It was an April Fool’s Day joke so nice, you had to flush it twice. Google cut loose with another annual yesterday. Visitors to the Google home page were pitched the promise of “FREE breakthrough broadband with Google TiSP (BETA).”

Following the link introduced readers to the free — yet very fake — in-home WiFi service. Consumers would flush a spindle of fiber optic cable down their toilets, hooking the other end to a wireless router.

Like most clever pranks, there is a bit of self-effacing truth behind the well-intended guffaw. The “BETA” tag is no doubt intentional, as Google loves to keep many of its products in beta for ages. Gmail itself has now spent the last three years in beta. The “FREE” nature of this service also plays into Google’s push in providing WiFi and WiMax connectivity in large markets for gratis.

Coming from a company like The Motley Fool, where April Fool’s Day jokes have been annual traditions since the mid-1990s, it’s neat to see the Internet’s most valuable company taking the time to entertain.

Flushed away
If there is one beef I have with yesterday’s Toilet Internet Service Provider (TiSP) joke, it’s that it let readers in on the gag too quickly. The best April Fool’s Day jokes draw readers in slowly, hoodwinking as many as possible along the way. This one went for the jugular (which I’m told is connected to the funny bone) too soon. I’m sorry Google, you lost me at commode.

Let’s go over some of the past Google gags:

• Google Romance introduced a new contextually-based dating service.
• We also had Google Gulp, a line of “smart drinks” that make you surf the Web more efficiently.
• Let’s not forget about the engineering job opportunity at the lunar hosting and research center in outer space.
• There was also the notion that pigeon pecking could make Google’s search algorithms better.
• The MentalPlex gag in 2000 had searchers communicate their intentions telepathically.

The best of Google’s gags often revolve around the truth. I felt that the joke was on Google with last year’s Google Romance prank, because that’s where its search engine competitors were pitching their pick-up line tents. Yahoo! has relied on its dating personals to provide welcome subscription revenue for years. And Ask.com parent IAC also owns Match.com, uDate, and Chemistry.com.

Google Gulp never left alternative beverage makers like Hansen Natural and Jones Soda breaking a sweat, but have you seen Google’s online store lately? Branded Frisbees, blinking pins, and light-up pens are there for the buying. It’s really just a matter of time before Google energy drinks and bean bag chairs are available. What’s that? Bean bag chairs are available? Well, there you go.

It’s funny because it’s true
Naturally, some gags get even better with time. Google’s intergalactic job opening was farcical three years ago. Google hooked up with NASA to announce the very real NASA Research Park a year later. Concepts like MentalPlex and PigeonRank were a hoot a few years ago, but haven’t search engine algorithms evolved to the point where they can almost guess where they want to go to next?

And what about Google Romance? No, it doesn’t exist. However, you can go to Google Base, click on Personals, and read profiles on more than 120,000 potential dates. They are mostly entries culled from the popular dating sites, but it’s a start.

“I’ll go out on a limb and predict that as funny as Google Romance may be, in three years or less we’ll be talking about Google Romance as the real deal,” I wrote last year.

I stand by that limb, with two years left before it snaps on me.

As for toilet-based broadband with Google’s GFlush technology, even the luxury of a courtesy flush won’t be enough to find me predicting the eventuality of that one. While companies like Viacom (NYSE: VIA), Author Guild, and Association of American Publishers are knocking on your door as suers, you still found levity in the sewer.

Nice! Keep on rocking, Google. Don’t you ever lose that edge.

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Gotta love the new logo which is apparently “The official logo of the Google TiSP wireless broadband internet service” according to Michael’s website.

Here’s a list of his steps that gives you twice the speed on Google TiSP using your existing wireless router!

The directions are so easy-to-follow, a child could do it:

1. Sit your router on top of your toilet tank.
2. Spread a dollop of Cisco Crisco on your router.
3. Knead Cisco Crisco into the plastic housing, making sure to spread it down all the data cables connected to your computers.
4. Get a large spool of black ethernet cable (the PHD won’t notice it’s not Google brand cable with the snorkel mask on). Attach a sinker to it, like in the Google pictures. Drop it into the toilet and give it a hearty GFlush. “Remember to flush twice, it’s a long way to Google.”
5. You’ve heard about how fast “greased lightning” is? Now see for yourself: set up a strobe light to shine on the router. Turn up the beat. Faster pulses means faster data transfer.
6. If you have the new Apple iHat (a metal vegetable colander will substitute), put it on your head. The galvanic skin response to the iHatâ„¢ (or colander) while surfing increases wireless neural connectivity through your skull.
7. You are now the coolest early adopter on the block. Celebrate like Dilbert by turning off the vanity bulbs and watching yourself in the mirror doing cool 80s style dance moves in the strobe light behind a locked bathroom door so no one can see how silly you look.

Too funny. Check out the rest of Michael’s posts regarding the Google TiSP

Google TiSP (BETA) is a fully functional, end-to-end system that provides in-home wireless access by connecting your commode-based TiSP wireless router to one of thousands of TiSP Access Nodes via fiber-optic cable strung through your local municipal sewage lines.

Now I’ve heard of some strange offerings but this one takes the cake. It’s a very elaborate instruction guide, FAQ, and even a press release introducing the service. I wonder how many people actually tried to order this kit before realizing it was an April Fools prank by Google.

Comment below if you have any stories….I’d love to hear some!

Now here are the official instructions provided by Google. This is hilarious!

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Installing a typical home TiSP system is a quick, easy and largely sanitary process — provided you follow these step-by-step instructions very, very carefully.

#1 Remove the spindle of fiber-optic cable from your TiSP installation kit.

#2 Attach the sinker to the loose end of the cable, take one safe step backward and drop this weighted end into your toilet.

#3 Grasp both ends of the spindle firmly while a friend or loved one flushes, thus activating the patented GFlushâ„¢ system, which sends the weighted cable surfing through the plumbing system to one of the thousands of TiSP Access Nodes.

#4 When the GFlush is complete, the spindle will (or at least should) have largely unraveled, exposing a connector at the remaining end. Detach the cable from the spindle, taking care not to allow the cable to slip into the toilet.

#5 Plug the fiber-optic cable into your TiSP wireless router, which has a specially designed counterweight to withstand the centripetal force of flushing.

#6 Insert the TiSP installation CD and run the setup utility to install the Google Toolbar (required) and the rest of the TiSP software, which will automatically configure your computer’s network settings.

#7 Within sixty minutes — assuming proper data flow — the other end of your fiber-optic cable should have reached the nearest TiSP Access Node, where our Plumbing Hardware Dispatchers (PHDs) will remove the sinker and plug the line into our global data networking system.

#8 Congratulations, you’re online! (Please wash your hands before surfing.)

Note: If you have any difficulty installing, operating or simply living with TiSP, we suggest joining the TiSP Help Group.

Advanced TiSP Options

Professional Installation Service
You can also choose to request our professional installation service, which dispatches an army of factory-trained, sub-contracted nanobots from the TiSP Access Node. The nanobots travel with exhilarating nano-speed through the sewer system and into your home to perform the installation service, which should be complete within 15 minutes. Note: For your own physical safety and emotional well-being and in consideration of the nanobots’ working conditions, please make absolutely certain that your toilet is unoccupied at the scheduled appointment time.

In-Commode Package Delivery
With professional installation service, you can also have your Google Checkout purchases delivered directly through the sewage network into your bathroom. Each package comes pre-sealed in a watertight and nanobot-resistant bag made of biodegradable corn-based plastic. For a limited time, TiSP subscribers who sign up for a Checkout account will receive free bathroom delivery on their first ten Checkout purchases.

TiSP for Enterprise
We’re actively developing a higher-performance version of TiSP specifically tailored to small and medium-sized businesses, including 24-hour, on-site technical support in the event of backup problems, brownouts and data wipes.

Learn more about TiSP: Frequently Asked Questions