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Think fast, Oscar

Google Inc., never a company to stand on the cybersidelines, said today
that it will build an ultrahigh-speed broadband network and are looking for
cities and counties to apply for inclusion in the test.

This Google corporate blog

(http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/think-big-with-gig-our-experimental.html)

gives high-level details of the plans, which propose to deliver an Internet
connection to homes that’s up to 100 times faster than what's now
available.

We're talking zip-zip, lightning fast, as in full-length movie downloads in
less than five minutes. The company said it hopes to deliver speeds of up
to 1 gigabit per second, which is rocket speed compared with today's paper
airplane speeds of 3 to 12 megabits per second. (Cox Communications has
introduced 50-megabit-per-second service, but it is not typical for home
use. That's in the wind-up rubber-band balsa-wood-glider category.) Google
says the fiber network will serve between 50,000 and 500,000 customers,
depending on how it is completed.

A video of less than 1.5 minutes gives some of the details and ends with a
call to action by communities and counties. Google invites all interested
entities to apply.

They can start here:
(http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi)

The Google request for information form will be available until March 26.
Mayor Goodman, what are you waiting for?

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