Get Involved: Residents
GUIDANCE FOR FILLING OUT THE GOOGLE FIBER REQUEST FORM
Residents wishing to support the Town’s submission to be a location for Google’s ultra high speed fiber experiment, are asked to fill out a short online form at http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options and click on “Nominate Your Community”. There is no limit to the number of submissions, so tell everyone you know.
The online form requires a name, city and state, and a paragraph or more explaining why you would like Google to locate their fiber project in Blacksburg. Reasons could include the need for increased broadband access for business, education, arts, entertainment, telemedicine, emergency services, etc.) The form also includes optional fields to provide information about your broadband connection at home.
Filling out the form is quick and easy. You will, however, need to set up a free gmail account in order to get started. It’s a simple process that would be greatly appreciated.
The following is a SAMPLE submission for your reference. Please feel free to use any of the information provided, but also be sure to make the information fit your own situation. In other words, tell your own story. Please take note that there are character limits for some text fields as noted below.
* Required fields
Your name: *
Your organization or community group:leave blank
If you are responding on behalf of an organization or community group, please describe it: leave blank
Note: 386 Character Limit
City: *
State: *
Why should Google build a fiber to the home network where you live? *sample response below:
Note: 2000 Character Limit
The Town of Blacksburg, along with the Blacksburg Electronic Village, local service providers, and Virginia Tech have a proven history of effectively collaborating in the deployment of regional communication infrastructures and generating demand for new services. Blacksburg local residents and businesses have a proven history of demanding and quickly adopting new communication technologies. Blacksburg’s proximity to three institutes of higher education, Virginia Tech, Radford University and the New River Valley Community College as well as a flourishing high tech industry (primarily due to university spin offs located in the Corporate Research Center and elsewhere) offers excellent potential for local demand of Google’s ultra-high speed broadband capabilities. It is also in very close proximity to national research and education networks such as Network Virginia, Internet2, and National Lambda Rail. However, there is not sufficient infrastructure to provide reliable, high bandwidth service to homes and neighborhoods. Blacksburg has been looking for ways of solving the ‘last mile’ problem for years, but simply can’t afford the upfront investment capital that telecom providers require.
Blacksburg has broken new ground in many areas of networking and technology use. Some examples include:
- Highest per capita use of the Internet in the world, with more than 87% of Blacksburg residents online. An estimated 60% have broadband access at home, at work, or both.
- First Town in the world to adopt an all-Internet model for a community-wide network.
- First community in the United States to offer residential Ethernet service as an amenity in apartments and townhomes.
- First County in the United States to have every school directly connected to the Internet. In Montgomery County today, every classroom in every school has direct, high-speed Internet access.
- Blacksburg has a high per capita availability of ISPs, with nearly a dozen local and national providers offering modem and dedicated access, including cable modem, ISDN, and DSL services.
- Highest business use of the Internet of any community in the world, with more than 75% of Blacksburg businesses using the Internet for commerce and advertising.
Web link to supporting material (YouTube videos and other creative submissions are encouraged and can be attached to your submittal. Create your own or feel free to include the following samples.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlfYAsZDN2A – Eric Schmidt discussing Blacksburg’s technology literacy and visionary implementation of the Blacksburg Electronic Village
http://www.ecorridors.vt.edu/maps/broadbandmap.php - Virginia Tech’s broadband speedtest map built on a Google map and integrating the NDT speedtest, which has been collecting broadband data from around the globe since the summer of 2006
What kind of Internet services are available where you live? Check all that apply:
- Dial-up
- DSL
- Cable Modem
- Fiber to the Home
- Wireless
- Other
- None
- Don't know
What kind of Internet service do you primarily use at home?
What company provides your home Internet service?
What is the advertised speed of your home Internet service?
What is your actual download speed during the evening? Use http://www.ecorridors.vt.edu/maps/broadbandmap.php to determine upstream and downstream: 1) Click "Run Internet Speed Test – requires javascript to be enabled on your browser 2) Zoom in to your approximate location on the map then click your location on to place a marker. 3) Enter location name (ex Blacksburg) and as many Service Details as possible. Click the “Add to Map” button to register your information. For help, please contact ecorridors@vt.edu.
What is your actual upload speed during the evening? Use http://www.ecorridors.vt.edu/maps/broadbandmap.php to determine upstream and downstream: 1) Click "Run Internet Speed Test – requires javascript to be enabled on your browser 2) Zoom in to your approximate location on the map then click your location on to place a marker. 3) Enter location name (ex Blacksburg) and as many Service Details as possible. Click the “Add to Map” button to register your information. For help, please contact ecorridors@vt.edu.
How much does your Internet service cost per month?
Is your Internet service 'bundled' with other services like TV and phone?
How many times in the last month did your high-speed Internet service not work correctly, slow down, or frustrate you?
Describe the quality of your home Internet service customer support:
Note: 386 Character Limit
What would you like to see improved about your current service? Check all that apply.
- Lower price
- Faster speed
- Higher reliability
- Better customer support