How much Internet connectivity does a homeowner or tenant really need?

It’s a question Google Fiber’s Peter Albers answers with a question.

“When I speak at industry events I always ask the audience, ‘How many people have had to deal with a crying child while a streaming video loads?’

Every Hand

“The hands of about 80 to 90 percent of the crowd shoot up. Then I ask ‘How many of you had to deal with a crying spouse because the streaming movie didn’t load fast enough?’ Every hand goes up,” he smiles.

Meet Peter Albers, Google Fiber’s head of real estate partnerships. It’s Albers’ job to work closely with large real estate owners and developers. Google Fiber’s one-gigabit (1,000 megabits) operating speed has transformed Internet service in a handful of American metro areas, such as Kansas City, Salt Lake City, Austin, and Atlanta. By contrast, the typical U.S. home makes do with about 1/20^th of that speed.

How should a home builder or apartment developer understand connectivity’s impact on selling or leasing? Albers has some ideas.

Abundance Rules

“What homeowners want is abundance,” Albers explains. “They want to take Internet connectivity for granted, like water or electricity. You don’t have to turn the dining room lights off so you can use kitchen lights. Why should it be different for Internet connectivity?”

Why, indeed. Internet connectivity has swiftly escalated from a nice-to-have to an absolutely-must-have in the age of Netflix and YouTube. During peak Internet usage, Netflix and YouTube combine to take up 50 percent of all available worldwide bandwidth. Even more staggering is the fact that consumption is attributed to just 2 percent of Internet users, according to Albers.

$5,400+

What happens if 2 percent climbs to 3 or 4 percent? Connectivity is a difference-maker. Researchers at the University of Colorado and Carnegie Mellon University report fiber-optic connections in a $175,000 home add more than $5,400 to the home’s value.

Albers offers home and apartment builders and developers a heads-up.

“Residential builders and developers can add a competitive access conduit in their properties. That makes it comparatively easy for another, higher-speed Internet provider to provision the home or apartment,” Albers says.

Irvine Company Lesson

Albers cites the experience of the Irvine Company, the coastal California property developer that’s widely regarded as one of the world’s finest real estate master planning developers. “They’ve been installing connectivity pathways, including competitive conduits, since the 1980s in their developments. Their residents throughout Orange County are going to reap the benefits of that investment now and going forward.”

For now, home buyers and tenants will continue to place their bets on the best connectivity available. The rising surge of streaming TV, phone, intelligent personal assistants, and home management devices like the Nest Learning Thermostat illustrate the relentless need. Albers sees it firsthand every day.

“It’s amazing when people experience abundant connectivity. Once they have it, they will never, ever go back.”