I would expect they're looking for two things. First, they're hoping many of these users convert to gigabit after a short time ("Just flip the switch, and you

I would expect they're looking for two things. First, they're hoping many of these users convert to gigabit after a short time ("Just flip the switch, and you get 200x faster internet!"), which will cover the loss from the free users. Second, straight market penetration. The more people that use the service (even the free one), the more visibility Google gets as an ISP, which has other benefits.