Network World

State and local governments are working overtime to provide Internet service to all who need it during the pandemic, pushing out a range of ad hoc projects designed to keep members of their communities connected.

Arpanet carried its first message on October 29, 1969, laying the foundation for today’s networked world. Fifty years later, more than 4 billion people have internet access, and the number of devices connected to IP networks is more than double the global population. Follow the link to a look at some key milestones in the history of the internet and projections for its future growth.

There is even a small but growing group of Americans for whom gigabit connectivity is already here. Municipalities from Texas to Minnesota, and from Vermont to Nevada, are all seeing gigabit providers sprout up like fibrous little buds.

Those, however, are mostly either local governments offering services only to their residents, or limited promotional deployments from companies like CenturyLink and CSpire. Google Fiber -- and, more recently, AT&T -- are the only major national players with active plans for gigabit residential services.

Google Fiber is currently available in Kansas City, with plans afoot for Austin, Texas, and Provo, Utah, and more expansion in the works. AT&T announced that it will offer gigabit service to the Triangle area of North Carolina. But those two may be it for the general public’s foreseeable future, as no other major US ISPs are planning home gigabit service.