Google experimenting with Fiber/wireless hybrid service to extend reach beyond cities

We heard earlier this month that Google was planning to offer Fiber customers the option of a wireless service within its existing coverage areas, but a Re/code interview suggests that the company also sees wireless as a way to extend its reach beyond cities.

In an interview with Re/code, Access CEO Craig Barratt, who oversees Fiber, said the company is working on connecting wireless towers to existing fiber lines, and that it is “experimenting with a number of different wireless technologies” to make that happen.

Barratt said that adding wireless into the mix was a way to extend Google’s high-speed broadband service to areas where laying down optical fiber wouldn’t be economic …

One of the things that is intriguing about wireless is that it allows you reach houses and users that are in lower density settings — where fiber becomes too expensive. So providing fixed wireless services using some of the technologies we think are ways of accelerating our deployments.

The divisional CEO wouldn’t be drawn on the specifics of the company’s expansion plans, but did say that Google viewed it as ‘a real strong business.’ So if you live outside a major city and were resigning yourself to the idea that you’d have to continue to live with slower connections, there may yet be hope.

Google recently began offering existing Fiber customers the option of a phone service, offering unlimited nationwide calling for just $10/month. It’s not all good news, though: part of transforming Fiber into a serious business has meant an end to the free basic tier previously offered in Kansas City.

Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg