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• Article first published as Google Fiber: What Will it Cost You? on Technorati.

Google announced last week that it would enter the Internet Service Provider market, competing with the likes of Time Warner and Verizon, in a bizarre fashion. Although it wasn’t exactly breaking news that Google had plans to become an ISP, called Google Fiber, the fact that it would be offering free Internet service was big news.

Yes; free Internet.

The most basic Google Fiber plan costs subscribers a one-time $300 construction fee, with no data caps. Or, you can pay $25 per month for one year. Then, your Internet is guaranteed free for seven years.

With the package, you’ll get a Google Fiber network box to connect your Ethernet cables or connect to the WiFi. Plus, the 5 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload speeds are pretty fast, compared to the popular Verizon Triple Play service at 0.5 Mbps upload and 1 Mbps download.

A step up from that is Google’s Gigabit Internet, for $70 per month, with no construction fee.

The speeds for this service are pretty impressive: one gigabit upload and download, with no data caps. Over at Verizon, you’ll have to pay $100 per month to get speeds of 150 Mbps download and 65 Mbps upload.

The most expensive Google Fiber plan, at $120 per month, will get you everything from super fast upload and download speed, a 1T Google Drive account, no data caps and a Nexus 7 tablet. For comparison, the top Verizon FiOS Ultimate plan comes in at $210 per month, with speeds of 300 Mbps download and 65 Mbps upload.

So how can Google afford to do this when we’ve been paying so much more with other service providers for years?

In short, we can thank ourselves. Of course Google’s innovative team created this network and the hardware involved – not to mention the revolutionary algorithm that powers Google search.

But anyone who’s typed something into that Google search bar helped subsidize Google’s plans to become an Internet service provider. You, and the advertisers who use Google’s data about you, have paid. The former, in data itself, and the latter in large amounts of cash.

So in a world where nothing’s really free, consider what you’ll be paying for “free” Google Internet. At best, Google Fiber could disrupt Internet prices across the country once it makes its way out of Kansas City. At worst, you could have free Internet.