America Doesn’t Need Google Fiber Everywhere — But We Do Need Its Buzz

[Commentary] It is time to fix the pitifully slow, expensive Internet access in the United States: It is ridiculous that 19 million Americans can’t subscribe to high-speed Internet access because they live in areas that private companies believe are too expensive to serve. It’s even more ridiculous that one of the most technologically savvy countries in the world can’t offer reasonable prices compared to other places.

We used to say that the Internet allows everyone to be a publisher; now, with equal upload to download capacity over gigabit connections reaching homes through Google Fiber, that will actually be true in Austin. But I don’t want Google serving the whole country, because we still need policies that lower the barriers to entry for competitors. Without competition the incumbents won’t invest in offering better service. Yet … there is something very valuable about the news that Google Fiber is coming to Austin. It makes clear that America’s current backward status when it comes to high-speed internet access isn’t inevitable. It makes companies like AT&T want to act (sort of). And most importantly, it makes people get why high-speed access matters. This is a different phase, not an incremental improvement. The difference between the standard Internet access that shapes our imagination and a fiber-to-the-home connection is as great as the difference between no electricity and an electrified life. But only if we see this difference, only if we understand what’s possible, can we change our expectations. And that’s the most important thing about the Google Fiber efforts.

[Crawford is a professor at the Cardozo School of Law and an adjunct professor at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.]