Kansas City, Kansas wins Googles super duper high speed internet contest.

techs

Lifer
Sep 26, 2000
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20...jA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNhbmR0aGV3aW5uZXI-

And the Winner of Google's Ultra High-Speed Internet Is ...

Kansas City, Kansas, will be the first city to receive Google's experimental high-speed Internet network. The announcement Wednesday ends a year-long process that sparked a heated nationwide competition between more than 1,000 U.S. communities.

The search giant first announced its intention to build an experimental fiber network with speeds 100 times faster than the typical U.S. Internet connection -- an astounding 1 GB per second. Google's goal wasn't to become an Internet service provider (ISP) that would compete with the likes of Comcast but rather was to help push broadband and Internet delivery forward.

After Google's initial announcement, dozens of cities started their own campaigns to persuade Google to bring its high-speed network to their cities. Most famously, Topeka, Kansas, briefly changed its name to Google, Kansas, but other cities went to great lengths to get Google's attention.

Now, a full year later, the technology titan has chosen its winner: Kansas City, which has already signed a development agreement with Google to start the project.

So why did Google choose Kansas City, a city with a population of 145,000? Here is the company's explanation:

"In selecting a city, our goal was to find a location where we could build efficiently, make an impact on the community and develop relationships with local government and community organizations. We’ve found this in Kansas City. We’ll be working closely with local organizations including the Kauffman Foundation, KCNext and the University of Kansas Medical Center to help develop the gigabit applications of the future."

If your city wasn't chosen, don't fret; Google says it is "looking closely at ways to bring ultra high-speed Internet to other cities across the country." If Kansas City turns out to be a success, then don't be surprised if Google Fiber starts stretching its way from coast to coast. That's good news for Topeka, Kansas City's neighbor sixty miles to the west.





Yousa!
 

mcvickj

Diamond Member
Dec 13, 2001
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Disappointing to hear the news. Seemed like Grand Rapids, MI was in race for a while. Hopefully the testing in Kansas City goes well and Google decides to expand to the other cities that applied.
 

Beev

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2006
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It's all going to depend on the pricing. I pay $40 a month for Roadrunner (which has always been terrific for me), but I'd probably pay ~$100 for 1gb/s speeds.
 

Numenorean

Diamond Member
Oct 26, 2008
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It's all going to depend on the pricing. I pay $40 a month for Roadrunner (which has always been terrific for me), but I'd probably pay ~$100 for 1gb/s speeds.

No way I would pay that much for internet, no matter how fast. My cable internet is plenty fast. It's a little under $40. I won't pay more than $40 for internet.
 

JTsyo

Lifer
Nov 18, 2007
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So once the infrastructure is in who runs it? Google, the local government, 3rd party?
 

destrekor

Lifer
Nov 18, 2005
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Sweet.
One more check-mark on the list of things Google needs to do before it is ready to make official the fact that it unofficially owns us all.
This unofficial officialness will be known to the world the same day Google slaps a beta tag on Earth.
 

techs

Lifer
Sep 26, 2000
28,559
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So once the infrastructure is in who runs it? Google, the local government, 3rd party?

I wonder how they will price it and if it will be standalone internet or also offer television channels.
 

Numenorean

Diamond Member
Oct 26, 2008
4,442
1
0
Sweet.
One more check-mark on the list of things Google needs to do before it is ready to make official the fact that it unofficially owns us all.
This unofficial officialness will be known to the world the same day Google slaps a beta tag on Earth.

Google Earth is already out of beta though.
 

frostedflakes

Diamond Member
Mar 1, 2005
7,925
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So once the infrastructure is in who runs it? Google, the local government, 3rd party?
Last I heard I thought Google was going to lease the lines out to anyone who wanted to provide service over them. Don't know if this is still the plan, though.

Google would still own/maintain the infrastructure if this was the case, but others would be able to provide service over it, which would encourage competition and reduce prices.
 
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