After much media digging through planning aplpications, it has been discovered by local media that Google has a further 34 American cities targeted for expansion of the scheme including Atlanta, Nashville, Portland, Phoenix, San Jose and Salt Lake City.
What's all the fuss about? Quite simply, speed. Lots of it. Customers can expect to see 1 gigabit per second, that's around 100 times faster than most conventional broadband services in the UK. A secondary appeal is the chance to escape the effective monopolies that cable companies currently have over broadband connections in much of the US. The service is awful and the speeds leave much to be desired.
The broadband infrastructure of the UK is thankfully quite different, and most would agree better than that of the US. IS it possible a similar thing could happen here though? The answer is apparently 'yes'.
Earlier in the year it was announced by TalkTalk Telecom and BskyB that they were joining forces to plan something similar, connecting 20,000 homes and businesses in Yorkshire with a 1 gigabyte service as early as 2015.
In light of the plans, Ofcom has proposed new rules that would ensure BT promotes competition in Britain's superfast broadband market. Specifically, BT would see regulations placed on its own retail prices as well as its wholesale prices to other operators.
This means good news for consumers who will enjoy a more competitive market, and thus cheaper prices, as well as faster broadband speeds.
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