New Times / News

A little fiber could get the town moving faster

BY MATT FOUNTAIN

A coalition of San Luis Obispo business owners and IT professionals aims to gather support in an effort to get the city selected as a test site for the upcoming Google Fiber project. The pro-Fiber folks are organizing a rally for 5:30 p.m. on March 16 in Mission Plaza.

The Internet giant plans to test ultra high-speed broadband networks somewhere—maybe multiple sites—in the country. Google execs promise the new Google Fiber will deliver one gigabit-per-second, moving information more than 100 times faster than the DSL, cable, and fiber-optic networks connecting most U.S. homes today. Google hasn’t said how many cities it intends to choose, nor how much it plans to spend on the project.

The rally will meet in the plaza and make its way around Higuera Street, pooling at the SLO Museum of Art on Broad. Guest speakers will include SLO Chamber of Commerce President David Garth, and Cal Poly Dean of Research and Graduate Programs Susan Opava.

Attendees are encouraged to capture the event on video and help the effort build as big a web presence as possible before the March 26 application deadline, said Jami Fawcett, an event organizer