INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Kansas City was the envy of the internet-loving world 14 years ago when Google Fiber picked the region to debut its gigabit internet network.
“Yeah, I do remember it, because my son ended up signing up with it,” Independence resident Terry Hayes said.
Hayes — a retired meat cutter who lives in south Independence with his wife, Judy — doesn’t have a lot of need for high-speed internet, but his son, who lives in Lee’s Summit, raves about the service.
GFiber expanded to Lee’s Summit in 2015. It was already in Grandview and Raytown, but there was no additional expansion in eastern Jackson County for eight years until Greenwood became a GFiber city in August 2023.
Construction started in Independence last year, and service was switched on to certain residences in early 2025, making it the 35th city in the Kansas City region with GFiber, according to a list provided by the company.
“It's been a lot of work getting that infrastructure all over town,” Rachel Hack Merlo, who serves as GFiber’s Head of Government and Community Affairs for the Central Region, said. “... For a build the size of Independence, our crews are going to be active here for a couple of years.”
She said construction should begin in two more cities, Blue Springs and Lawrence, by the end of the year, with service becoming available in 2026.
While the novelty of GFiber was worn off — AT&T, Spectrum and Xfinity are among the high-speed service providers offering up to 2-gig fiber options across Kansas City now — Hayes still heralded its arrival.
“It matters in the fact that I wanted some alternatives,” he said, “and I didn't feel like there were many alternatives, unless you wanted a dish up on your roof or something.”
AT&T laid fiber in his neighborhood, but more competition is always welcome.
“When we approach a municipality about bringing Google Fiber to the community these days, it's a little bit different, because we're not the only game in town,” Hack Merlo said, “... but it is still exciting, because people want to have access to a world-class internet service, and they want to have competition. That's good for consumers.”
GFiber was on the cutting edge in the gig-speed game, and its $70 monthly price for its Core service hasn’t changed since 2012, but 3-gig and 8-gig service is now available for $100 and $150, respectively.
“My wife's the brains of the family, and she pays attention to the gigs and all that,” Hayes said. “All I watch is to see whether the Chiefs' football game is nice and clear.”
Now, he has choices for watching the Chiefs, “and we can see which one we prefer the most,” Hayes said.
Check online to see if GFiber is available in your area or when it might become available.
It's already been rolled out in Fairway, Kansas City, Leawood, Lenexa, Merriam, Mission, Mission Hills, Mission Woods, Olathe, Overland Park, Prairie Village, Roeland Park, Shawnee, Westwood and Westwood Hills in Kansas and Belton, Claycomo, Gladstone, Glenaire, Grandview, Greenwood, parts of Independence, Kansas City, Lee's Summit, Liberty, Oaks, Oakwood, Oakwood Park, Parkville, Pleasant Valley, Raymore, Raytown, Riverside and Weatherby Lake in Missouri.
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