Archive: Opinions

EditorialGoogle is holding a competition to determine which community they instal high speed Internet acces into.  This will be next generation Internet with extra high speeds of 1 gigabit per second, using fiber-to-the-home connections.  Tompkins County is filling out the application even though the chances of being chosen are about the same as those of becoming the next American Idol.

It would be great if Tompkins County were chosen, because it would mean high quality Internet connection in rural as well as urban and suburban areas.  Google plans to use the community as an experiment that will result in new Internet applications that just aren't possible using today's high speed.  And Tompkins County would be a great petri dish for Google.  Here's why:

Tompkins County is a finite area that is unique in its population and businesses.  It has a little of everything.  It has an impressive high-tech business community largely because Cornell University is here.  But these businesses thrive independently like Boston's Route 128 ring or California's Silicon valley.  It has rich and poor, urban and rural, upstart green businesses.  It has Cornell Cooperative Extension that really needs a better conduit on which to provide services for farmers.

As a place to experiment it provides a little of every situation Internet providers might encounter elsewhere, with a population of people who want to Google the 'net faster.  Even on Roadrunner there is plenty of waiting, and no doubt at higher speeds there will be as technology takes advantage of newer, higher speeds.

As the editor of an online newspaper I certainly want faster Internet.  It would gain the Star new readers, certainly, but it would also enable us to provide local news in new and better ways, most of which we haven't dreamed of because of speed and bandwidth limitations.

Google accepts nominations from municipalities and from individuals and other organizations.  Tompkins County is filing the application for the county, but I don't think it would hurt for all of us to file individual ones.  It may have to be a slow application now, but it could speed things up considerably later!

Will Tompkins County be the next American Idol?  A lot of communities will be eliminated in three rounds of competition.  But someone has to win.  Wouldn't it be great if it were our county?

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