Google Fiber for businesses now comes in three flavors with a higher cost

Google Fiber said Tuesday in a blog post that it is raising rates for its business customers. The plan does not change rates or options for residential customers.

The company has been selling one-gigabit-per-second internet hookups to businesses for $100 a month for almost two years. That’s more than the $70 to $80 it charges residential customers. Google Fiber has said it charges businesses higher rates because they typically move far more data on their lines than most home customers.

Now Google will charge $250 to business customers for that same speed and will offer connections that move at one-fourth the speed for $100 a month and one-tenth the capacity, or 100 megabits per second, for $70 a month.

The plans do not have caps on the total amount of data moved over the network, just the speed of uploads and downloads.

Businesses that have been buying internet service from Google Fiber under its Early Access program can freeze their rates — both speed and cost — for another year. But after July 21, 2017, they will have to choose from one of the three new options.

Companies that have signed up for Google Fiber’s business service but have not yet been connected will get the old, cheaper rate for the first year after their connections are installed.

Google Fiber characterized the new rate structure as better tailored to businesses of different sizes with different needs for speed.

“We know that businesses come in different shapes and sizes. They have varying needs and would like the flexibility to choose a plan that best fits their needs,” the company said on its blog.

The company has added to the plan, allowing businesses up to 13 static IP address. Static IP addresses — a consistent set of numbers identifying a computer on the internet — are valuable to businesses that operate their own websites or corresponding email addresses.

Google Fiber said eligible businesses still have the rest of July to sign up for the old plan. The new options, and their higher prices, kick in at the start of August.

In a news release, the internet seller said the initial program, with its lower price, was an “effort to provide a superfast Internet service to small businesses while learning more about their needs. Longer term, we wanted to offer a range of internet plans, still fast and still affordable, that meet the needs of different kinds of businesses.”

Google Fiber launched home service in the Kansas City market in late 2012. It started its service to businesses in November 2014.

This story was originally published July 12, 2016 at 12:23 PM with the headline "Google Fiber for businesses now comes in three flavors with a higher cost."