Kansas City gets Google’s ultra high-speed network

By Tribune staff report
Posted March 30 at 11:33 a.m.

Google Inc. said Wednesday it has selected Kansas City, Kan., as the first  site for its ultra-fast broadband network.

The upgrade is part of a project Google announced last year to provide a community with Internet access more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have today. Google said nearly 1,100 cities applied.

“In selecting a city, our goal was to find a location where we could build efficiently, make an impact on the community and develop relationships with local government and community organizations. We’ve found this in Kansas City,” Google said on its official blog.

Pending approval from the Kansas City’s board of commissioners, Google plans to offer service beginning in 2012. The company said it is also looking at ways to bring ultra high-speed Internet to other cities across the country.

“We can’t wait to see what new products and services will emerge as Kansas City moves from traditional broadband to ultra high-speed fiber optic connections,” Google said.

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17 comments:

  1. Saa March 30 at 12:10 pm

    Shocking just shocking that a company would not select a town in Illinois. With our lovely political machine churning away, Google should come here just to appreciate how much lower taxes are everywhere else.

  2. Mustaphap March 30 at 12:14 pm

    Instead they will now appreciate a state whose people have been edumacated in the both sciences of creationism and intelligent design.

    Fair deal.

  3. McDuff March 30 at 12:21 pm

    They also didn’t choose towns in 48 other states, Saa. Lighten up. Try to see some good in the world.

  4. danny March 30 at 12:39 pm

    Noticed they didn’t disclose a price?

  5. Dirty Harold March 30 at 1:19 pm

    They did not disclose a price, but I;’d gladly wager it is less than the ripoff artists better known as AT&T.

  6. Chris March 30 at 1:34 pm

    They MAY be halfway through planning the network. A commercial price for service comes a long way after the stage they are currently on…..

    Saa- Don’t pretend that the business climate in Illinois is not a variable that impacts decisions for projects like these.

  7. Otis March 30 at 1:46 pm

    Pity, I had nominated the City of Aurora, IL and thought it was a decent suggestion, since we are 2nd largest in IL, are close to the big national labs (Fermi and Argonne), have manufacturers like Telllabs and Westell in the area, etc.

    Oh well, let’s see how well Google enjoys working with the ultra-hard-right-wing element of KC, KS! I’ve worked down there, it’s not nice…..*******-city, you can barely hear for all the Bible-thumping going on. Good luck, Google.

  8. Greenspam March 30 at 1:55 pm

    Great! Folks in Kansas can now access videos from Fox News faster! Technology marches on, intelligence lags behind.

  9. reilly3 March 30 at 2:12 pm

    “Ha-lay-loo-yuh! Jeebus done brought us The Google!”

    –Cletus, the Slack-Jawed Yokel

  10. Aaron March 30 at 3:13 pm

    What all of you fail to realize is that KC,KS is not the backwater hick town you think it is. That would be Topeka and Wichita. KC,KS is more or less the “Gary, IN” of KS. It is not a pleasant place. Bible thumping is not what you hear, its gunshots and police sirens. My wife and I lived in one of the nice, quite KC suburbs south of KC,KS for a few years. Every time we heard about a murder or big drug bust, rest assured, it was in KC,KS. I just don’t get why Google chose KC,KS. It just doesn’t seem like a real computer-savvy town to me. They are probably getting a sweetheart deal from Wyandotte County.

  11. Montemalone March 30 at 3:50 pm

    Great. Now they can download bible verses at lightning speed!

  12. Tom Callahan March 30 at 4:16 pm

    What’s the big deal? The internets is just a series of tubes. Did the Googles make bigger tubes? I could’ve done that.

  13. Gil March 30 at 4:38 pm

    With huge lobbyists like Comcast and AT&T, it will be a VERY long time before this kind of technology ever comes to the Chicago area.

  14. Bill March 30 at 4:45 pm

    Kansas City is home to Sprint. They will likely use their infrastructure to test the products out along with help Sprint from a competitive advantage standpoint. OR… This is the first step in the due diligence process for them to acquire Sprint.

  15. Tom Callahan March 30 at 4:51 pm

    Bill, that would be curious. Sprint recent inked a deal to exclusively use Microsoft 7 OS for new smart phones. Google uses Android OS.

  16. Tom Callahan March 30 at 4:53 pm

    Bill, my bad I confused Sprint and handset maker Nokia.

  17. Roger March 30 at 5:02 pm

    Actually Sprint in headquartered in Overland Park, KS, as is Garmin. Overland Park is a suburb of KC just south of the city.