Push for fiber by Biden Administration revives a Google dream

From Axios:

 

Biden’s plan emphasizes building fiber and steering funding to community-owned networks to ensure widespread connectivity and increase competition. That generally aligns with Google Fiber’s new approach of partnering with cities willing to do the bulk of the infrastructure work.

 

The big picture: Fiber-optic lines deliver broadband to residential homes at gigabit speeds — much higher than the current federal definition of broadband, 25 Mbps download/ 3 Mbps upload.

 

Fiber installed directly to homes could close the digital divide in a more lasting way than technologies that aren’t capable of the same speeds, but building fiber networks through rural terrain and sparsely populated areas is very expensive.

 

“There’s not one model that will work for every place,” Ting senior vice president Jill Szuchmacher, a Google Fiber alum, told Axios.