Kansas City was the first place to enjoy Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s high-speed Broadband offering through the Google Fiber. The tech giant also announced that it will start distributing the broadband to other several other cities soon. Among these names were Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Nashville and Atlanta.
Google sure had to do a lot of homework and toil before it could establish the Google Fiber in its first destination, the Kansas City. Nevertheless, the network is still popular in the first city only among the wealthy and elite class people because it is unaffordable for the majority of the population.
It was the first time that Google had to initiate a street marketing campaign for one of its product at the time it sought to establish the Google Fiber in the Kansas City. The company called on a 60-member team in July 2012 that went around the place conducting surveys.
The company’s employees went about attending town hall meetings and church gatherings to make people aware that Google will soon bring 1 gigabit per second Internet speed in the city.
Even with its efforts, Google failed to erase the digital divide that is prevalent in the Kansas City. Instead, the company brought it in focus and notice. The fraction of Kansas City residents that have an Internet connection varies hugely when compared to that of the Nation. In the Missouri side, almost 70% of the children do not have Internet access at their homes. In addition, 25% of the entire area’s residences do not have any Internet connection.
In contrast, only 9% of the U.S. adults were surveyed to have no home-based Internet access, and the fraction of residents that have no access at all is only 15%.
In this context, the local non-profit Connecting for Good’s President, Michael Liimata said that although Google intended to erase the digital divide, it failed to understand the means to do it rightly. Instead, it only highlighted the scene for the rest of the Nation.
