Google (do I really need to give you a link?) will pick one or more cities nationwide to test out its “ultra-fast” broadband technology, which is reportedly up to 100 times as fast the broadband you might currently enjoy. And the good news is that a group in Lansing is already hard at work to convince Google to put Lansing at the top of its list.
The Google Fiber for Greater Lansing website is recruiting volunteers and asking people to submit anecdotes about why we need this opportunity in our area.
The roster of coalition members includes heavyweights such as the city of Lansing and surrounding communities, as well as local utilities and ACDNet. The site also has a link to Google’s form that asks people to nominate their communities - click here to nominate Lansing.
If selected, Google would install the latest fiber-optic cables to reach between 50,000 to 500,000 people in the area. In addition to the jobs created to install the state-of-the-art broadband infrastructure, having this high-speed access would give our city a tremendous competitive advantage in new media.
I just used Speedtest.net to test the connection speeds on my Broadsdtripe cable modem - download was 9.13 and upload was 1.62, which only earned me a rating of 1.9 stars out of 5. And that’s on a good day.
Test your connection, and I am sure you will agree - we need this.
Lansing is going to have to go to the mat because Ann Arbor is hot on the trail of this fiber. So will Larry (Page) put more weight on where he grew up (East Lansing) or where he went to school (Ann Arbor)? I’ve been saying for years that the city limits of East Lansing should be marked with a sign stating: Home of Larry Page, founder of Google. I see a Larry Page day in our future.
‘which only earned me a rating of 1.9 stars out of 5′
The rating you are referring to is the collective rating your connection has received through the site via user votes. It is NOT a measure of the quality of your connection. May want to correct that in the article as it is misleading to the general public. In fact, 9.13mb down 1.62 up is actually one of the better cable speeds you can get.
Thanks for the correction, Evan. The low rating is for Broadstripe’s service, I suspect. Though I re-tested today and only earned 4.75 for download and 1.54 for upload (and the good news is that the warmer weather has improved the service on my cable line).
BTW - my latest results appear to be between 65% and 70% of the ISP average, which is not so great.