14 DAY TRIAL // Google unveiled plans to bring fiber internet connections to several towns in the US to serve as much as 500,000 Americans. The company is still reviewing the 1,100 responses it got from communities and is not ready to name the towns where it will start building the high-speed internet infrastructure. It is moving forward though and has launched a new website aimed at getting people involved with the process, but also as an avenue to voice their opinion on the state of broadband connections in their country.
“Over the past several months, our team’s been hard at work reviewing the nearly 1,100 community responses to our request for information—not to mention the nearly 200,000 responses from individuals across the U.S.,” Minnie Ingersoll, Product Manager at Google, wrote.
“Throughout this process, one message has come through loud and clear: people are hungry for better and faster Internet access. With that in mind, today we’re launching a new site called Google Fiber for Communities, where you can learn more about fiber networks and keep up-to-date on our project. You’ll also be able to advocate for common-sense federal and local policies that would help fiber deployments nationwide,” she announced.
With the new website, Google’s plans are even more clearly defined. The company had and still has no intentions of becoming an ISP, but felt that it needed to get things rolling even if it meant building its own infrastructure. Google’s hope is that people will start demanding more action from their government and local authorities but also from their ISPs.
In February, Google revealed that it plans to build gigabit fiber-to-home internet connections in several communities in an effort to pressure existing ISPs to start investing more in infrastructure, but also to determine the actual costs of such a venture and maybe learn a lesson or two.
The move was met with enthusiasm across the country and towns went to extremes to ensure that Google selects their community. Mayors swam with sharks and one town even changed its name to 'Google' to get the company’s attention. Google says it will announce the towns selected for the plan by the end of the year.