Google brings high-speed broadband network to Kansas

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   Stacie Lposted 14 years ago

   Google brings high-speed broadband network to Kansas
   
   BY JOELLE TESSLER (Associated Press), MARIA SUDEKUM FISHER (Associated Press)
   Originally Published: Wednesday, March 30, 2011
   Updated: Wednesday, March 30, 2011
   
   main image
   
   KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — After seeing Facebook pleas and flash mobs, and even cities temporarily renaming themselves "Google," the search engine giant said Wednesday it has chosen Kansas City, Kan., as the first place that will get its new ultra-fast broadband network.
   
   
   Google announced that the city would be the inaugural site for its "Fiber for Communities" program, which it says will be capable of delivering Internet access more than 100 times faster than the home broadband connections provided by phone and cable companies across the U.S.
   
   The company envisions systems that will let consumers to download a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five minutes, allow rural health clinics to send 3-D medical images over the Internet and let students collaborate with classmates around the world while watching live 3-D video of a university lecture.
   
   Google's service, which will provide Internet connections of 1 gigabit per second to as many as 500,000 people, will be offered in early 2012 while the company looks at other communities across the country.
   
   More than 1,100 cities had made bids to become a test site for the company's fiber-optic network, trying to catch Google's attention and show their enthusiasm.
   
   ...Google says it hopes phone and cable companies will learn lessons from the experimental network that will help them hurry the rollout of their own high-speed systems and bring faster connections to more Americans at a lower cost. It also hopes to provide a test-bed for online video and other advanced applications that require a lot of bandwidth.
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   http://www.reliablenews.com/e69306-goog … rk-to-kan-
   
   anyone live in Kansas city and can report back on this
   are you signing up?
   

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      saracampposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Right now I live and work just outside of KCK but I will be interested to watch how KU Med Center, KCK schools, and Cerner will use the game changing speed to their advantage. I work close to KU Med, know several people that work for Cerner, they had already planned to build a new facility in KCK and are very excited about Google's investment. I also know a teacher that was at the Google announcement at Wyandotte High School. I'm hoping by next Spring, about 3 months of usage, we will have a better idea what 1 gigabit speed means to technology, business and education.

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      skearposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I live in Kansas City and like most people in the area I'm very excited to see the Google project coming to the area!
      
      Since I live on the Missouri side of KC I won't be able to sign up for the service.  Although if it does well hopefully it will expand to other suburbs. 
      
      Either way Google will have to peer with the other major providers in the area which will improve the internet connectivity throughout the area by bringing in more bandwidth.

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   Mikeydoesposted 14 years ago

   This is very interesting, never heard about this! Always a good thing!

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      saracampposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I'm surprised more people haven't heard about it. Everyone I know is very excited. Please read my article. I work right by KCK and KU Med Center at a technology startup. http://hubpages.com/hub/Google-puts-Kan … -world-map

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