Official Blog
The latest news from the Fiber team
A Construction Update
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
A few weeks ago we announced that we’d started hanging fiber on utility poles throughout Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO. Construction is now in full swing and our crews have already hung over 100 miles of fiber!
To get a better idea of how our build has been going so far, I sat down with John Toccalino, a manager on our fiber project and asked him a few questions.
Q: So, John, first can you give a quick explanation about how Google Fiber will work?
A: Sure. Here’s a basic diagram of our network. As you can see, we’ll be routing fiber connection into Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO through several equipment aggregator huts, aka “Google Fiber Huts.” From the Google Fiber Huts, the fiber cables will travel along utility poles into neighborhoods and homes.
The benefit of this model is simple: every home that has Google Fiber service will have their very own fiber-optic cable that directly connects all the way back to the Internet backbone.
A diagram of the basic Google Fiber infrastructure.
Q: I see a label on your diagram, “Gigabit Symmetric Fiber Connectivity.” What does that mean?
A: Well, with most standard broadband connections, it is much faster to download a file than it is to upload one of the same size. That’s because most of the bandwidth, or the network’s capacity, is devoted to the content that users are trying to view online, such as their email or streaming video on sites like YouTube.
But with Google Fiber, our users will be able to download and upload files at the exact same speed. Think about being able to upload that huge powerpoint presentation you made for work, or that video of your child’s first steps in mere seconds!
Q: Very cool. Now let’s get to the nuts and bolts of what’s happening right now. What are the Google Fiber construction crews busy doing?
A: We’re working on 2 pieces of fiber infrastructure right now: installing fiber and building the Google Fiber Huts.
Most of our crews are out on boom trucks every day, hanging fiber on utility poles throughout Kansas City. A few of our crews are also busy digging trenches to install fiber underground.
We’re making good progress on the Google Fiber Huts as well—we’ve already built half of them!
Q: Where exactly have the crews been working?
A: We’re not focused in any one location. We’re working throughout Kansas City, KS and Kansas City, MO!
Q: What’s the next step in construction?
A: Well, we still have a while before infrastructure is complete. Kansas City is big, and we have to hang fiber throughout almost all of it. Once we’re done with that, we can move to the next step where we’ll be connecting fiber to homes.
A Google Fiber crew gets ready to hang fiber cables from a Kansas City utility pole.
Posted by Rachel Hack, Community Manager, Google Fiber
~~~
author.name: Rachel Hack
author.title: Community Manager
category: city_news
The Google Fiber blog is now located here
.
Labels
3d
Android
announcement
app
apple
April Fools
Austin
CBRS
channels
channels tv
choose dubs dread service plan
cinemax
Community Connections
Connected Communities
construction
deadlines
digital divide playbook mbit
Digital Inclusion Fund
Discovery
education
education schools students
en espanol
Español
expansion
Fiber behind the scenes
fiber poles
Fiber Space
fiber tv
fiberhood
fiberhood deadlines
fiberhoods deadlines signup
fiberhoods installation
Gladstone
Grandview
gybo
hbo
installations hanover heights
iPad
kansas
kansas city
Leawood
lee's summit
local government
Merriam
Mission
Missouri
nashville
North America
olathe
On Demand
otmr
Prairie Village
premiere
premium package
Provo
Raleigh
raytown
SAS
shawnee
sign up installation
signup
small business
spectrum
True Blood
tv
website
Archive
2021
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2020
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2019
Dec
Oct
Aug
May
Feb
Jan
2018
Nov
Oct
Jul
May
Mar
Feb
Jan
2017
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Mar
Feb
Jan
2016
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
Apr
Mar
Feb
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
May
Apr
Mar
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
2012
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Feb
2011
Dec
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Mar
2010
Dec
Oct
Jul
Mar
Feb
Feed
Follow @googlefiber
Follow
Follow