kansas City – which straddles the border between the states of Kansas and Missouri.
Google is able to make the foray into broadband installation because it has been buying up so-called dark fibre from telecoms firms in the US in order to link up its data centres which are dotted around the US.