An Internet service provider has announced the launch of its fiber-based Internet service in the Vermont area, but this time it isn't Google. Vermont Telephone Company (VTel) has started to offer its customers gigabit Internet speeds over its new fiber optic network, and is managing to do so at half the price of Google Fiber.
An update on the official Google Fiber website has revealed that the search engine is attempting to expand into Provo, UT. While the deal is not yet finalized, Google has said that it will "commit to upgrade the network to gigabit technology and finish network construction so that every home along the existing iProvo network would have the opportunity to connect to Google Fiber."
Recent research estimates the cost of Google's Kansas City fiber project is just below $100 million, so far. Carlos Kirjner and Ram Parameswaran of Bernstein Research believe that the rollout of Google Fiber in Kansas City, Kansas has cost $42 million, while Kansas City, Missouri has cost $52 million for the current fiber build-out.
Huawei has successfully tested an optical fiber transmission over a live network, achieving speeds of 2Tbps. The terabit-connection speed tests were carried out over Vodafone's existing fiber network in Germany, and could potentially offer carriers a connection backbone that is twenty times that of commercial networks currently in operation.
Google has announced the next areas to get gigabit Internet access in Kansas City. Five more "fiberhoods" will see the high-speed connection rolled out in early 2013, with the search giant setting deadlines for residents requesting installation in those areas to choose their package before construction work begins.
EarthLink has completed construction on its fiber optic network in Tennessee, a project it started in 2011. The Eastern Tennessee Middle Mile Fiber Broadband Project laid more than 500 miles of fiber in “underserved communities” across the state, running between Nashville and Knoxville from east to west, and between Blountville and Chattanooga.
Scientists are working on a way to improve broadband speeds to 2,000 times that of what is currently offered to users. A team of researchers for Bangor University in the UK have succeeded in creating a 20-gigabit fiber optic connection, and will spend the next three years working on making it more commercially viable.
Time Warner Cable is investing $25 million into expanding fiber-based broadband in New York City. Boasting speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second, the new network will be built in Brooklyn and parts of Manhattan and hopes to gain new business-based customers with high data throughput requirements, including those situated in the Flatiron and Financial districts.
