Lake County towns team for Google project
They didn't get national attention a la Topeka, Kansas, but Vernon Hills and three neighboring towns say they have the same need for speed.
The village joined Lincolnshire, Libertyville and Mundelein in applying as a single entity to be considered a prototype for Google Inc.'s ultra high-speed fiber optic broadband network.
They join more than 1,100 communities and 194,000 individuals who want to be among the small number of trial locations for Google's self-described plan to make the Internet faster and better.
At 1 gigabit per second, the proposed fiber optic network promises to deliver the Internet at speeds more than 100 times faster than what is now available to most users.
"Imagine the draw to businesses, especially high-tech businesses, that are pushing a lot of data around," said William Rockwell, GIS coordinator for Vernon Hills, who completed the seven-page online application on behalf of the villages.
Google says it has not determined how much it will charge for the service, but it says in an FAQ Web page on the project, "We intend to offer service at a competitive price."
An informal survey of residents and businesses was overwhelmingly in favor of giving it a shot. Of 125 responses, only two replied negatively, Rockwell said.
"Some of them just wrote back in capital letters, 'Yes, sign me up,'" he said.
Because Google intends to serve a minimum of 50,000 people and potentially up to 500,000, Vernon Hills needed partners to reach the population criteria.
"There didn't seem to be a downside to taking a shot at it," Lincolnshire Village Manager Bob Irvin.
Google is not sharing a complete list or commenting on specific applications.
"That could be one community, it could be several communities, it could be a part or district of a larger city," according to Minnie Ingersoll, product manager for Google's alternative access team.
Topeka did get some publicity April 1, however, when Google replaced its logo with the name of the Kansas capital. The community unofficially changed its name to Google for a month in a bid to be the test site.
"Our mayors pulled no such stunts, but we put together the best application we could and hope for the best," Rockwell said.
In the Chicago area, applicants include Evanston, Naperville, Schaumburg, Palatine and Hoffman Estates.
"As soon as that announcement came out, we had a number of residents say, 'Are you applying for this?'" said Sam Ferguson, director of information technology in Schaumburg.
While the village applied singly, Ferguson said the application notes it is part of a consortium of 21 entities, including libraries, schools and hospitals in the area that cooperated for stimulus funding.
"We've always tried to be a step ahead of technology and progressive ways of doing things," Ferguson said. "Hopefully, that will show through."