The speeds that Google is looking to provide to the end user are over 1 gigabit per second, or in rough terms is approximately 100 times faster than what users typically see today.  Think about that for a second – 100 times!  The driving force behind such a push are varied but as PC World put it,

“From a user perspective, satisfaction with Internet connection speed is relative. Long after DSL and cable broadband were available, many users were still happily dialing in with 56k modems. Happy, that is, until they visited a friend or relative with broadband and saw what was possible.

Business customers may be perfectly satisfied with current mid-range offerings from Comcast and AT&T. Broadband speeds of 6 Mbps, or 12 Mbps are just fine for many business purposes. However, needs change and technology evolves. Businesses that need to transfer large files or perform real-time video streaming might be frustrated with speeds twice that fast.”

The takeaway it would seem is that next generation applications potentially have greater appeal to be built and adopted by businesses and consumers with an increased amount of bandwidth if available to the end user.  Additionally, you don’t know what you’re missing and what’s possible until you have literally no restrictions on the speed of the data communications.  This starts to make even more sense as Google is trying to elevate their cloud-based computer offerings to the general public and businesses meaning services that you run currently ON your computer could be hosted on the cloud.  Google recently announced their Chrome Operating System that will rely more on applications that are hosted on servers rather than use the processing power and hard drive of your computer today.  Google may have their eyes on pushing those services and potentially have a need to develop faster speeds and shove their competitors to do the same.

Regardless, you should keep your eyes peeled on what’s happening regarding Google’s broadband initiative, if you’re interested in getting your community involved or learning more, go here to sign up.

Recently, Google itself rolled out the Nexus One (a carrier agnostic phone) which looks to be a strong competitor in the smartphone race.  In monitoring early customer support issues, the Google Help Forums have been “lit up” with several complaints and a plethora of issues.  Everything from order problems to dropping calls.

Of special note is the cancellation penalty.  According to Google’s  terms of service, they make it clear that “you agree to pay Google an equipment subsidy recovery fee (the ‘Equipment Recovery Fee’) equal to the difference between the full price of the Nexus handheld device without service plan and the price you paid for the Nexus handheld device if you cancel your wireless plan prior to 120 days of continuous wireless service.”

Essentially, the Equipment Recovery Fee will run customers in the United States $350  who opt to choose T-Mobile’s subsidized plan.  Google will charge it to the credit card used during the device purchase. So to clarify, your lower cost to purchase the Nexus One is subsidized by T-Mobile, because they look to recover their costs over a two-year commitment you are penalized for breaking that contract, nothing unusual here, but the fees are getting higher.

Here is where it gets a bit interesting.  Google further specifies “the Equipment Recovery Fee is imposed by Google and not your chosen carrier and is in addition to any early termination fees that may be charged by your chosen carrier in connection with termination of your wireless plan prior to fulfillment of your chosen carrier’s service agreement term.” It also stresses that this fee is not a “penalty.”, semantics Google, we’ll call it a penalty here.

Take a look again at T-Mobile’s  terms and conditions and you’ll clearly see that you’ll be paying a hefty second fee if you cancel within those first four months.

THE EARLY TERMINATION FEE IS: $200 IF YOU TERMINATE WITH MORE THAN 180 DAYS REMAINING ON YOUR TERM; $100 IF YOU TERMINATE WITH 91 TO 180 DAYS REMAINING ON YOUR TERM; $50 IF YOU TERMINATE WITH 31 TO 91 DAYS REMAINING ON YOUR TERM; AND THE LESSER OF $50 OR YOUR MONTHLY RECURRING CHARGES (including any applicable taxes and fees) IF YOU TERMINATE IN THE LAST 30 DAYS OF YOUR TERM. The Early Termination Fee is part of our rates and is not a penalty.

Here is the bottom line if you decide to opt for T-Mobile’s subsidized plan:

1.  Canceling the contract in the first four months leads to $550 in charges (this is IN ADDITION to the $179 you already paid for the phone)

2.  After four months, only the T-Mobile fee applies

According to Ars Technica who did a little investigation “Paying fees to Google and to T-Mobile, fees that far exceed the device subsidy, seems rather odd, so we checked in with Google for comment. A spokesperson tells Ars that recouping the full subsidy is ‘standard practice for third-party resellers of T-Mobile and other operators, and you will find similar policies for other mobile service resellers.’ As for T-Mobile’s decision to levy another $200 on top of the subsidy, we would have to consult them. (Which we did; we received no response.)”

Beware if you’re looking at this phone or ANY phone, there are some big problems and issues with newer phones nowaday, cancellation fees are getting higher so don’t walk into your contracts blindly, it pays to read the fine print.

AT&T has been accused of being at the bottom of the reason that application has been denied availability from Apple iPhone, and in return AT&T has given Google a “shot across the bow” by accusing the Google Voice application to not be allowed to call certain rural areas, conference calling services, and “chat lines” (the reason being is that carriers pay rural telecom companies a higher revenue amount by terminating calls on their network – more on this at a later date).  Their claim is that Google should operate in the same manner as they have to (read: they have to do this, why shouldn’t Google?).  However, Google’s claim is that they only offer certain services and shouldn’t be regulated as a wireless company.

The end result is uncertain, but what I can say is that Google is making some inroads.  Last Tuesday Verizon announced that Google Voice application would be supported and even AT&T indicated, without mentioning Google to allow iPhone users to utilize VoIP applications on the AT&T 3G network.

The times they are a-changing.  What the end result allows for will have to be seen, what we know for sure is that you can be certain your bills will be effected, up or down – stay tuned.