Story from their Blog Here http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/think-big-with-gig-our-experimental.html

Quote :

"We're planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We'll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people."

Nominate Raleigh here http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options

2/10/2010 2:11:19 PM

I have no clue as to what I'd do with all that bandwidth. Frankly, these days all I really want out of my home internet service is more upload bandwidth and lower latency. Of course, really high seeds would make LAN-external network storage practical.

2/10/2010 2:23:40 PM

welcome to the googlenet. I predicted this shit in high school.

2/10/2010 2:41:54 PM

Cool, well I voted for Cary

By the way, this is a really smart way for them to collect massive data on internet connections throughout the country and link them to Google Accounts.

[Edited on February 10, 2010 at 2:55 PM. Reason : .]

2/10/2010 2:54:54 PM

Too much shit to fill out or I'd nominate Raleigh as well.

2/10/2010 2:57:20 PM

[Edited on February 10, 2010 at 3:18 PM. Reason : .]

2/10/2010 3:16:06 PM

sooo they can't bundle cable and phone into it?

2/10/2010 3:38:16 PM

They could.

2/10/2010 3:42:49 PM

Camus, well played

2/10/2010 8:05:20 PM

^^^yea, they could bundle it i'm sure. their next step will be linking the whole google voice thing with their internet packages for nothing or next to nothing

2/10/2010 8:18:08 PM

Quote :

"I have no clue as to what I'd do with all that bandwidth."

Its not about the bandwidth (though it I'd like it) we just need another IP here that can be competitive and make prices lower in general. This is 2010, internet should not cost more than $20/month, in fact it should be free (cable TV should be free as well) being that its the biggest advertising platform known to man.

2/10/2010 8:34:50 PM

http://www.google.com/intl/en/appserve/fiberrfi/Google_Fiber_for_Communities.pdf

2/10/2010 10:19:56 PM

this needs to be a tww poll skew. post this shit in chitchat

2/11/2010 9:54:58 AM

^ you have to log in to your google account...an automated script won't cut it, but you might be able to get enough people to log in and vote

2/11/2010 9:57:19 AM

I guess if/when they roll this out it will remain in beta for next to forever and the only way to get it will be via invite from someone who already has it?

2/11/2010 11:05:30 AM

Quote :

"Search and advertising giant Google plans to build and test super fast fiber-optic broadband networks in a few communities around the U.S., promising up to a one gigabit per second service — a hundred-fold increase over what most Americans currently can subscribe to. A 1 Gbps could let a user download a HD movie in minutes and is more than 1000 times faster than AT&T’s basic DSL offering. The company, whose experience running a ISP is limited to a small, free wireless service in its hometown of MountainView, California, called the intiative an “experiment” in keeping with what it urged the FCC to do with its upcoming national broadband plan. The company is asking municipalities to apply to be candidates and said it will offer a competitively priced service to 50,000 to a half a million people. "Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone. Here are some specific things that we have in mind: Next generation apps: We want to see what developers and users can do with ultra high-speeds, whether it’s creating new bandwidth-intensive “killer apps” and services, or other uses we can’t yet imagine. New deployment techniques: We’ll test new ways to build fiber networks, and to help inform and support deployments elsewhere, we’ll share key lessons learned with the world. Openness and choice: We’ll operate an “open access” network, giving users the choice of multiple service providers. And consistent with our past advocacy, we’ll manage our network in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent way." The announcement is not good news for the nation’s ISPs, which have long had a sour relationship with Google. Although Google interconnects with networks just as any other participant in the internet does, ISPs — including AT&T — have complained that Google properties such as Youtube should pay more to ride on their networks. For its part, Google sees high ISP subscription fees and the U.S.’s slow connection speeds as hindrances to more profits. In the simplest equation, the more people who are online and the faster their connection, the more money Google makes from little text ads on the net. Any company who wants to make money anywhere between a user and an online ad has to fear that Google will try to drive the profits out of its business, whether that be a hardware vendor, a software company like Microsoft or an internet service provider. Google is doing at least three things here: 1) It’s demonstrating to the public and to regulators that really fast broadband isn’t nearly as hard as companies like AT&T and Verizon pretend it is. 2) It’s sending a warning to large telecoms that they better start working to reduce prices and increase service or they might face a competitor they dont’ want to go up against, and 3) By partnering with municpalities, it’s learning/showing the nation how to bypass the current dominant telecom players by creating municipally-owned fiber infrastructure that can be rented to multiple service providers, who can then duke it out on price and service. If successful, that could create a model where Google uses its huge cash surplus to finance municipally-owned fiber optic networks, undermining its telecom rivals and speeding up the nation’s internet without ever having to run a consumer-grade network or learn how to do customer support. If I were an executive at a large ISP, I’d be very unhappy with Google’s announcement. When Google enters a market, it usually destroys traditional ways of making money. ISPs want to find ways to measure internet traffic, and charge users by levels — even as their own upstream bandwidth costs continue to plummet. The rhetoric used to justify those decisions to consumer and lawmakers just won’t hold up if there’s an fairly priced, all-Fiber 1 Gbps connection just down the road. Which is just the long way of saying that in a land where it costs “$35 a month to get an assymetric, slow DSL line that tops out at 1.5 Mbps, perhaps those traditional profits need to be destroyed."

[from wired article]

sounds like that they basically want each city to do what wilson has done and they're willing to finance it if they need to

[Edited on February 11, 2010 at 3:02 PM. Reason : etc]

2/11/2010 3:01:13 PM

Quote :

"learn how to do customer support."

haha...I see they're STILL trying to avoid learning this

All kidding aside, this sounds pretty awesome. Anything to stick it to them man (telecom companies).

2/11/2010 3:53:50 PM

Quote :

"Anything to stick it to them man (telecom companies)"

2/11/2010 3:59:33 PM

I nominated Cary/Raleigh/RTP.

https://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/

SOMEONE NEEDS TO SPEAK WITH PEOPLE IN OUR GOVT TO MAKE THESE REQUESTS THOUGH.

I mentioned RTP being the Silicone Valley of the East Coast... needing jobs... NC known for large tax breaks...

Anyone know friends in government to send this to?

2/11/2010 4:20:07 PM

write your congressman

2/11/2010 4:24:37 PM

I would think that RTP would be an obvious choice for this.

2/11/2010 4:30:06 PM

^

2/11/2010 4:37:48 PM

E-mail sent to the black hole with David Price's name on it.

2/11/2010 4:58:59 PM

Well first things first, before sending this to any of your representatives you need to check and see who's pocket they are in. If they're in the telecom pockets obviously you don't want them knowing about this or they may crush any chance we have at being selected.

2/11/2010 5:22:25 PM

2/12/2010 8:46:02 AM

Quote :

"I would think that RTP would be an obvious choice for this. "

yeah that's what i told them too.. the combo of horrid current options and a lot of technology companies/people around here should make it a pretty good option imo. but who knows

2/12/2010 9:14:14 AM

Whoever made that graph apparently doesn't know how time works

2/12/2010 9:37:10 AM

Engadget gave Raleigh a subtle tech-savvy city bump in a recent post on this:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/12/seattle-eager-for-google-fiber-other-cities-apt-to-fall-in-line

2/13/2010 10:20:22 AM

This would be unbelievably awesome.

2/13/2010 10:41:51 AM

anyone know who on here works at engadget? I can probly get a lotta high profile nc peoples to hop on this train, maybe even get a video and such made. would like some notariety/publicity for the effort to bring google here though. that is to say make google aware that a lot of people want their shit here.

2/13/2010 11:29:42 AM

SouthPaW12

2/13/2010 11:57:48 AM

I would trust google to run the country better than our current form of government.

2/13/2010 12:34:17 PM

I wish I had this right now. This 500 KB/s is killing me as I'm downloading from Steam.

2/13/2010 1:55:07 PM

We need to get our mayor behind this like Seattle's. That'd get it in the media definitely and better our odds.

2/13/2010 2:23:29 PM

Quote :

"Too much shit to fill out or I'd nominate Raleigh as well."

2/13/2010 2:36:43 PM

^^Plus its obvious that WRAL is a big proponent of new technology. First HD broadcaster, one of the best news websites in the country and their own mobile TV station. Would be great if the mayor and city council could push for this and get WRAL to cover it.

2/13/2010 2:42:02 PM

I wonder what they mean when they say "competitive price", since no one else is offering 1gbps to the home, as such to price it competitively they would charge more, possibly substantially more, than any competitors.

Quote :

"I have no clue as to what I'd do with all that bandwidth."

Sell it to others. Organize your neighborhood, get one connection, then wire up the neighborhood yourselves.

2/13/2010 3:09:01 PM

^Well, surely they won't be charging 100 times more. That is proportionally competitive right?

2/13/2010 3:12:08 PM

Quote :

"I would think that RTP would be an obvious choice for this."

2/13/2010 3:15:38 PM

^^ Well, no. They didn't say proportional, they said competitive. So I would guess only ten times more.

2/13/2010 3:21:07 PM

Quote :

"Organize your neighborhood, get one connection, then wire up the neighborhood yourselves."

I contemplated proposing doing this in my first neighborhood and ultimately concluded operating as a small ISP wasn't worth the hassle.

I think there could be a business opp here for someone that engages the HOAs directly and does this on a broader scale than just 1 neighborhood...but I only imagine the nightmare of having to support grandma and grandpa when their router glitches, etc. That is where any real profit potential is evaporated.

2/13/2010 3:25:54 PM

Google will have a car before they have McD's.


Ill believe this fiber rollout when I see it. Its gonna end in court and Im betting the other side (cable, existing telcoms) will win.

2/13/2010 10:20:15 PM

How do you figure? GOOGs market cap crushes TWC and Comcast.

They'll be able to out lawyer just about anyone if they need to.

2/13/2010 10:27:02 PM

i dont actually think google intends to do anything "real" about it

i think they're just pushing TWC and Comcast and Verizon to stop pocketing profits without improving the infrastructure

they have a point, other countries put us to shame when it comes to network speeds but then again the Chinese don't have to break through red tape (lol) and the other big country like Russia isnt even on the map, its much easier for these smaller countries to rollout improvements but it doesnt mean US cities shouldnt be trying to do the same thing

2/14/2010 3:45:10 PM

i have this on my wall at work:

(click to enlarge)

2/14/2010 4:14:28 PM

^That's pretty sad. Isn't it an unfair fight against Japan though since we're so spread out?

2/14/2010 5:13:34 PM

Many internet service providers, especially the cellular companies, nearly 60% of their battle is back end service to their cell towers. They repeatedly claim to being ripped off by the owners of the fiber networks. If Google covers any of the country with affordable fiber, then wireless internet becomes only a matter of battling zoning boards for towers. Especially when the new spectrum gets opened up.

2/14/2010 6:20:53 PM

= ?

[Edited on February 14, 2010 at 8:49 PM. Reason : ]

2/14/2010 8:48:54 PM

If microsoft announced this they'd be in court already. I'd love to have fiber to the curb, but monopolies frighten me.

2/14/2010 8:54:46 PM

ChefPatrick's Great Google Timeline is Confusing because he put the independent variable (time) along the vertical axis.

That is all.

2/14/2010 11:35:06 PM