Quote:

That genie is already out of the bottle. Every kid over the age of 12 already has their own facebook and twitter accounts along with at least a low-cost pay-as-you-go cellphone.

The advantage of a JC BOE-sponsored free internet initiative is that some parental control and filtering could be exercised on the free service. Check out the free Lincoln Park internet service for the kind of filtering that can be implemented very easily.

To deny a free internet service to low-income kids seems very regressive and repressive to me.

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I think anyone under 21 should not be on the internet there is always someone getting into trouble with that thing. Like fire it can be used for good & evil. Buy the kid a disc as you did a book and yank the cord out of the wall.

Kansas City won the first trial

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/ ... google-highspeed-20110331

That shouldn't stop JC from lobbying Google for the next round.

Also, why can't the JC BOE take a lead on this? How many students don't have internet service at home, and how much could their education benefit from having both internet service and a low-cost laptop?

The JC BOE could make a very strong case if it set aside a couple of million/year from it's budget, worked out a few deals with local employers for matching contributions or laptop donations, and cut a service deal with Google, Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile or Clear.

Whatever happened with this?

This doesn't mean Topeka is getting the fast internet...It was an April Fool's gesture.

If there's a tech company out there looking for a city to test their new water / sewer system designed to deal with flooding, I bet Jersey City would pull out all the stops!

You do have to give it to Google -- It is very funny!

Quote: Why can't we have an awesome, funny mayor who captures the attention of a huge company looking to give away free stuff? If you're going to be a joke, be a JOKE.

Damn them.

Dailyfinance

A Wrong-Headed Right-Wing Take on Broadband and Net Neutrality

By SAM GUSTIN Posted 5:45 PM 03/18/10

Faster Internet service for more people -- who would have thought that would be such an evil thing? The Obama administration's National Broadband Plan has been public for only a few days, and it's already under fire from predictable quarters.

Front and center is Mar. 15's Wall Street Journal op-ed by George Gilder, the well-known techno-gadfly supply-sider who co-founded the Discovery Institute, a conservative think tank. He blasts the broadband plan in the article and disparages network neutrality -- the idea that Internet providers shouldn't discriminate against rival content.

A "Marxist" Plot?

Characterizing Gilder's argument, his fellow Discovery co-founder Bruce Chapman writes approvingly: "Net neutrality is Orwellian. It is further evidence of America's careening drive into a planned economy -- and stagnation." This alarmist view is reminiscent of popular TV host Glenn Beck, who last fall described net neutrality as a "Marxist" plot by the Obama administration to take over the Internet.

Sounds scary. But in truth, Net neutrality is really simple: You like YouTube? Net neutrality means that -- like now -- no Internet provider will be able to block you from getting it in favor of its own video programming.

In this case, both Gilder and Chapman start off on the wrong foot by conflating Net neutrality with the new broadband plan. However, the Federal Communications Commission has made it quite clear that the net neutrality rule-making process is on a separate track from the broadband plan. But Gilder doesn't let that fact -- or myriad others, as we'll see below -- get in the way of his polemic.

"Gilder's piece is so factually inaccurate in so many different ways, it's quite difficult to know where to start," says Sascha Meinrath, director of the New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative, which favors the broadband plan as well as net neutrality.

A "Bogus Crisis"?

Gilder writes:

Under Chairman Julius Genachowski, Al Gore's old friends at the Federal Communications Commission are out to reinvent the Internet. In the name of a bogus crisis in broadband deployment, the FCC is today lathering on an array of network stimuli and subsidies as part of a new "National Broadband Plan" that will transform this current font of U.S. economic growth into a consumer of taxes and a playground for pettifogs.

Gilder, 70, begins by making a lame joke based on the old right-wing saw that Al Gore claimed to invent the Internet. This has nothing to do with his argument but rather signals the author's ideological bonafides to his audience. He then calls the state of U.S. broadband a "bogus crisis" -- a typical tactic of anti-government zealots who frequently label necessary industry regulations as "solutions without a problem."

Leave aside the weak U.S. ranking of 30th in broadband speeds among advanced countries. And never mind the fact that one-third of Americans lack broadband access. Instead, just consider what Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, which represents the nearly $200 billion consumer technology industry, has to say about the national broadband plan.

"I am pleased the Commission has addressed many of the crucial broadband and spectrum issues that are critical to innovation and confronting the looming broadband crisis," Shapiro says. "The National Broadband Plan, in addition to recent work in Congress, is key to our national competitiveness and the future of technology innovation."

Cyberwar, Porn and Scare Tactics

Nevertheless, Gilder thunders on:

This subsidy plan comes on top of previous ill-defined "network neutrality" requirements that would bar carriers from charging different prices for different forms of Internet content. Whether spam, TV programs, pornography, stolen video, movie downloads, streaming games, cyberwar intrusions or sensitive voice services, carriers of Internet packets could not discriminate among them.

Gilder's characterization of "network neutrality" is false: I've never heard an advocate of it argue that the principle should allow "spam," "cyberwar intrusions" or "stolen video." The proposed rules leave ample room from reasonable network management, both to prevent illegal content, and ensure service quality to customers.

For example, in Paragraph 138 of the FCC's Open Internet Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the following appears:

"We propose that broadband Internet access service providers may address harmful traffic or traffic unwanted by users as a reasonable network management practice. For example, blocking spam appears to be a reasonable network management practice, as does blocking malware or malicious traffic originating from malware, as well as any traffic that a particular user has requested be blocked (e.g., blocking pornography for a particular user who has asked the broadband Internet access service provider to do so)."


In fact, having clear guidelines will help providers crack down on objectionable content, according to the FCC. The point of net neutrality is to ensure that a giant broadband carrier, say, Comcast (CMCSA) -- which is about to obtain a huge content factory in NBC Universal -- shouldn't be able to discriminate against rival content on its own network. References to "spam," "cyberwar intrusions" and "stolen video" are all-too-familiar fear tactics designed to scare the public.

U.S.: Broadband Leadership?

Next, Gilder further misleads by suggesting that Net neutrality is somehow "new," or represents a "new" set of onerous government regulations. This couldn't be further from the truth: The Internet has been largely unfettered since its early days, and the amazing development of Google (GOOG), YouTube, Facebook and Twitter has been driven by the Web's open nature. That's exactly what net neutrality seeks to preserve. Ensuring online openness will continue to drive competition and innovation on the Internet, not bog it down with regulations.

Since 2001, on both the federal and state levels, the U.S. has led the world in telecom deregulation. With business investment flooding into this arena, the U.S. has accomplished a broadband miracle, with residential bandwidth up 54 fold, wireless bandwidth to consumers up 542 fold. With some $4 trillion in investment in information infrastructure and software since the crash of 2000, including nearly $500 billion in 2008, the U.S. has moved from the back of the pack in broadband Internet to world leadership in Internet bandwidth and commerce.

Gilder's claim that, thanks to deregulation, the U.S. now holds "world leadership in Internet bandwidth," is nonsense. The opposite is true, according to any number of studies, including one by the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development, which ranks the U.S. 15th in broadband penetration. "The deregulation frenzy from 2000 onward directly corresponds with the U.S.'s free-fall in our international broadband ranking over the past decade," says Meinrath.

One Internet analysis firm finds the U.S. about 30th in the world in upload and download speeds. Another study found that at the current "bogus crisis" pace, the U.S. won't catch up to South Korea, the global Internet speed leader at 20.4 mbps, for 15 years. Some leadership.

Is Google a Free-Rider?

The new broadband surge has created a heyday for such companies as Google, MySpace, Facebook, Apple, Twitter, Hulu and eBay's Skype that ride virtually free on the Internet. Supporting the neutrality campaign with new-found friends in Washington, however, Google and its allies are now more focused on neutralizing possible competition than on keeping up the broadband bonanza.

Here, Gilder invokes the myth of the free-rider problem. Everyone pays for bandwidth, including Google and the rest of the companies mentioned, which pay billions of dollars for bandwidth, servers and infrastructure. There's no such thing as a free ride. Gilder repeats a falsehood frequently used by telecom lobbyists -- and just as frequently debunked.

"Google already pays billions of dollars for the bandwidth and server capacity necessary to connect our data centers together, and then to carry traffic from those data centers to the Internet backbone," says Richard Whitt, Google's top telecom lawyer. "That is the way the Net has always operated: Each side pays for their own connection to the Net." Paying billions doesn't sound "free" to me. Or is Gilder calling Whitt a liar?

What Drives Broadband Investment?

In practice, actual network neutrality and access are determined not by the laws of the land but by the laws of network abundance and scarcity. With sufficient investment in bandwidth, carriers will have no economic incentive to exclude content from an unaffiliated provider. When bandwidth is scarce, carriers will have to allocate, ration and set priorities regardless of what the rules say, slowing everything down to the lowest common denominator. Network neutrality is particularly inappropriate for the booming wireless sector, which is the hope of underserved rural areas and needs to prioritize packets because wireless bandwidth always tends to be scarce.

What ultimately makes bandwidth scarce is Wall Street's reluctance to back the companies doing the investment. Nothing can so wither broadband investment as murky mandates from Washington. As Bret Swanson of Entropy Economics has shown, corporations critical of network neutrality invest some 10 times more on networks than do net-neutrality supporters. This is a campaign by free riders to continue the free ride.

Investment in the Internet is now in jeopardy. With capital gains taxes set to rise next year, overall investment in information technology is down some 12% since 2008, IPOs languish, and venture capital is drying up.

Let's set aside Gilder's citing of Bret Swanson of "Entropy Economics" as if Swanson is an independent source -- when he's a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute, the very outfit Gilder founded. The statement that "With sufficient investment in bandwidth, carriers will have no economic incentive to exclude content from an unaffiliated provider," is absolutely false. In today's oligopolistic broadband market, carriers have great incentives to exclude content from competing providers -- or more likely, without Net neutrality, extract higher fees for rival content. In other words, without Net neutrality, Comcast -- which says it supports the principle -- could be allowed to block YouTube in favor of its own video content.

Just look at what's happening in the cable television market: almost every month we get a new fee war between a cable company and a TV network, threatening service for millions of customers. Is this what we want the future of the Internet to look like?

If broadband lacks private investment, it's due to lack of competition in markets around the country. If a market is dominated by one or two major broadband providers -- 80% of American consumers have two or fewer broadband choices -- those companies have little incentive to invest in building out their networks. Why? Because they face no competitive threat if they don't. What the legacy broadband companies are petrified about is the government creating a competing free or low-cost network -- something explicitly referred to in the National Broadband Plan.

The response from Washington is more calls for a "public option" Internet, built by the feds and by states and municipalities to compete with the private networks neutered and neutralized by the new rules. As we've seen in Europe, which has adopted a policy of suing U.S. companies such as Microsoft and Google that are surging ahead of the continent's national champions, these public-option networks inevitably become bottlenecks for needed innovation.

The FCC's new regulatory regime amounts to a kind of cap and trade for the Internet: It will cap Internet growth and restrict Internet trade. The likely winners are lawyers and special interests leeching off the telecom and Internet industries. A 2007 study by the Brookings Institution's Robert Crandall, William Lehr and Robert Litan estimated that every one percentage point increase in broadband subscriptions by U.S. households yields nearly 300,000 new jobs. Do we really want to jeopardize this industry's cornucopia of growth?

Rat Hole as Luxury Condo

"Public option"? "Cap and trade"? Again Gilder invokes the right-wing bogeymen of the moment in a ham-handed attempt to associate the broadband plan with other Obama initiatives the right hates. And let's face it: That's what this is really about. Right-wing, anti-Obama ideologues who think government is always bad and the private sector will solve all of the nation's problems. Loath to allow Obama a victory -- even on something as benign as faster Internet for more people -- these folks do the bidding of the incumbent telecom and cable companies that are desperate to maintain control of media distribution in a time of profound change.

"These are the people who led us down the rat hole and told us that rat hole was a luxury condo," says Harold Feld, legal director at Public Knowledge. "We have a fundamental question: 'Is there a role for government in making people's lives better?' For those ideologically opposed to this idea, it is not surprising that they utterly and irrationally oppose the plan." Enough said.

Too bad we didn't get the naked guy at the Journal Square PATH station to somehow say he was doing it for Google High Speed! =========================== Google Fiber Candidates: Top 5 Desperate Cities Jeff Bertolucci Mar 26, 2010 7:15 pm What's more entertaining than the sight of civic leaders fawning all over Google for a little high-speed action? In recent weeks, cities across the U.S. have staged some fairly bizarre antics to convince Google to build its proposed 1-gigabit fiber-optic network in their area. The search giant will make its decision by the end of 2010. Naturally, when the competition is this fierce -- at least 600 communities are vying for the fiber network -- you've got to stand out. And acting a little kooky is one way to show Google you care, even if you come across as, well, a little desperate. Here are five particularly nutty publicity stunts: Duluth Nothing says "we care" quite like hypothermia. Perhaps that's what Don Ness, mayor of Duluth, Minnesota, was thinking when he jumped into icy Lake Superior in February. Question: Will Ness' plunge sway Google's execs to choose Duluth? Or will they simply ponder the George Costanza-like effects of 35-degree water on male shrinkage? Sarasota Why suffer shrinkage with you can swim with sharks? To win Google's love, Sarasota, Florida mayor Richard Clapp donned a wetsuit and took a quick dip last week in a local shark tank, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. The bonnet-head Artwork: Chip Taylorsharks were "well fed," the newspaper reports. And that's good news for the Mayor Clapp, unless he was trying to show his support for Google's dismemberment benefits. Or maybe sharks use broadband. There's a deeper meaning here somewhere. Topeka Topeka, Kansas is now...Google, Kansas! City leaders issued a February proclamation making the symbolic name change for the month of March 2010. The attention-grabbing stunt did grab headlines, but its ability to sway Google remains unclear. Let's up the ante a bit: All first-born children in Topeka shall be named "Google" for perpetuity. Do we have the gig, Google? Rancho Cucamonga Like Topeka, the Southern California city of Rancho Cucamonga chose to Googlize its name. But at least it limited its sycophancy to the city's fiber-optic campaign, which is named Rancho Googlemonga. Come to think of it, "Rancho Googlemonga" may be an improvement over the city's true name. Greenville This stunt has a rave-like feel. Greenville, South Carolina in March created a "people-powered Google chain" with more than 2,000 LED glow sticks to spell out the name "Google." It's a cool concept -- check out the video below -- if sort of freaky in a cult-like way. One thing's for sure: The folks at Google are masters of free publicity. All of this adulation -- and they've yet to lay one strand of fiber. Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter (@jbertolucci ) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com .

Would this project cost taxpayer money?

Deadline Tonight @ 8PM! March 26, Friday Why Jersey City? http://highspeedjerseycity.com/why-jersey-city/ What do you think of when you see the future? In the past, we might have said flying cars, or moving sidewalks. Today, we see the future in a seamlessly integrated network, linking together the worlds of science, education, business, civics and entertainment, accessible by everyone. We see it every day, growing up around us, being added to our world layer by layer. We also see the future in the way we now relate to the world around us, to ourselves, our families and to our neighbors. It?s a complicated future, not a utopian one, full of challenges and opportunities ? a future created and nourished and experienced by real people from all walks of life, all moving and working together. Jersey City reflects the abundant challenges, solutions, and opportunities for the future, in our neighborhoods, our schools our city and ourselves. We are equal parts big city downtown, small town neighborhood, inner city housing and regional financial and retail hub, and we?re not afraid of that. We don?t hide from our mistakes and we tackle challenges head on. In a city flush with cultural diversity and density of San Francisco , where critics see an educational system symptomatic of what is wrong, we see a chance for innovative, technology oriented problem solving that will shape the face of education for the next hundred years. Where critics see civic problems, we see a chance for citizens to organize through social media to have their voices heard and directly impact their communities. Jersey City also offers Google a complex and rich testing ground for next generation network deployment, building upon a backbone of existing infrastructure that includes miles of dark fiber. Jersey City is the future, complex and full of potential. Our population diversity, increasing national business interest and mature transportation and communications infrastructure system would provide Google a productive environment for innovation. A partnership enables unbounded opportunities to prosper, innovate and explore unforeseen opportunities. Whoever bridges the digital divide our society faces will shape our future Deploy it here and can deploy it everywhere. ?the street finds its own uses for things?-William Gibson, author Use FTTH Telepresence to give geographically separated participants (across Jersey City, NJ, US, or the World)a sense of being together in the same location. Feeding FTTH , school or hospital HD sets and displays could result in real-time streaming and interactivity for many purposes. Develop new VoiceThreading apps to provide Jersey City with real-time, multiple community interactivity that aggregates various media formats for community feedback. Remarks are added by means of microphone, webcam, keyboard, or phones. The resulting animation contains the original and the commentary. Start-up internet service providers couild deploy wi-fi nodes at competitive pricing for non-broadband adopters and cell phone users among low-income and marginalized homes. High speed fiber transparency through municipal networks or metropolitan area networks (MAN) throughout Jersey City could be imagined that would rival London, England or Geneva, Switzerland. New Jersey City University could incubate start-ups faster and geo-presence would not limit their development. Small business entrepreneurs could utilize high speed fiber for developing co-working spaces. High speed fiber will enlarge the possibilities of new apps in our work force development in educational services, health care and social assistance which make up 20% of the industries in Jersey City(Source: Jersey City, New Jersey Selected Economic Characteristics: 2006-2008-US Census). New apps focusing on augmented reality and crowdsourcing will benefit from FTTH, enlarging our personal identity. FTTH will increase entertainment possibilities for music, movies and gaming enthusiasts. FTTH will make cyberinfrastructure and high-computing possible as grid computing (linked personal computers) nearly rivals super-computers of the past. New telemedicine apps could utilize real time streaming from remote locations around the world for diagnostic applications with high speed fiber. Jersey City competes with NYC for Wall Street services and high speed fiber would be one more reason for companies to re-locate here creating new jobs. Jersey City condos could use high speed fiber access to attract residents, most whom commute to NYC from downtown. We have a nationally ranked High school but there are over 100 languages spoken throughout our schools. Got an app for that? Our healthcare system serves people from all over the world. Got an app for that? We have more dark fiber infrastructure than Topeka, Cleveland and Pittsburgh combined. Run some apps on that? We have a vibrant community of activists that are organizing to do what government can?t . Watch us develop an app for this! New apps development in education, healthcare, start-ups, business, community, entertainment, environment, government and more, await Google and Jersey City!

Deadline Tonight @ 8PM! March 26, Friday Why Jersey City? http://highspeedjerseycity.com/why-jersey-city/ What do you think of when you see the future? In the past, we might have said flying cars, or moving sidewalks. Today, we see the future in a seamlessly integrated network, linking together the worlds of science, education, business, civics and entertainment, accessible by everyone. We see it every day, growing up around us, being added to our world layer by layer. We also see the future in the way we now relate to the world around us, to ourselves, our families and to our neighbors. It?s a complicated future, not a utopian one, full of challenges and opportunities ? a future created and nourished and experienced by real people from all walks of life, all moving and working together. Jersey City reflects the abundant challenges, solutions, and opportunities for the future, in our neighborhoods, our schools our city and ourselves. We are equal parts big city downtown, small town neighborhood, inner city housing and regional financial and retail hub, and we?re not afraid of that. We don?t hide from our mistakes and we tackle challenges head on. In a city flush with cultural diversity and density of San Francisco , where critics see an educational system symptomatic of what is wrong, we see a chance for innovative, technology oriented problem solving that will shape the face of education for the next hundred years. Where critics see civic problems, we see a chance for citizens to organize through social media to have their voices heard and directly impact their communities. Jersey City also offers Google a complex and rich testing ground for next generation network deployment, building upon a backbone of existing infrastructure that includes miles of dark fiber. Jersey City is the future, complex and full of potential. Our population diversity, increasing national business interest and mature transportation and communications infrastructure system would provide Google a productive environment for innovation. A partnership enables unbounded opportunities to prosper, innovate and explore unforeseen opportunities. Whoever bridges the digital divide our society faces will shape our future Deploy it here and can deploy it everywhere. ?the street finds its own uses for things?-William Gibson, author Use FTTH Telepresence to give geographically separated participants (across Jersey City, NJ, US, or the World)a sense of being together in the same location. Feeding FTTH , school or hospital HD sets and displays could result in real-time streaming and interactivity for many purposes. Develop new VoiceThreading apps to provide Jersey City with real-time, multiple community interactivity that aggregates various media formats for community feedback. Remarks are added by means of microphone, webcam, keyboard, or phones. The resulting animation contains the original and the commentary. Start-up internet service providers couild deploy wi-fi nodes at competitive pricing for non-broadband adopters and cell phone users among low-income and marginalized homes. High speed fiber transparency through municipal networks or metropolitan area networks (MAN) throughout Jersey City could be imagined that would rival London, England or Geneva, Switzerland. New Jersey City University could incubate start-ups faster and geo-presence would not limit their development. Small business entrepreneurs could utilize high speed fiber for developing co-working spaces. High speed fiber will enlarge the possibilities of new apps in our work force development in educational services, health care and social assistance which make up 20% of the industries in Jersey City(Source: Jersey City, New Jersey Selected Economic Characteristics: 2006-2008-US Census). New apps focusing on augmented reality and crowdsourcing will benefit from FTTH, enlarging our personal identity. FTTH will increase entertainment possibilities for music, movies and gaming enthusiasts. FTTH will make cyberinfrastructure and high-computing possible as grid computing (linked personal computers) nearly rivals super-computers of the past. New telemedicine apps could utilize real time streaming from remote locations around the world for diagnostic applications with high speed fiber. Jersey City competes with NYC for Wall Street services and high speed fiber would be one more reason for companies to re-locate here creating new jobs. Jersey City condos could use high speed fiber access to attract residents, most whom commute to NYC from downtown. We have a nationally ranked High school but there are over 100 languages spoken throughout our schools. Got an app for that? Our healthcare system serves people from all over the world. Got an app for that? We have more dark fiber infrastructure than Topeka, Cleveland and Pittsburgh combined. Run some apps on that? We have a vibrant community of activists that are organizing to do what government can?t . Watch us develop an app for this! New apps development in education, healthcare, start-ups, business, community, entertainment, environment, government and more, await Google and Jersey City!

yes, JC government is working on the municipal application and a resolution will come before the city council (tonight?) to support the application.

see the city website for more info here - http://cityofjerseycity.com/resident.aspx?id=6200

the city is conducting a survey to provide a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) file showing Google exactly where interest in high speed internet service is located. take survey here - http://mygovhelp.com/JERSEYCITYNJ/takeSurvey.asp?surveyID=5


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Quote: Yes. JC gov't working to submit app while highspeedjerseycity is core group of volunteers working for last 2 weeks on web site and related submission app as "community group". Submit comments why JC should be selected, what you would do with 1Gig fiber, ideas, etc, on Google Fiber To The Home (FTTH) both at our site and google "Nominate Your Community" button which is link on site above. http://highspeedjerseycity.com/

Does anyone know if someone from city hall has filled out the process or have already started the government response? Just wondering as the deadline is the 26th.

Also noticed that an official site is up...

http://highspeedjerseycity.com/

The Wiz: *love* the Colgate/Google clock! Meantime, I've applied for JC consideration.

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+1!

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Well done.

I was bored and decided to make a crude rendering of a transformed Colgate Clock :) http://lh3.ggpht.com/_RmCwE_owFfw/S56 ... 2v_ebNA/JCgoogleClock.gif

U.S. Cities In 43 States Vying For Google Fiber

POSTED BY KATHY GILL IN SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY.
MAR 15TH, 2010

More than 100 cities and counties in 43 states have official and unofficial efforts to develop a pitch for Google?s fiber contest by 26 March. Apparently missing: Delaware, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island and Wyoming. But there?s an unofficial Facebook page for Washington, DC.

On 10 February, Google announced that it was ?planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States.? The company explained:

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.

Of course, Google is mum on how it?s really going to make the decision although it has an FAQ. And it?s getting a pile of data: the public citizen form will help it assess broadband availability in a way that?s not possible from public statements from Verizon or Comcast, for example.

Cash-strapped city officials understand the competitive advantage that a high-speed broadband initiative can mean for economics, both business activity and in-migration attractiveness. It will be interesting to see how many cities with official pitches to Google continue to seek ways to fund this infrastructure when they don?t win the Google prize.

This project is an interesting intersection of business and government as well as citizen action and government. There are lots of folks with Facebook accounts who want their governments to be proactive in improving Internet access. What?s sad is that most of them have had no response from a city official ? the walls are empty of public official interaction. I hope some of these activists resist the temptation to be discouraged by the lack of attention and, instead, run for office to kick the stick-in-the-muds out!

Here?s my list of reported applicants by state. If you know of others, please add as a comment (along with a link that documents the effort) and I?ll integrate into this list.

City names link to an official page; otherwise, there is a news link or a Facebook page. Some FB pages are citizen-run campaigns, not official city pages. I?ve not included fan or group pages that are incomplete or that have only a handful of supporters.

Alabama
Huntsville (news, Facebook)

Akaska
Anchorage

Arizona
Gilbert (Facebook ? unofficial)
Tempe (news)

California
Alameda (news)
Chico (Facebook ? unofficial)
Davis (Facebook ? unofficial)
Fresno (news)
Merced (news)
Nevada City
Petaluma (Facebook ? unofficial)
San Luis Obispo (Facebook ? unofficial)
Santa Clarita (Facebook)
Santa Cruz (event)
Ventura (Facebook)
Westlake Village (Facebook ? unofficial)

Colorado
Boulder (Facebook)

Connecticut
Newhaven

Delaware

Florida
Gainesville (news)
Orlando
Sarasota (Facebook)
St. Petersburg (Facebook ? unofficial)

Georgia
Atlanta (Facebook ? unofficial)
Decatur (news)
Hawaii
Gigabit Hawaii

Idaho
Boise (news)

Illinois
Evanston
Peoria (news, Facebook)
Quincy (Facebook)
Urbana-Champaign (Facebook)

Indiana
Anderson (Facebook)
Indianapolis
South Bend (news)
Westfield (Facebook ? unofficial)

Iowa
Ames (Facebook ? unofficial)
Clinton (Facebook)
Des Moines
Dubuque (Facebook ? unofficial)
Iowa City (Facebook ? unofficial)

Kansas
Topeka (news, Facebook)
Kentucky

Lexington (Facebook ? unofficial)

Louisiana
Baton Rouge (news, Facebook)
New Orleans (Facebook ? unofficial; Twitter)

Maine

Maryland
Baltimore (news)
Massachusetts
Newburyport (Facebook, Twitter)

Michigan
Ann Arbor (news)
Birmingham (news, Facebook)
Detroit (news)
Grand Rapids (news-pdf, Facebook)
Holland (Facebook)
Kalamazoo (Facebook)
Lansing and East Lansing (Facebook ? unofficial)
Muskegon (Facebook)

Minnesota
Duluth (news, Facebook, YouTube)
Shakopee (Facebook ? unofficial)

Mississippi

Missouri
Columbia (Facebook)
Kansas City (news)
Kirksville (news, Facebook)
St. Louis (news, Facebook)

Montana
Billings (news)
Bozeman (news)
Butte (news)
Missoula (news)

Nebraska

Omaha (news)

Nevada
Las Vegas (news)

New Hampshire

New Jersey
Jersey City (news)

New Mexico
Sante Fe (Facebook ? unofficial)

New York
Buffalo (Facebook ? unofficial)
Ontario County (news)
Rochester (news, Facebook ? unofficial)

North Carolina
Asheville (Facebook ? unofficial)
Chapel Hill and Carrboro (news)
Durham (Facebook ? unofficial)
Greensboro (Facebook)
Raleigh (Facebook ? unofficial)

North Dakota

Ohio
Cincinnati (news, Facebook)
Delaware County (news)

Oklahoma
Stillwater (Facebook ? unofficial)

Oregon
Hood River (news)

Portland

Pennsylvania
Allentown (Facebook ? unofficial)
Philadelphia (news)

Rhode Island
Broadband stimulus grant leaves RI munis uninterested?

South Carolina
Greenville (news)

South Dakota
Rapid City (news)

Tennessee
Knoxville (news)

Memphis (news, Facebook)

Texas
Austin (Facebook)
Longview (Facebook ? unofficial)
McKinney (news)

Utah
Park City (Facebook)
Provo (Facebook ? unofficial)
UTOPIA consortium of 16 (news)

Vermont
Burlington (Facebook)

Virginia
Charlottesville
Fairfax County

Washington
Bellevue (news)
Bellingham (news, Facebook)
Kirkland (news)
Renton (news)
Seattle
Spokane (Facebook ? unofficial)
Walla Walla
West Virginia
Garrett County
Huntington
Morgantown (Facebook)

Wisconsin
Appleton (Facebook ? unofficial)
Madison (news, Facebook, Twitter)
Milwaukee (news)

Wyoming
Placeholder

Link with all the town links
http://themoderatevoice.com/65926/u-s ... s-vying-for-google-fiber/

I know the prices probably wont be cheap, but it will bring more competition to JC which is good.

I had good hopes for JC, but after seeing "Google, Kansas" and a Mayor jumping into water; compared to us just asking people to nominate. Doubt it. For the spirit of Google, i nominate to throw our mayor into the Hudson.

Does anyone know exactly what is being done to bring Google's broadband network into Jersey City? This project is so important to the community that the JC government should hire a czar to deal with it. Seriously. Almost like what some cities do to lure the Olympics. I believe it's that important.

Think better education all around, better hospital/health care, more investment by business, better mobile device experience......

We need to pull together as a community and get this thing done.

If anyone has suggestions on how we can help this process please post.......

Yeah, you are missing it - this is not about getting free internet - we already pay for that (for you) at the library.

Quote:

Am I missing something here? I have yet to see the words "free" or "wireless" in any of these articles about this Google thing.

I keep seeing the term "fiber optics" which suggests cables. Also, I could have sworn I saw something about a "nominal fee".

Somebody correct me if I'm off base here. But if I'm right, then what's everyone so excited about?

Let's offer to change Newark Avenue to Google Avenue -- and I'm also fine with changing the Colgate Clock to the Google Clock!!! How does Google City grab people?

Quote:

Are they serious with this...
http://www.google.com/tisp/install.html

Looks like Fulop is campaigning to get Google's new Fiber Broadband experiment here in Jersey City!

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... _fulop_pushing_to_ge.html

Here's some more info on Google's plans:
http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/10/google-fiber-optic-network-home/

And here's a link where you can vote for your community:
http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi

Pass it along!

i really hope this happens. not sure what the pricing is going to be like, but at the very least it should have an effect on the competition, of which there is too little. i currently get my internet from comcast and i just got a letter in the mail saying they're going to be raising their prices, shortly after my "introductory" price expired. i'm now going to be paying almost $60/month for internet access which is absolutely ridiculous. i'm going to be call them and see if i can't get that lowered to $50/month or else i will have to seriously consider switching service, but what else is there? verizon DSL? FIOS is not available in my area.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/191051 ... er_draws_another_bid.html

Google Fiber Draws Another Bid

Sarah Jacobsson
Mar 8, 2010 9:54 pm

Sarasota has entered the Google Fiber race for super-high-speed Internet by renaming City Island "Google Island."

This announcement comes less than a week after Topeka, Kansas was renamed "Google, Kansas -- the capital city of fiber optics."

In early February, Google announced plans to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a number of communities across the United States. Google said it expects to bring high-speed Internet service (with speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second) to between 50,000 and 500,000 people, and asked that local governments and residents nominate their communities as trial locations.

A number of cities across the United States have been vying for Google's fiber networks, including Cincinnati; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Rochester, New York; and Jersey City, New Jersey -- but a couple have managed to stand out with their gimmicks. Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten signed a proclamation on March 1 declaring that his city will be renamed "Google" for the duration of March (none of the seven council members present at the signing objected to the renaming).

In response to Topeka's attention-grabbing stunt, the city officials of Duluth, Minnesota posted a spoof video on Youtube of a press conference in which they declared that every first born male in the city would be renamed "Google Fiber," while every first born female would be renamed "Googlette Fiber." Take a look:



Another video features Duluth Mayor Don Ness jumping into a 35-degree Lake Superior to show his support for Google's endeavor (and for the Special Olympics).

Now, Sarasota, Florida has responded to both Topeka and Duluth with a video of its own -- a video that declares Topeka's view boring, Duluth's weather freezing, and Sarasota "Paradise." (Apparently, people would rather move to Sarasota than Topeka or Duluth, and Google should too.)

Why Sarasota? The city is home to a "booming digital film industry," said a ca

Artwork: Chip Taylormpaign representative, citing computer animations school Ringling College of Art and Design and medical animation company BioLucid Productions. High-speed internet would help by accelerating the transmission, broadcast, and streaming of the large files created in the digital film industry.
The campaign encourages local residents to get involved by nominating Sarasota as a trial community, and to show their support by joining the "I Want Google Fiber in Sarasota" Facebook group.

In fact, more than 200 Facebook groups are dedicated to bringing Google Fiber to communities all over the United States. Among the contenders: Las Vegas, Detroit, and Boise, Idaho.

See more like this: google, networks, industry news

http://www.pcworld.com/article/191051 ... er_draws_another_bid.html