Overland Park students and residents will have to indefinitely wait for high speed internet access
By Jessica Skaggs
Google Fiber asked for a continuous, otherwise known as an indefinite delay on a hearing with the city council of Overland Park last month, with no explanation or future date to reconvene. This happened after the council delayed a vote in September, on the terms that had been discussed since January between the city and Google Fiber. Once the council was finally ready to vote, Google Fiber had decided to look elsewhere.
“Building Fiber is complicated and we have very tight windows for construction work,” Google representatives later stated in a release. “We’ve worked with Overland Park for a number of months now, and we need to refocus our energy and resources on engineering, designing, and building a new Fiber network for the communities that have approved and are waiting for Fiber.”
Although there is no time frame currently for Google Fiber to begin construction in the city, steps have already been taken by the council.
On Oct. 14, city council authorized Mayor Carl Gerlach to sign a resolution in support of Google Fiber and its intentions to approve the existing agreements with the company once they were to proceed forward.
“Some people have been upset, but some people have been supportive of the city. It’s been pretty balanced,” City Public Information officer Sean Reilly said. “We are the largest city in Johnson County, and I think there is an appealing market.”
Though there were no direct discussions between the college and the council on these agreements with Google Fiber, the college could greatly benefit from Fiber once it sets up shop, according to Sandra Warner, Deputy CIO/ director, Administrative Computing Services.
“We have not had any discussions with Overland Park, so I am not really sure what the range of impact for the college could include,” Warner said. “Google Fiber will hopefully provide a great benefit for JCCC students and employees.”
Internet and Web Architect Mark Zolton currently uses Google Fiber at his home, and said he is pleased with its performance.
“It is unbelievably fast,” Zolton said. “I feel like my wife and I were probably perfect candidates, because we’ll be streaming a television show or a movie while we’re downloading a game, and we’re doing a number of those things all at the same time. And with our previous internet provider, we weren’t able to do that.”
While Zolton is unsure of how the college would be affected if it had access to Google Fiber, he thinks students and employees would benefit overall.
“I’m not sure how big [the college’s] broadband is now, but I understand that it would be substantially increased,” Zolton said. “I think that [students] would see a real benefit with online courses and especially if they’re able to actually stream any of that stuff from the classroom in real time. I think it would be really awesome.”
Contact Jessica Skaggs, managing editor, at jskaggs4@jccc.edu.