Broadband speed in cities is becoming a competitive topic in the USA. Cities want to improve their broadband speed to offer residents and businesses a convenient and productive experience while using the internet. People want higher broadband speeds to download movies, music, share or upload videos, browse the web and many other everyday activities on the internet. With higher speeds we can save time while using the internet, potentially giving some cities advantage over others as their residents become more tech savvy.
There are many Internet Service Providers (ISP) competing with each other to offer the best broadband experience in cities in the USA. Recently, the most sought after ISP is probably Google Fiber which has successfully launched high speed internet around Kansas City (after a tough competition with over thousand communities applying for the spot). Although Google Fiber is expanding their service to more cities in the US, right now only a few cities have the opportunity to use upload and download broadband speed of 1,000 Mbps. This is a very high speed, which most people in the word currently do not use or possibly even need.
AT&T is another service provider in the US which seeks to provide high speed internet to residents. Recently, AT&T announced that they are attempting to provide high speed internet for nearly 100 cities in the USA in 21 metro regions.
This article looks at 8 cities in USA which have the opportunity to use high speed broadband. The ISP and cost of usage is also listed below each city. Not all these cities have the 1,000 Mbps that Google Fiber offers; some have lower speeds but good internet access around the city.
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City, Kansas, has a population of 145,786. It was selected as the first city to access Google Fiber On March 30, 2011 with a download and upload speed of 1,000 Mbps. Although there are different plans, the monthly rate is $70.
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City is actually two cities, one in the State of Kansas and one in the neighbouring State of Missouri. Population on the Missouri side is 466,600. After the launch in KCK, Google Fiber announced to provide the service to Missouri as well in September 2012. The download and upload speed is 1,000 Mbps with a monthly rate of $70.
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga has a population of 171,279. In Chattanooga, EPB provides broadband at 1 gigabit per second.
Bristol, Tennessee
Bristol has a population of 17,835. The ISP in Bristol is BVU which offers 1,000 Mbps speed at a monthly rate of $319.95
New York City
New York City has a population of 8.406 million. The ISP Verizon provides a download speed of 500 Mbps and an upload speed of 100 Mbps for a monthly rate of $299.99.
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette has a population of 124,276. The ISP LUS provides an upload and download speed of 1,000 Mbps for $999.95 a month.
Washington DC
Washington DC has a population of 646,449. The ISP Verizon provides an upload speed of 65 Mbps and a download speed of 300 Mbps for $209.99 a month
Los Angeles, California
LA has a population of 3.884 million. Similar to DC, LA residents can enjoy a download speed of 300 Mbps and upload speed of 65 Mbps for a monthly rate of $214.99 a month by the ISP Verizon.
As you can see, the speeds vary a lot within the USA depending on the location, the service provider and the cost. Although some ISPs offer lesser speed than Google Fiber they charge a lot more. Internet for high speeds is expensive in many parts of the world, with only a few cities truly having the opportunity to access high speed internet at the moment. We can expect this to change in the near future as more providers introduce access to higher speeds in cities worldwide.
Thejas Jagannath is a graduate in Human Geography from University of Auckland. She likes reading, travelling, learning about cities and meeting new people.
Photo: David Mark
