Google Fiber provides faster Internet and, cities hope, business growth

Smack in the middle of the nation, Kansas City (KS) is about as far as possible from the hubs of high-tech innovation on both coasts. An effort last spring to excite new Web entrepreneurs in a place better known for cattle drives and barbecue sauce turned up just a dozen people. Three months into Google’s much-publicized, high-speed Internet experiment, signs of new business life have emerged. Just as the move from dial-up modems to higher-speed Internet connections helped launch Netflix, Facebook and YouTube, policymakers and Google hope this next leap forward will breed a whole new slate of innovations.