Citing the Google connectivity effort underway so far having laid 6,000 miles of Fiberoptic cable in the Kansas City metro area, the search engine is opening up the signup process to residents in south Kansas City, Kansas City, north, Grandview, Raytown and Gladstone. Should enough residents in each of those areas sign up for the service and pay a $10 registration fee, Google will extend the fiber connection to that network.
In an official Google Fiber blog post on the matter, Google has divided up the areas that are eligible for fiber into “Fiberhoods.” A certain number of homes and businesses need to pre-register for Google to consider the effort worthwhile and extend into that network. The counter is updated as users sign up, and if the quota is met, Google’s goal is to “aim to bring you Google Fiber by the end of this year.”
However, if the goal is not met, then the search engine “can’t commit to bringing Fiber to your area.” Google is attempting to encourage neighborhood evangelism of the pre-order by encouraging enthusiasts to “help rally your neighbors to sign-up” and providing information and templates to do so on the blog.
Three deadlines have been noted for the pre-registration. Users in 73 fiberhoods in south KCMO, Grandview & Raytown have until April 10. May 15 is the end of pre-registration in 33 fiberhoods in KCMO northwest, with another 52 fiberhoods also in KCMO northwest and in Gladstone seeing the end on June 19. Google is also extending until June 19 the offer to 21 fiberhoods that didn’t pass muster in the area the first time around.
