How Google Fiber Works

The existence of Google Fiber and other gigabit providers seems to be spurring the competition to increase available services and speeds to consumers in the areas where they have higher-speed options -- often at lower prices, too. Places without fiber networks sometimes pay massively more per Mbps than those with fiber, especially for business service. This makes having fiber, especially gigabit fiber, a distinct competitive advantage for cities trying to attract industry. Some cities are even taking matters into their own hands by building their own fiber networks, or trying to convince private companies to do so. It's possible that a lot of areas will be seeing near-gigabit networks from entities other than Google, and at reasonable prices.

Potential uses for incredibly high-speed Internet include the things a lot of people will think of, such as watching high-definition video with no delays or buffering, faster response times in online gaming, seamless video conferencing and very fast software download times. These will be nice for the typical customer, but could also lead to great things from heavy users. Researchers in academia and industry could collaborate with each other worldwide in real-time, possibly resulting in important discoveries. Artists could do the same, leading to some incredible creative endeavors. Online education could improve by leaps and bounds. And who knows what IT entrepreneurs will come up with?

Google's own stated aims in launching its experimental fiber network are to spur the creation of next-generation apps and services, learn new fiber optic network deployment techniques, provide a shared open-access network to give users a choice of service providers and make Internet access better and faster for all [source: Google Official Blog]. Hopefully more of us will be able partake of this vision in the near future.

Author's Note: How Google Fiber Works

I'm really looking forward to both gigabit Internet speeds and having a meaningful choice of broadband providers. Right now the choices in my neighborhood are 30 Mbps cable or 1 Mbps DSL. For an IT professional who streams movies voraciously, that's not really a choice at all.

Sure, initially it might just mean an end to buffering video and slow software downloads. But I can also see all kinds of possibilities for online collaboration in areas like scientific research, graphic arts, film and other fields where people do things that take a lot of bandwidth. While I may not be at the forefront of these advancements, I can silently applaud them, and support them by paying into the network. Well, that is when we get faster speeds here. For now, I'll just have to content myself with 30 Mbps Netflix binge-viewing sessions.

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