Google already provides everything on the Internet, so why not access to it?

Google is getting into the broadband business, taking on the cable and telephone companies in an effort to make speedy internet access available to more people. On Wednesday, the company known best of all for its search, said that its fiber-optic broadband networks will deliver speeds of 1 gigabit per second to as many as 500,000 Americans--speeds that are more than 100 times faster than the networks that most Americans currently have access to, and more than 20 times faster than residential fiber-optic services in the US today. These experimental, ultra-fast Internet networks will be built in a handful of communities around the country (if interested, communities can apply for consideration). According to Google, the cost will be comparable to what consumers already pay for broadband from cable and telephone companies.

In a blog post, the company said the networks will let consumers download a full-length HD movie in just a few minutes. Other uses/benefits mentioned include allowing rural health providers to send 3D medical images over the Web to centralized locations for analysis.

Google already owns its own vast network of dark fiber around the globe to connect its data centers, speed up search, and lower its cost of streamlining billions of videos on YouTube. With this project, Google is taking the first step in connecting that backbone to consumers’ homes.

The company has called the effort an experiment and says it has no plans for development beyond the initial test communities. Of course, if it is successful, you can believe that Google will not only be providing your content but the connections to access it. Of course, if the experiment does not work, this all may end up like Google’s attempts at wireless networks a few years ago.

Some article links:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/11/technology/companies/11google.html?ref=technology

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-google11-2010feb11,0,4594271.story?track=rss

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704140104575057273487119574.html