Mayor Pike
Google announced Wednesday, February 10, that it is planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States.
The networks would deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than the average U.S. Internet connection, according to Google’s announcement, and the service would be offered to between 50,000 and 500,000 people.
They’ve asked local government and the public to offer up proposals through March 26 to take part in the project.
Here’s a video on it from Google:
“The first blush reaction was, well first of all more speed is a better thing for the city because it helps us in terms of attracting economic development,” Mayor Pike said.
He also noted that it would be a good public relations tool for the city.
“I think people would pay attention to us in a way they don’t now,” he said.
The project has also sparked the creation of a Facebook group created by Bellingham residents excited for the city to seek the network. The group, “Bring Google Fiber for Communities to Bellingham,” currently has more than 200 members.
Pike’s piqued interest is shared by new Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, who announced Thursday, Feb. 11, that his administration would also respond to Google.
Said the McGinn administration:
Google’s vision of a fiber-to-the-home network with open access is very similar to McGinn’s plan to connect every home and business in Seattle with a fiber broadband network. McGinn has already created an internal city government task force of utility and technology leaders to create a plan for realizing this plan. That task force will also prepare a response to Google’s RFI.
In Bellingham, any work toward a proposal to Google is in the very early stages, said Information Technology Services Department Director Marty Mulholland.
Said Mulholland, who sent an e-mail my way this morning despite being on vacation:
• Any discussion of this is very early (thank you for being aware of that).
• The City has received a number of contacts from interested members of the public regarding potential participation
Mayor Pike has asked that we take a look at this to determine general feasibility and issues.• Some basic issues to be determined to figure out whether this would be viable. Examples include the status of our conduit, use of utility poles, regulatory requirements, etc. Other factors to determine viability have to do with our weather patterns, existing broadband in the community, our housing profile, etc.
• Preparation of a response to this RFI will require significant resource commitments, and will also require support from the community.
• Our first step will be to have some internal discussions related to our infrastructure, our general viability, and impacts of exploring this further.
• With all of that being said, I do think the prospect of being a City with super-high-speed broadband is intriguing and exciting. We have many community attributes that seem to me to be positive in considering whether to take this on. Our community size, presence of University, commitment to “green”, presence of specific business types, active engaged citizens, and beautiful desirable community setting all seem to me to be positive factors.
February 12th, 2010 at 2:02 PM
Sam,
Did they hear about it from you?
February 12th, 2010 at 2:09 PM
This is off subject a tiny little bitty but I’s been thinkin of me kin folk buried under the snow back east so this be for them;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u03QcymdCtg&feature=player_embedded
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
February 12th, 2010 at 2:16 PM
Dave - a great question because it sorta has a funny answer! I e-mailed the mayor after you contacted me and what I got back was “You’re behind me” from the mayor lol. He forwarded me a chain of e-mails. A few residents had already contacted his office prior to me forwarding it on and he asked the ITS director to look into it with staff.
February 12th, 2010 at 3:11 PM
This would be an exciting thing to be a part of. There are many reasons why this community would be a good fit for it as well.
February 12th, 2010 at 4:02 PM
Back in the 90’s, Grant County’s PUD made TONS of money by selling hydro power to California when they were going through those rolling brownouts. So much so by the late 90’s, that they decided to spend it on building a high-speed fiber optic network direct to residents and businesses at a time when DSL was just beginning to supercede dial-up.
The results?
They’re a hot area for datacenters, and schools are amazingly more tech-savvy than they had been previously. Not to mention the benefit any business with high data demands gets from merely operating out there.
Hope Bellingham can experience something like that, too.
February 12th, 2010 at 4:44 PM
So this extraordinary speed would only be available through a Google server.
No ordinary link to an ordinary server would allow any speed faster than that server decides.
February 12th, 2010 at 4:45 PM
I’m pretty sure Comcast and Qwest wouldn’t spend an unexpected windfall on something like that. Yay public utilities.
February 12th, 2010 at 4:52 PM
A pretty good way to establish the hierarchy of Google servers network.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
February 12th, 2010 at 5:22 PM
bikerbob,
Do you know how this got around so fast?
Twitter.
February 12th, 2010 at 7:13 PM
Imagine a community where every school kid could take his/her electronic book/calculator/lesson planner home and access a safe educational network. Imagine their parents checking that homework, and maybe learning some things themselves whle the kids sleep.
I would hope that Google, and our city, have the insight to allow a channel or two for public education access.
February 12th, 2010 at 7:37 PM
More information equals more freedom.
February 12th, 2010 at 7:44 PM
I’d better get Dan’s email addy, so I can be timely.
February 12th, 2010 at 8:09 PM
Citizen, any web server could upgrade their speeds if they wanted. In fact, I’m sure Google would encourage their competitors to do so - they realize that bringing more stuff online makes Google money, even if other companies are doing it.
February 12th, 2010 at 10:50 PM
OMG, this would be so very, very supercalafragilisticexpialadocious!!!
Just imagine all of the super cool, high-bandwidth applications Google will be testing on this network!
This would be such a huge benefit for the city!
February 13th, 2010 at 12:30 AM
At first thought this seems an excellent opportunity — especially if city money is not needed. Is it?
Once the network is up and running, what would be the cost to the city to continue, compared with present cost?
If the network is to be connected with others outside Google, what type of security/responsibility would there be from Google and others for sensitive county data?
Is the service to be offered only to municipalities and/or government or corporate entities, or will individuals be allowed to hook up later? At what anticipated cost?
As I said, it seems an excellent opportunity, but the mayor is right to take a bit of time for questions to be answered before jumping right in….
February 13th, 2010 at 12:35 AM
At first thought this seems an excellent opportunity — especially if city money is not needed. Is it?
Once the network is up and running, what would be the cost to the city to continue, compared with present cost?
If the network is to be connected with others outside Google, what type of security/responsibility would there be from Google and others for sensitive city data?
Is the service to be offered only to municipalities and/or government or corporate entities, or will individuals be allowed to hook up later? At what anticipated cost?
Is the county interested in participating?
As I said, it seems an excellent opportunity, but the mayor is right to take a bit of time for questions to be answered before jumping right in….
February 13th, 2010 at 1:13 AM
My apologies to the board. I tried to change one word from “county” to “city” and ended up sending two nearly identical messages…. After thinking about it, decided I needed to apologize.
February 13th, 2010 at 8:31 AM
Updating existing server speeds involves adding bandwidth universally,
and no server that isn’t connected through a fiber-optic system can do that and still allow almost universal access.
Waiting in line for server capacity seems like a pain until you realize that through restricted bandwidth,
everyone gets a try at the information stored within.
That Google will have dedicated servers connected restrictively to a finite network is the only method currently available for radically increasing that bandwidth.
It’s a good start at competing with existing internet systems.
February 13th, 2010 at 10:44 AM
Plus, I think it will be an open-source network that others can use. Besides that, we’re talking fiber optics to each and every home on the network!
I don’t care how much it costs — this will bring a revolution in broadband communications and high-bandwidth applications. The possibilities are mind-boggling.
Google is one of the epicenters of innovation and creativity that promises to radically transform our worlds for the better. This represents an opportunity of gargantuan proportions for the City of Bellingham, and we should all get behind this effort.
February 13th, 2010 at 1:13 PM
Don’t forget that Google also collects and stores information on everything you do on-line.
And provides that information for fun, profit and prosecution at their whim.
February 13th, 2010 at 1:25 PM
I second what citizen says. I agree with Todd 100% about the upsides, but I am surprised at Todd’s disclaimerless embracing of the corporate domination of Google. They are an advertizing company first and foremost, a provider of what we want as a secondary mission.
February 13th, 2010 at 11:58 PM
You mean Google is a big, bad, and ugly monopolistic force that seeks to ruin our lives by taking over the internet, while supporting net neutrality? Ever visit their campus? It’s awesome.
Plus, their employees get to hear the most amazing talks (for free), and now you can too.
Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/user/AtGoogleTalks
February 14th, 2010 at 1:52 AM
Google wanting to upgrade Bellingham’s bandwidth capabilities is about a dangerous as REI wanting to upgrade the Bellingham YMCA’s rock wall, or Ryzex wanting to improve Bellingham’s recycling programs.
We could always say no, but I don’t see any downside that would remotely justify doing so.
February 14th, 2010 at 7:16 AM
Who ever said Google was dangerous, big, bad or ugly?
I don’t see any words to that effect anywhere on the board.
What I do see is a note of the fact that Google is a collector and re-seller of private information to boost their advertiser value.
Its upgrade of the server network for a few local residents and the government infrastructure is a worthy experiment.
February 14th, 2010 at 9:03 AM
There is already a fiber network that was built in Bellingham, the city shut it down 5 years ago, the fiber is still there.. Support us in have the city re-open it. More info at http://www.lastmilenetworks.com
February 14th, 2010 at 9:19 AM
I was teasing!
At any rate, Google is not the only collector and re-seller of private information. And, they are just playing the game according to the current rules, which is not necessarily a good thing. I agree that, today, egregious invasions of privacy seem routine, but I think it is the role of government to do something about it, by changing the rules. If that happens, I think Google will play along.
February 14th, 2010 at 1:44 PM
Oh, then never mind.
There are simple programs you can add to you browser that block cookies and ghost cookies from search engines like Google.
There’s also a program designed to erase any sign of your browsing from Google servers.
The Google search engine sells keywords to the highest bidder without regard to context leading to some very stupid links popping up when doing information searches.
Find the Lowest Price on Jewish Word for Justice!
February 14th, 2010 at 7:21 PM
Way to go, Mayor Pike! This would be a win-win-win-win for Bham!
February 14th, 2010 at 9:18 PM
Citizen,
Are there free programs that block tracking cookies too??? I would love such a program, if anyone has any pointers?
February 15th, 2010 at 7:41 AM
For FireFox, look under add-ons.
You’ll find ad-block and Ghostery and one that adds an opt-out cookie for dozens of major information cookies servers.
If you’re using some other browser,
now’s the time to make the switch.
February 15th, 2010 at 8:47 AM
Switch??? That’s what all of my computer geek friends tell me. Hmm, but I a bazillion favorites in IE. I guess I’ll have to figure out how to transfer them. Thanks Cit!
February 15th, 2010 at 9:25 AM
FireFox will allow an easy import of all your favorites.
Or you can copy your favorites list as an HTML document and keep it on your hard drive separately.
Keeping both/all browsers is simple on any hard drive and you can switch back and forth as often as you like.
February 15th, 2010 at 9:32 AM
FireFox has an Import Wizard that copies all your bookmarks and passwords automatically both from a browser and an e-mail program.
February 15th, 2010 at 12:06 PM
Thanks Cit! It took a bit to find and install the addons, but overall, it was pretty painless!
February 15th, 2010 at 12:36 PM
Whenever you get an ad or pop-up you don’t like,
hit Ad-Block Preferences and the address will be displayed and all you need to do is a click to put it on your block list.
Better Privacy is the add-on that sets opt-out cookies so you’ll always have a bunch of cookies show up through Preferences and Privacy.
Even if you delete them,
Better Privacy will put them all back in place.
Also you’ll see how many tracking cookies Ghostery blocks for every page you view.
Those Google servers aren’t the world’s leading user of electricity for no reason.
February 15th, 2010 at 6:28 PM
This is a tremendous opportunity which should be exploited without delay or quarter.
Google needs to know that, yes, there is a robust city-wide fiber optic network currently in place, and shared by the local school district. Each school in the Bellingham public system has at least 1 gigabit of data throughput, and one prototype high school has a 10 gigabit connection back to a central hub, also with a 10Gb backbone. This network is saving taxpayers every single day of its use, as both data and telephones utilize this network, which is virtually owned by the district, avoiding some pesky reoccurring costs.
Both the district and the city have some of the best networking talent around for support. (Sorry, AFY, but we carry our weight, and earn our pay, so back off on the evil govn’t worker parrot job, please!) Besides K-12 education, the state of Washington’s K-20 network has a presence, as fiber, I believe, at every public learning institution in the city; WWU, BTC and WCC. This K-20 network terminates, more or less, at the University of Washington, where educational networking via worldwide Internet has been a priority since its inception, and before. The intra-city fiber could connect these local entities directly, should the architecture prove useful.
The engineers at Google like this kind of industrial-strength access. The taxpayers of this city voted, by a large plurality, to support technology in education for their schools and thus the children in them. Google will like that too.
Vladimir Zworykin, inventor of television, hated what became of TV. He had envisioned a world-wide *educational* network. Can you imagine a third world with more than the atavistic reruns of Mr. Ed, but more…? For the last 80 years?
We have another chance with digital. Get some gratis channels for K-12, so every child can learn at any time, and some no-cost access to for-money WWU/WCC/BTC/UW classes for the rest of us!
Mr. Mayor. everyone, this kind of educated citizen-base will, as it matures, yield benefits to our region unimaginable to us today.
Let’s do it!
February 15th, 2010 at 7:15 PM
Just imagine if the Gates Foundation got involved and helped fund the development of new educational applications utilizing this high speed, fiber optic network! The possibilities are staggering.
February 16th, 2010 at 8:21 AM
This would be fantastic! Comments could be censored and removed much more quickly than they are today!
Q: Isn’t the current limiting factor the speed at which locals can read and absorb factual information?
February 16th, 2010 at 8:45 AM
[...] Bellingham Herald Blog Post [...]
February 16th, 2010 at 12:04 PM
Ray wins Barb-o-the-Day!
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:21 AM
[...] I’m sitting here in Bellingham City Council chambers waiting for “a conversation with Mayor Pike” regarding the city’s potential bid to Google for the company’s proposed high-speed Internet network. Read my previous blog post on this overall issue, right here. [...]