John Gruber over at Daring Fireball grabbed a quote from the folks over at the Official Google Blog:
Google:We’re planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We’ll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.
The Google blog post itself is titled “Think big with a gig: Our experimental fiber network” and is Google’s first foray into the wide world of network infrastructure. The claimed goal is “to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone.”
I just finished a post jabbing at Google’s recent “hand in every pie” mentality, but this is one experiment I think is really great. Why? Because Google’s entire business is reliant on a fast and open internet. Youtube, for example. Increasing download speeds means people can view video faster, which improves the experience of watching video on the web. That translates to additional page views, which in turn translates to increased AdWords revenue.
This is one of those scenarios where “what’s good for Google is good for us.”
