Google Inc (GOOG), Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ): The High-Speed Internet Revolution Is Coming

But you don’t have to be big or connected to a major college, in order to make gigabit services work. Privately held Vermont Telephone offers gigabit speeds for as little as $30 a month to its minuscule market of 17,500 customers. That’s mostly in rural areas, no less.

And that’s not all. Skip across the border to Vancouver, Canada, and you’ll find a city with two competing gigabit services. Competition for affordable gigabit broadband? Perish the thought!

Image source: OneGigabit.

In Vancouver, it’s an upstart called OneGigabit going head to head with Canadian giant Shaw Communications Inc (USA) (NYSE:SJR). Shaw Communications Inc (USA) (NYSE:SJR) offers gigabit speeds to “pockets” of Vancouver. OneGigabit focuses on condos and apartment buildings, where the cost of installing infrastructure once to multiple customers makes more sense. This service will be cheaper than Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s.

So there’s a vibrant trend of small-scale gigabit services popping up. And the big boys are taking notice.

Image source: Wikipedia.

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) never meant to become America’s preferred Internet service provider. Google Fiber is doing its job by encouraging upstarts to charge into the wide open high-speed space, and by pressuring the incumbents to raise speeds while lowering prices. With any luck, the effects will spread across the nation and lead to stronger competition.

Telecoms and cable guys may have to accept lower profit margins on their lucrative Internet packages when all is said and done. The obvious winner here is the consumer, and then Google reaps the rewards of more ad clicks.

The article The High-Speed Internet Revolution Is Coming originally appeared on Fool.com is written by Anders Bylund.

Fool contributor Anders Bylund owns shares of Google, but he holds no other position in any company mentioned. Check out Anders’ bio and holdings or follow him on Twitter and Google+. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Google.

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