Google Fiber hopes to avoid local pitfalls


Google will decide whether to expand its one-gigabit ultra-high speed broadband cable service to Portland by the end of 2014.

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Google will decide whether to expand its one-gigabit ultra-high speed broadband cable service to Portland by the end of 2014.

One advocate, Michael Liimatta, president of Connecting for Good, an equal access outreach organization in Kansas City, where Google began installing its first fiber network around two-and-a-half years ago, says the public should understand provisions in the franchise pact that help low-income areas hook up to the new service.

Liimatta says the proposed Portland agreement is very similar to the one in Kansas City. But, according to the Liimatta, the problem is actually not the agreement. Both have provisions intended to make sure minority and low-income communities have access to Google Fiber, which is about 100 times faster than existing broadband.

Read more at the Portland Tribune