The two ISPs have announced some changes in the city where Google started to expand Fiber

Aug 2, 2014 20:20 GMT  ·  By

Guess who’s afraid of Google this week? If you said "Comcast" and "Time Warner" you’re spot on.

The Kansas City Star reports that the two telcos that are looking to merge have decided to improve their broadband speeds in Kansas City where, by pure coincidence, Google first rolled out its super speedy Google Fiber.

Since telcos such as these two have so far done their best not to step on each other’s toes, basically splitting the country so people often found themselves lacking an alternative when they wanted to change service providers, Google’s entrance in the territory shook things up.

That’s because Google doesn’t really care about the power games played by these companies and minds its own business, choosing to provide good quality services rather than divide territories so they’d have monopoly.

Either way, it’s long been known that Google is a thorn in Comcast’s side. In fact, during the hearings regarding the desired merger between Comcast and Time Warner, the former has tried to justify the action by saying they now have to compete with the likes of Google, which is coming strong into the market.

The reality is, of course, quite different. Google Fiber is only present in three cities and they’re barely expanding because the infrastructure needs time to build.

Even so, Google does indeed offer better services to users in these cities, and at the same prices that its competitors offer much weaker data packages. The Internet giant doesn’t necessarily seek to become a huge player in the ISP business, but rather to light the fuse to the changes that need to be made in the industry, to prove to customers that better speeds can be offered for a lot less money.

And Google’s plan is obviously paying off, because the two competing companies have decided to improve their service.

Comcast customers who pay for speeds of 25 megabits per second will get up to 50 megabits, while those paying for 50 megabits will get up to 105 megabits. Also, subscribers to plans of 105 megabits per second will get up to 150 megabits without paying a dime more.

The changes will come into effect in the coming weeks for customers in Kansas City. Those who want to take advantage of the speedier Internet connections immediately can restart their modems, the companies said.

Similar changes have previously been made by Comcast in other states.