4 ms·

Why start this in Kansas City? Is this like trying to produce a future Broadway show in New Haven or San Diego, so you can work out the kinks before you go to t

• cschmidt 14y ago
  They had a big competition where lots of cities bid to be the first city, and they won. One issues was that all utilities in town are above ground on poles. They wouldn't have to bury any cables, just string them along the existing poles.
• jeffool 14y ago
  They courted communities about two years ago for this. The idea was to find an area that would work with them, and actively help. KC "won". It makes things easier, I would imagine, if an entire city council was lobbying for you.
• _delirium 14y ago
  They solicited proposals from cities (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/think-big-with-gig-our-experimental.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/think-big-with-gig-ou..., http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/next-steps-for-our-experimental-fiber.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/next-steps-for-our-ex...), and ended up choosing Kansas City as the initial site (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/ultra-high-speed-broadband-is-coming-to.html http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/ultra-high-speed-broa...). It looks like they wanted a market with between 50,000 and 500,000 subscribers as the initial one, so not NYC or SF or LA. And, wanted strong local support to avoid regulatory problems.
  • bicknergseng 14y ago
    "wanted strong local support to avoid regulatory problems." Probably the most genius part of this whole thing. It may the reason we're not hearing about the lobbying backlash someone like Uber received.
  • jonknee 14y ago
    Not to mention the ridiculous cost of digging up something like NYC.
• deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]