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3 ways Google Fiber is helping Kansas City besides offering 1Gbps Internet service

Published Mar 27th, 2015 7:30PM EDT
BGR

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Kansas City was very lucky to be the first city to get Google Fiber and we’re not talking just about the 1Gbps Internet service. NextCity has taken a look at some of the side benefits that Kansas City is reaping thanks to being the first Google Fiber city in America and they show just how great it can be to be the first major city in the U.S. to get a high-speed fiber network.

RELATED: Google Fiber’s chilling threat to cities: Do things our way or ‘enjoy your Time Warner Cable’

The most obvious thing Google Fiber has done for Kansas City is spur incumbents like AT&T to up their game and offer 1Gbps Internet services of their own. This competition is the envy of many cities around the U.S. that only have one choice when it comes to broadband providers, and none of those providers offer anything in the range of 1Gbps.

What’s more, NextCity says that “Cisco is setting up a public-private partnership effort linked to Kansas City’s coming 2.2-mile streetcar line” that “will be the largest Smart+Connected Communities venture in North America, using free public Wi-Fi, community information kiosks, and video camera sensors to gather and make use of an enormous amount of data.”

And finally, Kansas City gamers will get to benefit from an experimental computer gaming developed by Shinra Technologies, which announced at SXSW that it was attracted to Kansas City mostly because of its fiber infrastructure.

Be sure to check out NexCity’s full report on how Google Fiber is giving Kansas City a boost by clicking here.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.