Now that Larry “Willie Wonka” Page has named Kansas City, Kansas the winner of the golden gigabit contest, residents there will soon be like kids in the broadband candy store.
If all goes to plan, they’ll be gorging out on super high-speed Internet goodies in 2012
You’re probably asking what the broadband situation is like in Kansas City currently, and what about a color-coded map based on the FCC’s 477 data?
We gave this project to our own oompa loompas, and they’ve cheerfully come with just the right map.
Unfortunately, Google discontinued its Google Data Map API, so we’re not able to give you an interactive experience. (Drat!)
In any case, after reviewing the data, it’s clear there’s not a deep bench of competition. A few Google searches reveal that Time Warner is the dominant cable player, and AT&T holds the wires on the DSL side.
Kansas City, KS: blue indicates 9-12 providers, green shows 5-8
But they’re not the only players in town.
According to the FCC data, Kansas City and its surrounding burbs are blanketed by zip codes with between 8-12 providers of high-speed broadband.
These numbers also include business-only providers, so there’s not all that much choice for consumers.
In other words, it’s a lot like my own stretch of NJ and probably your town as well.
All in all, Kansas City is a good playground for Google, and the impact of their high-speed fiber will be clearly noticed.
They’ll eat the lunch of the incumbents and use their experience as a template to take on bigger fish.
Congrats to Google and Kansas City.
Related articles
- Mapping Fun with FCC Data (technoverseblog.com)
