Google Fiber launched in Kansas City in 2011. It offered gigabit speed at $70 per month and ignited the development of an ultrafast Internet access category that has since spread throughout the U.S. According to Michael Render, principal analyst at market researcher RVA LLC, 83 Internet access providers have joined Google to offer gigabit Internet access service (all priced in the $50-$150 per month range).
Charter Communications' planned acquisition of Time Warner Cable faces a regulatory review by the same federal officials who were widely blamed for nixing the recent proposed merger of Time Warner with Comcast.
AT&T and Google have talked up plans to extend supercharged broadband speeds to several U.S. cities and offer lesser service for free to underserved areas. But whether they, and other providers, can bridge the nation's digital divide without federal help remains to be seen.
Some things go together like peanut butter and jelly. Others are more like peanut butter and motor oil. The joining of tech titans is no different. Here we discuss whether six high-profile mergers have made a tasty combination or a gross one.