While China is demanding new residences have fiber-optic connections starting April 1, 2013, here in the U.S. we’re still struggling to make our Internet speeds as good as they are in other countries, including China. If you want gigabit internet speeds, then you’ll have to move to Kansas City where Google Fiber is currently supplying gigabit speeds to residents who choose to use the service. That’s not good enough for FCC Chairman Julius Genachoski as he has issued a challenge that could bring gigabit internet by 2015.
Genachoski has issued the “Gigabit City Challenge” where he would like all 50 states in the U.S. have at least one gigabit community by 2015. He’s hoping this challenge will help spark more communities to adopt gigabit internet, which would result in the development of “next-generation applications and services that will drive economic growth and global competitiveness.”
According to the FCC, there are currently 42 communities across 14 states with fiber-based internet, which is certainly a good start. But 14 states out of 50 in total still isn’t even half of the country, which is staggering considering just how much people rely on the Internet these days.
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