Take a minute, close your eyes and imagine Internet speeds reaching not megabits but gigabits. Super-fast video, more advanced Web app development. Now imagine the influence such speeds would have on a city like Philadelphia. Imagine the growth of the local technology sector and the influx of venture capital money.
To the casual outsider from Europe or Asia gigabit Internet might not be all that exciting, but in the United States where the average user is on much slower megabit Internet connections, if not dialup, gigabit Internet access is a “just beyond our reach” Eden.
Google is running a contest for cities to compete to be the first city to have the Internet giant’s new gigabit Internet installed in their community. Philadelphia could be it.
