Hey Google: Bring Your Fiber-Optic Action To Baltimore!
| by Rob Jackson on March 15th, 2010 |
Please 
excuse my transparent attempt to selfishly leverage Phandroid to ask Google a personal favor – Bring your Fiber-Optic Broadband Network to Baltimore!
I could go on and on and on about why Baltimore is THE place for this, but the Baltimore government has actually appointed someone – CEO of Mind Over Machines, Tom Loveland – as the official “Google Czar” to help rally support. They’ve got a website up at BMoreFiber.com to promote their platform and I couldn’t resist lending a hand. There hasn’t been a shortage of exposure due to the Czarification and we’ve included some of the more interesting pieces below:
- Baltimore Sun: Why Google Should Pick Baltimore
- Baltimore Examiner: Bring Google Fiber to Baltimore
- WYPR: Baltimore Community Fiber Movement
- Baltimore City Paper: Petition Google To Lay Ultra-Fast Broadband on Baltimore
- The Daily Record
- Baltimore Business Journal
- BusinessWeek
- Mashable.com
- TechCrunch
I know there are a LOT of readers out there from a LOT of places who would prefer Google bring their test-bed elsewhere. Feel free to plead your case in the comments and “write-in” your own preference below!
1. Semianonymous wrote on March 15, 2010
I wouldn’t mind it in southern california, because, uh.
I’m here. And Cox annoys me.
I don’t really have any other reasons though…
2. GRRemlin wrote on March 15, 2010
FiberToBmore!!! Yaaaaaaaay!
3. AndyH wrote on March 15, 2010
Duluth MN FTW!
4. Android App Reviews wrote on March 15, 2010
England as we need it more :D
5. Geoff wrote on March 15, 2010
Sorry but Portland, OR is probably the best place to serve it. It’s an up and coming metropolitan area with the perfect size population for what Google’s looking for (500,000). The city is relatively compact, especially the downtown/Pearl district areas. The market is full of youth with plenty of incoming young professionals. And we already have a wide fiber network sprawled throughout the city.
Seriously… it really makes a lot of sense. Made sense for Clear anyways.
6. Rob Jackson wrote on March 15, 2010
@Geoff – sorry but Baltimore was the first to get Sprint XOHM/Wimax, before it became “Clear”. I think its “clear” why they chose Baltimore before Portland, but thanks for trying!
You might remember this:
http://phandroid.com/2008/09/30/wimaxxohm-in-baltimore-were-there/
:)
7. Dean wrote on March 15, 2010
@Rob I think you are being a bit selfish. As you said, Baltimore got WiMax first. Why should they get Google’s network first. I am hoping for the Detroit area. We need something to turn things around here.
8. Tyler wrote on March 15, 2010
Clear is a waste, and they choose the correct city to set up shop in originally. Google, on the other hand, will see this and send “Bmore” packing.
Welcome to Shitty walk, take your order please.
Portland #1
9. chris wrote on March 15, 2010
Baltimore all the way, I’m with you Rob!!!!!
10. Mike J B wrote on March 15, 2010
Baltimore FTW!
11. Patrick wrote on March 15, 2010
HELL NO!! GAINESVILLE FLORIDA NEEDS YOU GOOGLE!!
12. jerbear wrote on March 15, 2010
Baltimore represent! I would love to have this kind of bandwidth to my house. I used to run a streaming radio station but once my sweetheart deal with a friend who worked for an ISP ran out, I couldn’t afford the kind of bandwidth necessary to keep it up.
I was getting really psyched for Supersonic on Wimax this summer but I wouldkill for fiber to my house. FIOS has forsaken us as not worth the cost of rolling it out :(
13. jerbear wrote on March 15, 2010
Also, Tyler, why is Clear a waste? I use it daily as my home ISP and on my laptop so I don’t have to waste money at Comcast.
Anyway if you live in Portland you already live in a nicer city with good public transit. Let us have our super-broadband! :)
14. Robert Wray wrote on March 15, 2010
Google should pick ticonderoga, NY. If it can’t do that, Baltimore is the next best choice. bmorefiber.com !!
15. jim novak wrote on March 15, 2010
nice post! definitely a vote for Baltimore! Reading the posts on http://www.bmorefiber.com really shows the enthusiasm and the need for a high speed connection in Baltimore… I think we would be a city that would really take advantage of the opportunity!
16. brie987 wrote on March 15, 2010
gOOgle should be in brOOklyn ny! See what I did there? We have a lot in common!
17. Josh wrote on March 15, 2010
BREAKING NEWS…..
Google will announce that they should and will build their next site in Omaha, NE. jk
Seriously though, Omaha is a perfect fit since it’s infrastructure was build to serve companies like Google! Why do you think Paypal is there already!
GO OMAHA!!!!! :)
18. Michael wrote on March 15, 2010
As a former Baltimore resident I support your request for fiber! :)
19. Jonny Ringo wrote on March 16, 2010
Why not San Diego, CA.
20. 2FR35H wrote on March 16, 2010
How about San Antonio Tx?
21. Mike Subelsky wrote on March 16, 2010
Baltimore +1!
22. Quasar wrote on March 16, 2010
Google will have a tough choice to make since there are a lot of good cities out there for testing. I hope they decide to pick a few medium size cities to test in rather than one big city. I also hope Spokane WA is one of those choices!
23. Palaba wrote on March 16, 2010
Yea Baltimore loves O’s, Google loves O’s, perfect match!
24. Steven wrote on March 16, 2010
Greenville, SC is gonna get it. :)
http://www.wearefeelinglucky.com/
25. cacarr wrote on March 19, 2010
Up yours, buddy. They’re bringing it to Portland, OR!
;-)
Perfect size, and they’ve had community broadband plans for years — just haven’t half the half billion or so USD laying around.
26. alison wrote on March 23, 2010
google should definitely pick baltimore, hon!
27. Lolly wrote on March 23, 2010
Let’s hear it for Baltimore! People who are dismissing it as an option don’t seem to have looked into the full proposal. We have a lot to offer here, beyond just “middle class” uses. It’s a great educational center, with a wide variety of institutions, and has some innovative and committed businesses.
28. Martin wrote on March 23, 2010
Let’s see:
“Portland, OR is probably the best place to serve it. It’s an up and coming metropolitan area”
Like Baltimore.
“with the perfect size population for what Google’s looking for (500,000)”
Baltimore is only 10% larger than Portland.
“The city is relatively compact, especially the downtown/Pearl district areas.”
Maybe by West Coast standards, but Baltimore’s population density is almost twice that of Portland’s.
“The market is full of youth with plenty of incoming young professionals.”
Like Baltimore.
“And we already have a wide fiber network sprawled throughout the city.”
Baltimore, by contrast, is underserved by broadband companies – which makes it more, not less, appealing to Google.
“Seriously, it really makes a lot of sense. Made sense for Clear anyways.”
It certainly did in Baltimore.
I’ve got nothing against Portland; I’ve never been, but I hear great things. But Baltimore has everything Google could ask for in a test environment and more. Institutions ready and itching to use a high-speed network to its fullest? We’ve got some of the nation’s most important hospitals, research labs, universities, and museums. Techies who will find new uses for high-speed broadband? Believe it or not, Baltimore has one of the highest concentrations of IT pros in the country. Artists and musicians who will benefit from increased power to share their work? Baltimore is home to MICA and the Peabody Institute, two of the country’s most prestigious schools for visual arts and music respectively, and the low cost of living means that we keep our artists after they graduate. A community suffering from a digital divide? Of course large swaths of Baltimore are afflicted by poverty and blight, but we have a school system that’s reinvented itself in recent years and is ready to turn Google Fiber into something that will really change thousands of lives.
Portland is, by all accounts, a fantastic city. But it’s not a perfect test case for Google Fiber. Baltimore is.