It’s not quite Google Fiber, but a wireless version of Google’s gigabit internet service is expanding to Denver.
Webpass, which Google Fiber acquired last summer, targets apartment complexes and other multi-unit buildings, including offices, with a hybrid-wireless service that can offer every tenant speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second. It plans to start construction next week to light up Larimer Place, a 168-unit condo building at 1551 Larimer St.
The service wirelessly beams broadband to roof-top antennas; cables provide internet access to each unit. Gigabit service for Larimer Place residents will be ready in 30 to 90 days, said Charles Barr, who founded Webpass in 2003.
“Denver is our first new city (post joining Google),” Barr said in an interview with The Denver Post. “Webpass’ goal is to expand as rapidly to as many cities as we possibly can. And Denver has a lot of advantages — a growing population, a lot of new construction, and it doesn’t have a lot of (broadband) competition.”
Getting fiber built to the home has been a slow and expensive process. CenturyLink began rolling out gigabit service to some Denver neighborhoods in 2015 and service is now available to a half-million homes here. Comcast also offers fiber-based internet, via Gigabit Pro, but since the service requires a professional installer, the cable provider is currently rolling out an alternative that relies on existing coaxial cable lines in customer homes.
The high cost of running fiber in neighborhoods was part of the reason Google Fiber decided in October to pause expansion. Denver never made it to the company’s “potential Fiber cities” list, though in March 2015 Google Fiber registered to do business in Colorado.
In recent years dozens of Colorado cities voted for the right to explore offering broadband to residents. Longmont became the poster city for municipal gigabit internet after launching its service in 2014. More recently, the city of Centennial began building its own fiber backbone for municipal uses but opened it up to private companies who want to connect residents to high-speed service. Canada’s Ting Internet and Morrison-based Neteo are exploring possibilities. And GigaMonster, a San Francisco firm, announced plans to sign up Denver-area apartment buildings to its gigabit service last year, although it hasn’t shared a recent update on that service.
While the major telecoms like CenturyLink have dominated fiber expansion — comprising 83 percent of fiber-to-home build between 2004 and 2013, according to the Fiber to the Home Council Americas (FTTH) — smaller companies and startups have made inroads, said Ellen Satterwhite, vice president of Glen Echo Group, which represents the organization for firms that offer video and internet over fiber-optic connections.
“But in the last three years, the large telcos only accounted for about 52 percent of the build while the ‘other 1000’ FTTH providers added 48 percent in aggregate,” she said. “And Google’s only one of those.”
Webpass uses technology that differs from existing Denver gigabit internet providers. Instead of relying on fiber, Webpass uses a fixed technology that wirelessly beams broadband from a data center to an antenna it places on top of a building.
The company then connects Internet to every unit in the building. Users directly plug into the Ethernet port in the wall of their home or use a home router. Regardless if the speed is 100 mbps or 1 gbps, Webpass charges a flat $60 per unit, taxes and fees included, so everyone in the building is on the same plan and everyone is upgraded when speeds improve.
When Google acquired Webpass, the service had “tens of thousands” of customers in five cities — San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago, Boston and Miami. The San Francisco company has since expanded in those areas. Denver is the first city outside of those metro areas where service will be added, Barr said.
“It’s a great city. It’s growing. It has a good tech community and it needs competition,” Barr said.
Webpass, which runs independently inside Google Fiber, targets buildings built after 1995 and with at least 10 units. There is no installation fee for residential customers but the only way Webpass can offer the service is if it has permission from building owners.
After the first Denver building on Larimer goes live, Webpass plans to have a sign-up page on its website. Buildings within a 3-mile radius of the data center have a better chance of quickly getting service installed. It’s also good to note that residents or businesses within 3 miles of the 1551 Larimer tower are within Webpass’ existing range and can pester their landlords to sign up for gigabit service.
For now, the company will expand building by building. Barr didn’t want to speculate when the service would be offered in other Colorado cities.
“It (Denver) won’t be our last,” he said.
