Google Fiber Cable Laying Starts in Kansas City

Google is building out its high-speed broadband network in Kansas, the company confirmed. Google is also trying to test a new WiFi router.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is ready to build out its high-speed fiber network in Kansas, paving the way for the company to build thousands of miles of cables and other infrastructure across Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri.

The company selected Kansas City out of more than 1,100 companies last March as the winning bidder for its fiber network, which aims to shuttle data at 1G bps to thousands of homes in the city.  

The cables themselves are composed of thin glass fibers, each about the width of a human hair. Woven together as part of a big broadband fiber mesh, the cable network will facilitate data at "speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have today," according to Kevin Lo, general manager for Google Access.

Google will build the fiber backbone and then connect Google Fiber into homes across Kansas City, though it hasn't said which neighborhoods will be connected first.

Google wants to test this speedy broadband network as a template for supporting gaming applications and other graphically intensive programs. Google's own YouTube video-sharing service would benefit greatly from speedier data facilitation, generating more video views and more ads served.

Google's fiber group has also asked the Federal Communications Commission to test a residential gateway equipped with WiFi and Bluetooth. GigaOm said Google is asking the FCC for a license to test upcoming 802.11ac gigabit WiFi technology inside residential gateways.

At a time when most WiFi routers handle data at 600M bps, the company wants to test new hardware that is optimized to handle the 1G bps data speeds it is promising. According to Google's application request:

Google Fiber seeks to test Bluetooth and WiFi protocols and performance (including coordination of WiFi channels between devices and in the presence of foreign signals) within an integrated access point as part of a fiber residential gateway. This line of testing will reveal real-world engineering issues and reliability. The planned testing is not directed at evaluating the radio-frequency characteristics of the equipment (which are known), but rather at the throughput and stability of the home networks that will support the equipment, as well as its basic functionality.

"As we get ready to build Google Fiber, we're experimenting with new technologies that will make Internet access better and faster for everyone," a Google spokesperson told eWEEK.

Google declined to discuss more specifics about the device.