Google Fiber Network To Begin First Trial
Google’s ultra high speed fiber network, which can offer speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, is about to undergo its first trial.
Google will be deploying the trial at Stanford University to a group of about 850 faculty and staff.
Google has stated that this isn’t part of its call for small-to-mid-sized communities to submit proposals to get “Google Fiber” in their towns. That competition sparked a battle between hundred of towns ranging from Topeka, Kansas, to Huntsville, Alabama. Google will announce the selected community for the Google Fiber network by the end of the year.
Google has emphasized the fact that it doesn’t plan to get into the ISP business, as many speculated it would when it first announced the initiative. Rather, it falls into Google’s broader goal of making the Internet faster. However, Google originally shot down the idea of transforming Gmail into Google Apps for business and look how that turned out.
Will Congress Address Net Neutrality?
Source: Wall Street Journal
Congress likely won't take up the issue of net neutrality this year. Rather the Federal Communications Commission will take up the matter.
Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, failed to win support for a proposal that would given the FCC limited power to regulate broadband traffic. Those on Mr. Waxman's committee declined to support his proposal.
The proposal would have given the FCC case-by-case authority to enforce net neutrality rules, which say Internet providers cannot selectively block or slow Web traffic.
Waxman called this a loss for consumers.
Fact or Fiction: FCC To Give Everyone Free Broadband
A lot of questions surrounding FCC's broadband plan have not been answered yet. We know that the goal is to speed up broadband and expand access to broadband. However, the question everyone wants to know is whether we're approaching an era when anyone can log onto an internet wirelessly from anywhere in the world for free.
I doubt that will happen due to telecommunications lobbyists who will make sure that they protect their industry's profitability. So that leaves the question about how this whole FCC broadband upgrade will work?
When the FCC broadband plan was revealed, the plan did mention free broadband. A few details were also revealed -- the free government broadband service would be subsidized by ads. You would think that free broadband would be opposed by big broadband companies such as Comcast, but Comcast is in favor of the FCC's goals and ambitions. It's possible that a free broadband service would be limited to speeds of 1-3 Mbps while Comcast can deliver much faster internet speeds at 40-60 Mbps.
Details on the situation are still murkey, but we'll keep you updated once more details begin to surface.
Fastest Broadband Speeds In The Nation
The data from the FCC's broadband speed test is in and they found which areas of the nation has the fast broadband speeds. New York City and Washington D.C. has the nation's fastest internet speed.
In Virginia, Maryland, New York and Massachusetts, average download speeds were 11.6 to 13.6 megabits per second. Average upload speeds were highest in the Washington area: around 3.6 to 4.3 Mbps.
I thought that California would likely lead the results, but they're broadband speeds were slightly lower than New York and Washington D.C. California had average download speeds of 10.1 to 11.5 Mbps and uploads of 2.1 to 2.6 Mbps.
Price Tag To Develop FCC National Broadband Plan
Are you interested in knowing how much the government spent on just developing the FCC's National Broadband Plan? I'm not talking about implementing the plan, but just the costs to develop to "outline" of implementing the plan. $20.6 million. Source.
Here's the breakdown of the costs:
- Salaries: $6.38 million.
- IT: $5.37 million.
- Software and Cost Modeling: $3.92 million.
- Data and Research: $4.01 million.
- Printing and Production: $60,000.
- Workshop and Travel: $34,000.
FCC To Target Rural Areas With Broadband Upgrade
The Federal Communications Commission yesterday began mapping out a plan to bring high-speed Internet service to the entire nation. The goal is to increase its availability, improve its quality, and to make it more affordable.
The FCC would look at coming up with standards for speed and guidelines. The FCC would also focus on why more than three times as many people in urban areas are not connecting to high-speed Internet service compared with those in rural areas.
The government included $7.2 billion in the stimulus package for broadband, mostly for rural areas.
Chis Murray, a public advocate, stated "The proper goal of the program is filling holes in our national broadband strategy, not creating broadband networks from the ground up."
