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Juneau: 40°F
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| Thursday May 23 2013
Juneau: 40°F
Now in Digital HD on Ch. 5.1!
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Juneau Broadband Initiative Published: 03/25/2010 10:45:00 Juneau is entering the running to be chosen for an experimental broadband network proposed by the internet giant Google. The Juneau economic development council is spearheading the application on behalf of the city and is engaging a variety of creative means to encourage the help of Residents. One of them was the Juneau Broadband party last Saturday at the Hangar Ballroom. During the party, MC Andy Kline reminded people of a few important points, “Remember to look at the really fun suggestions happening on all the clipboards, please add to them as you come in, add why should Google pick Juneau and also what I would do with one gigabyte. And then also make sure to please nominate Juneau over here on these laptops. “ Brian Holst, the Executive Director of the Juneau Economic Development Council explains that “The Juneau Broadband initiative is in response to Google’s challenge to cities across the nation to apply for ultra high speed internet connectivity. The national broadband plan points out that our nation has relatively low speeds relative to many nations around the world and Google’s idea is to make it much faster. They’re offering an opportunity for between 50,000 and 500,000 people across the nation an opportunity to have internet speeds 100 times faster than what is typically available, one gigabit fiber to the home. So what we have is an opportunity to apply for the privilege to be an experiment.” Former Juneau Mayor Sally Smith said, “I can’t think of a better place than Alaska to have broadband, and Juneau to test it out because of the terrain around here, if it’ll work here, they know they really have something.” And by all accounts, Juneau is responding to the initiative in a big way. According to Larry West, a Communications Specialist with the Juneau Economic Development Council, “At last count, we were just under 1800 facebook fans, and comparing that with other communities around the country that are getting national attention, by percentage of population, we’re way ahead of most of them.” You can nominate Juneau for the project by clicking the link below. http://www.juneaubroadband.com/ By: Rik Pruett - rik@kath.tv |
