Generally, the announcement that a new Internet service and cable provider is moving into your hometown isn’t big news, but when that provider is Google, people get excited. Why would anyone do a happy dance over the tech giant creating a new Internet service in your city?
It’s safe to say few of us actually have a cordial relationship with our current cable provider, and Google is hoping to alleviate that problem.
Google Fiber is a cable and Internet service currently testing in several markets throughout the country. Just this week, Google announced it will finally make serious inroads into the Southeast with Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham getting Google Fiber in 2015. There are several reasons why Google’s expansion into cable and internet service is a big deal — competition with companies like Cox and Comcast is just one.
Aside from incredible 1-gigabit-per-second download speeds offered at a fairly reasonable price, Google is also offering free — albeit much slower — service for up to seven years. This is why Google’s expansion into the cable and Internet service provider world is so intriguing. In my hometown of Atlanta, for example, Google plans to provide service to several low-income neighborhoods near the downtown area, giving residents the opportunity to receive Internet service — in some cases for free.
If we start looking at the Internet as a crucial service in today’s world, it becomes all the more important to make sure all of our communities have access to some sort of high-speed Internet. Last year, the U.S. Census Bureau analyzed Internet access throughout the country and found some troubling statistics. Only 53.7 percent of people with less than a high school diploma have access to Internet at home. For those making $25,000 or less per year, that number drops to 48.4 percent.
When you have access to the Internet, it’s easy to ignore the millions of Americans who don’t, and so few of us have the ability to alleviate the problem for low-income Americans. If you look at your monthly Internet bill, it’s easy to see why those of lesser means eschew Internet service: It’s expensive.
There are a few solutions to this problem, and Google is starting to provide one of them. We need additional competition in the world of high-speed Internet access. Generally, when you move into a house or apartment, you have precious few options, which drives prices up due to a lack of real competition. Bringing Google Fiber into the mix provides competition to existing cable companies, especially when it can provide free access for seven years.
The other option will certainly upset some pro-business folks, but in cities without new services like Google Fiber, it may be the best one: Turn Internet service into a public utility. Before you start screaming “socialism,” some American cities — including Gainesville — are starting to do this, and it may be working. The city of Chattanooga offers 1-gigabit-per-second download speeds for roughly the same price as Google Fiber, which is 50 times as fast as the average Internet speed in the U.S. As a result, Chattanooga is attracting tech companies to set up shop, and younger Americans are flocking to this burgeoning tech hub.
Gainesville Regional Utilities is offering a similar high-speed Internet service called Gator Net, but it’s only available in select areas throughout Gainesville. While it’s not Chattanooga, Gainesville and GRU certainly understand that 1-gigabit-per-second download speeds is exactly what cities need to attract new, high-tech jobs to the area.
We can keep fighting with Cox, Comcast or whichever service sends your blood pressure through the roof each month, or we can embrace a future with a variety of options, whether it’s Google, GRU or some other service. For the country to make a leap into the future, we need to make sure all of our citizens have access to affordable, high-speed Internet and that the service provided is second-to-none.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to pay my Internet bill.
Joel Mendelson is a second-year UF political campaigning graduate student. His column appears on Fridays.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 1/30/2015 under the headline “Google Fiber is Internet of the future"]
