Google Fiber Asheville is a movement. It represents a call for change. It is the desire to be among the first to take a step into the future. Google wants to bring ultra high speed fiber optic network systems into a few selected American cities. Those of us in Asheville, NC would love to be included among those. In the midst of all this proposed progress, there are some wanting to hold it back.
The whole controversy revolves around a project sponsored by Google to build state-of-the-art fiber optic networks in various parts of the country. These systems would bring subscribers service that would provide Internet speeds up to 100X faster than broadband networks available now!
These connections would not only be lightning fast, but they would ultimately be more efficient in other ways as well. They are more stable while simultaneously offering the capability to carry television, telephone and the World Wide Web all in a single line. This would be the biggest improvement available today for Asheville’s communication infrastructure.
Asheville is a city that would be perfect for the Google project. It is a growing city with diverse commerce, a high level of education and an existing base of qualified IT professionsals. But, while most people see nothing but positive effects from the program, there are those who want to hold the program back.
There is state legislation that wants to stop cities, like Asheville from having these programs because they would be municipally owned. The supposed problem is that a city-owned system would compete with existing commercial systems and the state would therefore lose tax revenues from those companies. Never mind the fact that Asheville citizens would be have the best Internet access in the world and for free!
