Bring Google Fiber to Davis

By Kemble K. Pope, Zack O’Donnell and Steve McMahon.

We need your help to ensure that Davis becomes home to a pilot project to bring affordable, ultra-high speed internet to every home and business in Davis.  Tomorrow, Friday March 26^th is the deadline for citizens to express their interest in making Davis the host of a pilot project for Google Fiber for Communities.  While other cities pull publicity stunts to attract Google’s attention, we hope that you’ll join us in logging on and making your rational argument in favor our fair town.  Click HERE then click on “Nominate your community” to nominate Davis.

We are at heart a collaborative community.  We work together to spread the word about the needs of our community and then work ever diligently to create solutions that fill those gaps. While we hope that our fellow citizens continue to create unique civic solutions on the sidelines of a youth sports game or while shopping at the Farmer’s Market, we must be diligent about looking for opportunities that support our ongoing quest to improve our quality of life.

Google Fiber for Communities is one of those opportunities. Google Fiber is Google’s upcoming experimental introduction of ultra high speed internet. They plan to offer connection speeds of 1 Gigabit per second to a handful of communities around the country. That’s over 100 times faster than our current “high speed” options in Davis!

Google Fiber will Benefit You and Davis.

Think back to when you connected to the Internet using a slow dial-up modem.  Do you remember your frustration as it took 5 or 10 minutes for a single Web page to load?  Most applications that we run today, such as video, networked games, audio streams, and video chat were simply not feasible back then. The typical network connection today is about 35-70 times faster than dial-up. Now imagine a connection 100 times faster than what you have now.  With the advent of fiber optic speed internet connections, you will be able to use your favorite applications much more efficiently and have access to unimagined applications that will soon become part of the everyday world.

Davis has long been seen as a living laboratory.  Over one hundred years ago, our citizenry banded together to successfully attract the latest UC Davis campus.  Over 44 years ago, we elected a “pro-bike lane” City Council and then pioneered the use of on-street bike lanes.  Our models for urban development and agricultural protection are studied across the world.  Davis has also been a leader in utilizing the internet in creative ways. Davis Wiki has been called the world’s best local wiki and Davis Community Network has been dedicated to using Internet resources to build local and regional community for 17 years.

On the Google Fiber for Communities page on Davis Wiki, Davisites have compiled a long list of potential uses of ultra high speed internet that could benefit our community including: telemedicine; real time broadcasting and playback of all our cultural and educational event; creation of businesses that analyze and store data created through UC Davis; attracting businesses that need reliable high-speed internet; open Wireless access throughout much of the city; better mapping capabilities for our bicycle and pedestrian routes; environmental monitoring; and much, much more.

Why Google Needs Davis.

Google explicitly states that they’re interested in seeing what sort of creative ways communities can come up with to take advantage of higher speed internet access.  Davisities have the track record, the resources and the gumption to take on this challenge. Davis has a highly-educated population that would be particularly well suited to take advantage of this opportunity.

Low competition and poor service in the current Davis market, coupled with an educated and internet-savvy population provide a large base interested in trying new options. Davis is an easy day trip away from Google’s main campus by mass transit train or highway, allowing Google researchers to easily observe the changes locally as the project progresses.  We have a huge collection (per capita at least) of Open Source coders that have good experience setting up highly popular software components and websites.   And lastly (tongue-semi-in-cheek), if Google can navigate our city politics, a plethora of city commissions and our thorough permitting process, they can replicate their success just about anywhere in the known universe!

Join us in looking toward the future of information technology, continuing Davis’ role as a global leader in civic activism and ensuring that Davis reaps the benefits of a burgeoning business market.

Click HERE then click on “Nominate your community” to nominate Davis.

Kemble K. Pope chairs the Chamber of Commerce’s Government Relations Committee, Zack O’Donnell chairs the city of Davis Telecommunications Commission; and Steve McMahon is vice president of Davis Community Network.

Ed. Note: This post was originally published as an OpEd in The Davis Enterprise on March 25th, 2010.