Within its fiberhoods, Google rules the roost

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Survey results from Bernstein Research, a Wall Street research firm, suggest Google Fiber is snaring much of the customer base in the growing number of neighborhoods where it sells TV and Internet hookups.

Bernstein Research said its door-to-door survey of 350 homes found most of those new customers buy Google’s light-speed service -- paying $70 a month for more download and upload speed than they know what to do with. That may reflect the particularly broadband-hungry corners of the market surveyed by Bernstein -- some of Google’s most eager customers -- and their desire to take the 1-gigabit-per-second Internet service for a spin.

In some parts of Kansas City, Google Fiber sells Internet hook-ups to four of five homes that its network passes, Bernstein found. Bernstein’s report says wealthier neighborhoods subscribe to Google Fiber at far higher rates than poorer areas.

The research firm estimated Google will capture the business of half or more of the homes in qualified fiberhoods in three to four years. A Google spokeswoman said the company has no plans now to return to neighborhoods where it’s already completed installations.


Within its fiberhoods, Google rules the roost