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Google Fiber sets its sights on Los Angeles and Chicago
More than six million people might be getting access to Google’s famous 1Gbps internet. Today, Google publicly invited city leaders from both Los Angeles and Chicago to consider bringing Google Fiber to their respective cities.
Long the dream of high bandwidth users fed up with traditional internet service providers, Google Fiber is currently limited to eighteen major cities across the United States. Tech fans nationwide are eager to give the service a spin for themselves, but bringing Fiber to a new area isn’t as easy as turning on a switch. It takes extensive cooperation between Google and city governments, so Google must convince each city that Fiber will bring more benefit than hassle.
Google is pitching that higher internet speeds in Chicago will benefit the 40,000 pre-existing tech jobs in the area, and will probably even lure in a fair amount more. For Los Angeles, and its concern with the entertainment industry, Google is suggesting that faster internet speeds may mean artists and musicians can spend more time on their work and less time dealing with bandwidth issues, possibly shortening the gap between project releases.
This is pleasant marketing work, but really the biggest argument for Google Fiber rests in a simple fact of reality: the future will take place on the internet. If a city hopes to stay engaged and functional throughout this century, investing in better internet infrastructures and faster internet speeds is a must.
Google isn’t guaranteeing Fiber to Chicago and Los Angeles just yet. A lot depends on how city leaders will respond to this offer. In the meantime, what are your thoughts on this development? Are you a Chicago or Los Angeles denizen? What’s your current internet speed like, and what do you stand to gain from Google Fiber? Let us know in the comments!