Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike gave the green light to a proposal for Google’s “Fiber for Communities” initiative Wednesday Feb. 24, and if Google chooses Bellingham, unparalleled Internet speeds of one gigabyte per second are expected.

Google’s initiative, announced on Feb. 10, calls for communities interested in having a fiber optic network installed in their city to submit a proposal by March 26 explaining why their city should be chosen.

If Bellingham is selected, the network of fiber optic cable would give the city access to an ultra-high speed broadband connection.

Frits Ponsen, director of telecommunication services for Western, said the school would be unlikely to adopt the fiber optic network unless it is significantly cheaper.

Western’s current Internet access comes through an Internet server, a computer that distributes Internet connections, from the University of Washington.

“No privatized price is able to beat the server we have now,” Ponsen said. “I don’t anticipate us changing unless the fiber optic network is much cheaper.”

Ponsen said Western’s current Internet isn’t significantly slower than what Google is proposing, so even if they were to switch, students probably wouldn’t notice.

“Right now we have speeds of about 300 megabytes per second, and in March we are changing to a new router that allows speeds up to one gigabyte per second,” he said.

Ponsen also said Western’s faculty would probably benefit the most from Google’s proposed network because the increased bandwidth in their homes would allow teachers to work from home more easily and not have an Internet experience slower than Western's network speeds.

To help decide whether to respond to Google’s nationwide message, the city posted a survey on their Web site asking people to weigh in.

Janice Keller, the city's communications manager, said the survey had 643 responses in six days, with 95 percent of the responses in favor of submitting a proposal.

“A lot of people said the potential of economic development and the ability to work from home would be key benefits,” Keller said.

Marty Mulholland, director of the information technology department for the city, said the fiber optic network would be up to 100 times faster than what a typical Internet user experiences at home, with a price comparable to what users currently pay.

“Through a cable modem most users see speeds of about 10 megabytes per second,” Mulholland said. “The fiber optic network would increase the speed to 1,000 megabytes per second, or one gigabyte per second.”

The increased bandwidth would also be beneficial to businesses and institutions in Bellingham, such as St. Joseph Hospital.

In a meeting with city officials on Tuesday, a representative from St. Joseph said faster Internet would give them the ability to provide health care for patients in their homes.

Mulholland said most of the people who didn’t want to submit a proposal were worried about cost, but she said if Bellingham is selected, the only cost to the city would be in dealing with regulations and permits.

Google would pay for the construction of the network itself.

Keller said the only cost right now is the proposal, which would be minimal. The potential cost for regulating the building of the network won’t be known until Google decides whether to build in Bellingham.

The next step in the process is submitting a proposal to Google by March 26, and waiting alongside other hopeful cities to see who will be selected.

“It’s going to take community support to be selected,” Mulholland said. “Google is looking for communities who want to embrace this; it won’t be easy.”

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