Tucson, Arizona is home to the University of Arizona, Davis-Monthan Airbase, Fort Huachuca and many supporting businesses such as Raytheon. With all of these great supporting businesses providing many technological advancements, we have very lousy internet options to support these businesses and the people who work for them. High-speed Internet access is essential to participate in the 21st-century economy. Fiber Internet is an important tool to attract and retain high-tech businesses.

What Is Google Fiber?

Google Fiber is Alphabet Inc.'s fiber-to-the-premises service in the United States, providing broadband Internet and cable television that offers internet speeds at 1 Gigabyte per second. Google provides next generation ultra-fast high-speed internet at speeds over three times higher than the highest available speed from COX Communications at 300 Mbps and twenty-five time's faster than 40 Mbps Century Link currently offers. 1 Gigabyte per second = 1000 Mbps.

What is the issue?

The City of Tucson and surrounding metro area currently has two high-speed internet options.

Cox or Comcast

CenturyLink

Both providers are known to have very poor customer service and intentionally raise rates due to the lack of competition. An example of this is COX Communications and Comcast both serve areas of the Tucson metro area but do not compete with each other directly. This leaves one other option CenturyLink DSL in most areas. CenturyLink’s network in Tucson, AZ is sub par based upon old copper DSL-based technology and in many areas residents of Tucson are unable to get adequate high-speed internet access from CenturyLink.

Lack of competition has led to increased rates, whereas Google fiber prices their 1Gbps access at 70 dollars per month when compared to $99.99 for Cox Ultimate introductory pricing. Simply put you get much faster speeds for less. Why wouldn’t you want more internet for less?

What about these COX Gigablast Commercials currently on TV?

Cox’s marketing team is very good at selling a product that only exists in a few remote areas of Tucson. IE: Fiber To The Press. An example of this is in the Mountain Vail Ranch Neighborhood where COX has deployed Gigablast internet to a few select streets and not the entire subdivision as announced in their press release and their deployment plans are not transparent like Google. Both CenturyLink and Cox have a gigabit presence in Tucson, but it’s very small and neither company has committed to deploying fiber optic networks on a mass scale in Tucson, AZ. This leaves a void where the residents of Tucson are stuck with two poor choices with slow speeds, rising prices, and no alternative internet options.

Why Google Fiber?

Its service, with 1000 Mbps download and upload speeds, is 100 times faster than the Internet connection that most people have today.

That means no more buffering videos, cloud gaming that doesn’t slow down the entire house, and the genesis of HD and UHD video conferencing for the average Joe with the ability to have multiple users on the same connection without any slowdown.

It’s cheap.

No Bandwidth Caps and no limitations on internet usage, compared to COX’s 1Tb data cap.

So I get that Google Fiber would probably be a lot faster than anything I’ve experienced in my home, but how does it benefit the community, and how would that relate to me?

There are a ton of examples to be provided, but the most intriguing of tangible examples I could find was outlined in an article by CNN, found here. Here’s the blurb I found most interesting:

“Health-care uses: When Google Fiber’s Kansas City network was announced, the company said it planned to work with the University of Kansas Medical Center to develop the gigabit medical applications of the future. Imagine seeing your doctor remotely via a high-speed Internet connection.”

What about property values, would having Google Fiber increase my property value?

Well, the answer to that is maybe, and that’s a maybe bordering likely. Check out this article done by KSHB Kansas City 41, here’s a snippet:

“When Google Fiber launched last month, the company promoted a property value increase between $2,000 and $5,000 per home.”

What this petition hopes to accomplish?

By signing this petition we are asking a few things to happen between Google Fiber (Alphabet) and The City of Tucson and surrounding metro areas.

We the residence of the City of Tucson, Marana, Oro Valley, including areas of Rita Ranch, Vail, Corona De Tucson, Sahuarita and Green Valley are asking Alphabet to deploy Google Fiber in these areas on a massive scale. We understand the importance and economic impact that Google Fiber brings. We are asking for an alternative provider to have another option and choice when it comes to how we receive internet. Most importantly WE WANT YOU GOOGLE FIBER!!! to bring your network to our city! Don’t delay!

We are also asking the above City’s to work with Alphabet and Google Fiber in the following areas:

Fair and equal access to achieve a franchise agreement giving consumers more access to internet services.

We ask that our city officials are eager and willing to work with Google in every manner to make this happen.

Expedited permitting process for Google’s fiber deployment.

Work with Alphabet to leverage the use of dark fiber in preparation for deployment of Google Fiber.

Assist Google in bringing a data center to our city.

It’s a Win-Win for everyone! The city gets increased tax revenue from new jobs, franchise agreements, and next generation high-speed infrastructure. The residences get another option when it comes to internet access and Google gets people who are excited for their mission and the opportunity to expand in the amazing city that is Tucson and even an opportunity to collaborate with the bright minds at the University of Arizona. Regardless of whether you choose Google's new service as a consumer, simply having the service come to our city is a win for everyone. That's because the ISP industry is defined by a general lack of competition.

Please sign this petition and help make Google Fiber in Tucson a reality!