Google to Cities: 1 Gbps for All – Next American City

Kansas City will be the first city to get Google Fiber’s 1 Gbps Internet connection. Credit: Pam Broviak on Flickr

From bridges to high-speed rail, the U.S. frequently lags behind other developed nations in infrastructure investment and development. One increasingly vital piece of infrastructure that has kept Americans envious is Internet speed.

Consider these numbers: The average connection speed in the U.S. is roughly 5 Mbps, or megabits per second. By comparison, South Korea’s is nearly 18 Mbps. But of course, that’s tech-savvy South Korea. What about a former communist country like Romania? The average speed there is 15 Mbps. In fact, the U.S. Internet speed ranking is a far-from-respectable 26th place.

But the country may be on track to make a comeback. Last week, Google announced the beginning of its Google Fiber services in Kansas City, chosen last year as winner of the tech giant’s search for a city to launch itself as, among many other things, an Internet service provider (ISP). Passing over cities like Austin, Texas, Google chose Kansas City, Kansas originally and enlarged its vision to also include the larger Missouri city across the river.

Since deciding on Kansas City, Google has been doing the necessary studies to roll out its fiber network. But that doesn’t mean that since the service officially began last week, residents are already happily using Google Internet.