Google has decided to stop the free tier of its Fiber service that it was offering to Kansas City. The tier that was just dropped allowed customers to pay a one-time construction fee and from then on receive a free 5Mbps connection. New customers switching to Google Fiber will have to settle for a $50/month tier which gives customers 100Mbps.
Kansas City-based subscribers have been informed by Google that they can keep the free option until May 19. The tier will remain available to customers in Austin, Texas and Provo, Utah.
The free offering looks like it was just a limited time offer while the service was getting off the ground. Google doesn't plan to ever offer the tier in Atlanta and other new destinations. The tech giant also just partnered up with the US government to bring free Google Fiber to residents in public housing. That initiative is not affected by the removal of the free tier.
Google Fiber still offers its trademark 1Gbps connections, for which customers have to pay $70/month or $130/month (includes TV). Towards the end of March, Google also announced Fiber Phone, which costs $10/month and includes features such as caller ID, call forwarding, and voice mail.
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