Want Ultra High Speed Broadband? Google Wants to Supply It.
Our motto for ISPs: Don't be slow.
I have to say that I’m pretty excited by Google’s announcement that they are going to build and test a few fiber networks around the United States that would provide internet access at up to 1 gigabit/sec. That’s in comparison to the U.S.’s pathetic 3.9 megabit/sec average. That’s over 250 times faster! That’s even 20 times faster than Verizon’s FiOS, which as far as I know is the fastest service in the nation that is currently available to consumers.
Now, I’m not a Google fanboy. In fact, quite often I’m a detractor of theirs since I feel that their goals are diametrically opposed to mine. I want to maintain my privacy and they want to violate it as much as possible to target me with advertising. As much as I distrust their claims that their motto is, “Don’t be evil,” I see their proposal to bring ultra high speed broadband to be fairly safe from a privacy perspective. That is unless they do something highly unethical or illegal, which I doubt. Especially, since they are proposing that they run an open access network that allows consumers to select from a number of providers that lease the access to the fiber network from Google and that they will run their network “in an open, non-discriminatory, and transparent way.”
If that’s the case, then it’s a big win to consumers. It’s in Google’s best interest to not allow filtering by the service providers and to not implement bandwidth caps. The more we use the internet, the better it is for Google. That’s where they make all their money, after all. The more we’re online, the more ads they can serve to us. While that gives Google the opportunity to make even more money, that high speed access would also benefit consumers. Plus it would create tremendous opportunities for businesses around the nation. Think of what it could mean to be able to run multiple enterprise level web apps and a high quality video conferencing stream without even a hiccup. That could mean that employees could work out of their homes as effectively as in an office and without having to give up on face to face meetings. That could be a tremendous leap forward, especially for startups outside of tech rich areas like the Silicon Valley. Plus, it would remove a lot of the limitations that businesses put on their services so that they can be accessible to users on slower connections. The possibilities are amazing.
Of course, Google won’t be building out fiber networks everywhere, but hopefully the threat of Google expanding into their areas will spur Comcast, Verizon and others to build out their networks and offer reasonable speeds and pricing before Google can move in, undercut them and potentially destroy their business models. After all, Google doesn’t really want to be an ISP. What they want is ubiquitous, capless, ultra high speed internet connections for the entire nation, which they can then serve advertising over and make ridiculous amounts of money on. They don’t care who builds the networks as long as they get built. That last sentiment is one thing I agree with Google on. I don’t care who builds it, just roll it out to my town first!
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Internet access at that speed would be remarkable.