MunicipalFiber.com

A Gigabit is 1000 megabits. Those that recall dial-up internet connections may remember that their speeds maxes at 56 kilobits per second. That makes a gigabit internet connection almost 18,000 times faster than dial-up. Provo’s Google Fiber will allow computers to read and write data to the internet faster than most computers can write to a USB drive.

In past years, only large companies were able to access such speeds. You may have heard of a T1 line which your school or employer used to connect to the internet. Google Fiber is faster than 600 T1 lines. Cogent Communications gained a good deal of fame last year for offering 100 megabit connections for the bargain price of $1000 a month. Google Fiber is 10 times faster than that, and costs roughly $70.

Even today a commercial unmetered gigabit connection can easily cost more than $3,000 a month. Again, Google Fiber is offering this for $70. You may not need to open 1000 web pages in one second – but with Google fiber it’s not possible to backup every device in your home to a remote location, stream high def netflix to your laptop, let your children stream high def Hulu, and have someone playing online games all simultaneously without any lag or buffering – ever.

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: gigabit, netflix, speed