Time Warner Cable has announced free upgrades coming to Charlotte, North Carolina following the Google Fiber announcement of construction starting later this year in the city.

It's not the first reactive move by traditional broadband providers to Google Fiber's expansion. AT&T announced 1 Gbps deployment in Austin, Texas and Comcast announced 2 Gbps deployment in Atlanta, Georgia earlier this month.

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The update is named 'TWC Maxx', offering six times the current speeds in Charlotte across almost all packages. That means 15 Mbps 'Standard' customers will receive 50 Mbps; 30 Mbps 'Extreme' customers will receive 200 Mbps and 50 Mbps 'Ultimate' customers will now receive 300 Mbps.

All of these updates are free, showing Time Warner Cable has the resources to do this and the only factor keeping them away from upgrading in other areas is lack of competition, something Google Fiber is changing rapidly.

Even though Time Warner Cable and Comcast both slandered the concept of 1 Gbps internet service in two years, it's clear Google Fiber's massive growth in Kansas City has worried the two largest broadband providers.

Time Warner Cable still hasn't upgraded any city to 1 Gbps but we expect it will be coming sometime soon. The price of broadband infrastructure is much lower than five years ago, meaning setting up 1 Gbps (or 2 Gbps) internet doesn't cost a lot.

Even though the current criticism on social media is that TWC and others are only doing this to stop Google Fiber's growth, that's good in itself as it forces companies to be more competitive with pricing, speed and other factors -- potentially forcing Google Fiber to be even better than it is now.

The goal of Google Fiber is to force companies to be more competitive with internet speeds in the U.S., alongside pushing lower prices and no data caps. Having more people on the internet for longer is inherently good for Google since it means more time viewing ads.

Even though the current investment pushing Google Fiber to new cities might be a costly endeavor for 30 minutes more on the internet per day, it's a long con and one both Google and Facebook are pulling worldwide through low-orbit satellite programs.

TagsTime Warner Cable, Charlotte, North Carolina, Google Fiber