An update on Google Fiber

googleblog.blogspot.com

28 points·peter123··6 comments

I'm moving from California out to Austin, Texas, and the one thing that I am dismayed over is the lack of FIOS in a tech community like Austin.

It comes as little surprise that Austin is pretty much smack dab in the center of the biggest "responses" circle on Google Fiber's response map: http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/static/images/map.pn...

It's too bad that none of the stimulus spending over the last couple years went to infrastructure that could actually give this country a future, like community fiber networks. Maybe some more competition from companies like Google can spur the telcos to get moving, but I highly doubt it.

There's http://www.usucan.org/ but it's not clear if or how that will help get broadband into homes.

Here is a list of Broadband Initiatives Program grants from USDA, the folks with oversight of the rural grants:

http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/Reports/RBB_report_v16.pdf

Here's one of the groups that is now building out middle-mile optical, as well as two FTTH projects:

http://www.newhampshirefastroads.net/

Now you could certainly seek to make your case for where the country's spending priorities might be improved. You'd not be the first to seek that, of course.

Milo Medin was involved early on in the @Home Network -- a profile: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/1999/01/17425

An update to say there's no update?

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