Google Fiber Joins Forces with Municipal Broadband Network

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Huntsville is doing it right. They can attract Google and other service providers to utilize their fiber infrastructure while seeing a modest return on investment. Citizens benefit from better services and price competition. I hope that more municipalities start utilizing this model.

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Google Fiber said on Monday that it plans to bring its gigabit Internet service to Huntsville, Alabama. But instead of laying its own fiber, Google will offer service over a network that is being built by the city-owned Huntsville Utilities. Huntsville will lease space on the network to Google so it can offer Internet service. But it’s not an exclusive deal, so other Internet providers could offer broadband over the same fiber. Huntsville, a city of nearly 190,000 residents, has been planning the fiber build for more than a year.

City officials “see it as a low-risk investment, as compared to administering the gigabit Internet themselves, which would require a massive increase in personnel in an arena where they have limited expertise,” local news station WHNT reported today. Google Fiber should be available to the first Huntsville customers by the middle of 2017, but it could take a few years to extend service throughout the city, the report said. Continue reading

City to move forward on broadband study

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Structure of Broadband Service Market, by Acce...

Structure of Broadband Service Market, by Access Technology (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Saja Hindi

Loveland city councilors directed city staff to move forward Tuesday with hiring a consultant and forming a task force to study options for municipal broadband.

Water and Power Director Steve Adams said staff members are looking to hire a qualified firm to conduct a broadband assessment and feasibility analysis and to help develop a plan.

The task force would consist of about 13 members, from various groups and businesses around the city, to assist in the study and garner public participation. Continue reading

Terabit satellites to supercharge remote internet access

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Matt Brian

Despite the growth of fiber and mobile networks, satellite broadband is now more important than ever. Google and Facebook already plan to beam internet connectivity to remote parts of the globe and airlines are in the process of upgrading their equipment to provide faster WiFi aboard flights.

While there are roughly 400 commercial satellites orbiting the earth, output is limited. US communications firm ViaSat believes it can change that, so it’s teamed up aerospace giant Boeing to launch three new satellites that will deliver twice the total combined network capacity of all the connected satellites already in space.

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Google Fiber Phone Rolling Out For Testing, Bundling Google Voice Features

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By Horia Ungureanu

A number of Google’s high-speed Internet subscribers received invitations to an experimental telephone service, hinting that Google Fiber tests the waters of telephonic services.

Dubbed Google Fiber Phone, the service might remind observant users of another famous Google product, the Google Voice. Voice connects multiple telephones of a user (be it mobile or landline) into one unique phone number.

According to reports, Fiber Phone packs certain features from Google Voice, such as auto call screening and voicemail transcriptions. The call screening takes into account the time of day to function properly. Continue reading

Washington Law Would Let Counties Sell Broadband Service When Comcast Won’t

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Last year, we told you about Seth, who had recently relocated to Washington only to find out he might have to sell his new house because Comcast had lied to him about being able to provide the Internet connection he needs for his home office. And even though the county runs a high-speed fiber network not far from his property, current state law restricts consumers from buying access to that service. Recently proposed state legislation hopes to right that wrong and give counties the ability to serve residents when Comcast and others refuse to.

Current Washington state law allows for municipalities to own and operate broadband networks, but they can only sell wholesale access, meaning that customers must purchase so-called “last mile” service through a third party, even if it’s only a few yards from the existing fiber line to the house being connected. Continue reading

Kentucky to build 3,400-mile state-owned broadband network and a fight is brewing

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Yet another US state is weighing up the idea of laying thousands of miles of cable to create its own broadband network.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that a group of telcos are pushing back against a proposed $324m network involving 3,400 miles of cabling, which would cover 120 counties in the state.

The construction phase of the project is tentatively set to be completed by the Fall of 2018, with a private company building and maintaining the state-owned network. Continue reading

Google Fiber bringing free gigabit internet to public housing in select cities | Android Central

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Google has announced that it will be bringing its gigabit Fiber internet service to residents of public housing in all cities where Google Fiber is offered at no extra cost. Working with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, along with local partners, Google will start the rollout in Kansas City, Missouri, its first Fiber city.

From Google Fiber:

Working side-by-side with the Housing Authority of Kansas City, we’re launching the program today at West Bluff, the first property to receive gigabit Internet as a part of this program. We’ve wired all 100 homes with Fiber, and families can sign up today to access the Internet at up to 1,000 Mbps. And through local ConnectHome partners, such as Connecting for Good and Surplus Exchange, they’ll also be able to purchase discounted devices and learn new computer skills.

While this initiative will come to Google’s other Fiber cities, the company is still working with groups in those other areas to identify which properties will need to take advantage of Fiber.

Source: Google Fiber

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