Can Google Save Us From Slow Internet

CoveredTrax writes "As part of the beta test of their new gigabit fiber network, Google has provided Stanford University with mouthwateringly high-speed Internet. Since the program was announced, the service, which is now being provided free to students and faculty in the Palo Alto area, has got a lot of people to asking (sometimes begging) that their city be next on Google's list for communication salvation. But can Google save us all from inferior web access? And more importantly, is it a good idea to let them?"

Re:There will be a time...

[Riceballsan]

I have to agree with this statement exactly. Google is never perfect, in general it is only significantly better then the alternative, and it forces the alternative to work for the better. When features are sitting in the "we'll get around to it" pile for years, google steps into a market, and in the end whether you take googles option or not, the competition is better for it. Iphone users who enjoy multitasking, google says you are welcome. facebook users enjoying the actually functional groups, google says you are welcome, web mail users of anything who like having space measured in gigabytes, google says you are welcome. Trust them or not, google throwing their hat in the ring in any market, usually turns out well for the consumers, even if the consumers don't use touch google's products

Why wait on Goog?

[tetrahedrassface]

Chattanooga achieved 1Gb/sec on EPB's network [engadget.com] without any help at all, and both AT&T and Comcast fighting them every step of the way. The fight went well on up the court system hierarchy but the end result is that the fastest service in the U.S. is now here in tiny Chattanooga. I'm proud of that, and can attest firsthand for the quality and cost savings of their service. We went from roughly 600.00 for phone and internet on our business to 100.00/month. Now, why should we wait or expect to burden Google with this, when the very power to attain this resides in your very own communities.. Takes a little doing tho. Good Luck@!

My Internet is blazing fast. Browsers are slow.

[istartedi]

My Internet is plenty fast. Browsers are slow. OK, the browser combined withe the web site is slow. Chrome does JavaScript really well, blazingly fast. That's only half the problem though. The other half of the problem is that YOUR WEBSITE DOESN'T NEED THOSE SCRIPTS. Yes, I'm shouting. If I were a web designer, I would have embedded a video of a guy shouting using Javascript, along with 10 ads and several other embedded videos, and some Flash. At least half the embeds would contain exploits for IE/Windows and attempts at exploits for other browser/OS combos.

Anyway, plenty of bandwidth. We don't need a fatter pipe. We need less shit being flushed into the sewer that the Internet has become.

It's not kindness, It's net neutrality ...

[anon mouse-cow-aard]

Everyone is wondering what's in it for Google. There is a lot in it for Google. This is a really excellent way to shut up the telco's etc... about net neutrality mumbo jumbo. If they want to charge people for bandwidth usage, and premium bandwidth, then Google is saying that if they make it too expensive for google to reach the target eyeballs, google'll go get them themselves, so f*** off. The monopoly co's will be SOL. So they test by asking some small companies to run the fibres for them, and get a good idea of the costing involved. Their business plan will be ready to execute if net neutrality goes south. Google will know exactly when it becomes cheaper to build your own than to pay the bandwith protection ... ahem... premium. Once the break-even gets to a few years, they're off. I love what google does, but they always have a way of making the good things they do pay for themselves. I'd prefer municipal broadband, treated as a utility with a CO in each town where the fibre terminates and one can connect to the ISP of choice, but it isn't looking like I get to choose, so Google's option is, by far, the best thing on the horizon.

Re:God knows...

[Ex-MislTech]

Its intentional, 85% of the fiber in the ground in most areas is not lit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_fibre#Overcapacity [wikipedia.org]

They took $200 billion taxpayer money and ran off with it,
they are just more of the pirates running the country into the ground.

http://www.tispa.org/node/14 [tispa.org]

We paid for the upgrade already, we got the shaft as usual.

Pirates of the Potomac taking bribes to hand off our money to corporate pirates.