What just happened? In a recent field test conducted jointly with Nokia, Google’s experimental fiber broadband arm GFiber Labs achieved a mind-boggling 41.89 gigabits per second download speed on a live Google Fiber network in Kansas City.
This marks the first time Nokia’s cutting-edge 50G PON (Passive Optical Network) technology has run on an actual Google-owned fiber system rather than just a controlled lab environment. It’s also one of the only known instances of consumer 50 Gigabit internet being tested on a real-world network anywhere in the United States so far.
Of course, 50 Gig capabilities are still overkill for the average user, but Google says pushing the boundaries of multi-gigabit bandwidth is crucial to future-proofing its fiber optic infrastructure. As streaming resolutions increase, virtual/augmented reality goes mainstream, and artificial intelligence proliferates, these types of data-hungry applications will inevitably require vastly more capacity, it argues.
“Multigig is already the new norm. But to meet the challenge of this connected future, we are preparing to further densify our network so when bandwidth needs inevitably multiply, we’ll be ready,” the company noted in its blog.
The appeal of Nokia’s 50G PON tech isn’t just the speeds, but its ability to seamlessly integrate with existing fiber optic cables. Companies like Google Fiber can upgrade to 50 Gig without having to fully replace cabling – making the adoption considerably more cost-effective.
Of course, 50 Gig internet for the masses is still likely years away from commercialization. In the nearer term, Google Fiber plans to deploy Nokia’s 20G PON equipment across all its metro markets by late 2024, with an introductory 20 Gigabit symmetrical (20 Gbps down/20 Gbps up) speed tier available through an “Early Access” beta program in select areas.
There’s also room for improvement in that field test. While hitting 41.89 Gbps download is incredible, uploads ‘only’ reached 19.6 Gbps – a far cry from the full 50 Gig symmetry.
That said, Nokia and Google aren’t resting on their laurels. Looking ahead, Google said it was working to deploy Nokia’s 25G PON equipment across all of its markets by the end of the year, so that it could extend access to GFiber Labs’ 20 Gigabit internet plan to more areas.
At present, that 20 Gigabit speed tier runs a hefty $250/month and has only seen limited availability in a handful of Google Fiber metro areas like Kansas City, Arizona, and Iowa.