[GRLUG] Google and Kansas City

[Michael Mol]

I have a real, genuine fear that we're going about this with a
*severe* case of myopia.

I had difficulty navigating the web in 2007 on dial-up, with image
bugs, large banner ads, huge JavaScript loads, large CSS loads,
fifteen 5k or so avatar images whenever you visit a forum thread--even
auto-play video video advertisements...Imagine how bad it is now.
There are places within twenty miles of here which can't get cable,
DSL, or even a reliable cell signal.

Those involved in designing web services purchase very high-end
network connections, get accustomed to those connections, and then
*design* for those connections. It's a really bad self-reinforcing
loop. Much like how software got slower as computers got faster, but
it's much harder to raise the median Internet connection speed than it
is to raise the median computer speed.

There is a not-insignificant fraction of the population in America
itself which is still going to be completely out of reach of even
10Mb/s Internet commercial services in ten years, and people gripe
that our municipality isn't acting like those which take out a 25-year
mortgage on their own essential services infrastructure to "give" us
access to gigabit broadband connections below cost.

I can't be the only one who's noticing this. In order for a
bound-to-the-Internet economy to be sustainable, Internet services
need to be virtually ubiquitous, and essential activities need to be
manageable on lower-end Internet connections.

On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 9:46 PM, Bob Kline <bob.kline at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/03/google-bestows-1gbps-fiber-network-on-kansas-city-kansas.ars
> This gives a good summary about
> why Google is doing this.  It thinks
> it needs higher speeds to support
> future projects.  And it clearly sees
> that the existing big providers are
> digging in, not providing higher speeds,
> and not above not letting others do
> it either.
> It will be interesting to see how this
> plays out.  Chattanooga, TN, already
> has a 1Gbps system.
>    -- Bob
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