It's starting to look like Google has kicked off a small but growing gigabit internet crazy in the US — ISP CenturyLink has just announced plans to bring gigabit internet speeds to Omaha, NE. CenturyLink says it'll be upgrading its existing fiber-based network in West Omaha to to achieve these speeds, which should be available to select customers starting next week. By October of this year, the company plans to have gigabit speed available to all of its 48,000 customers in the area.

Omaha is just the latest city to be promised gigabit internet, either from Google or a different provider — Kansas City was the first to receive Google Fiber back in November, but there has been a bit more action lately. Both Austin, TX and Provo, UT announced they would get Google Fiber soon, with AT&T planning to follow suit in both Kansas City and Austin. Even a small town in Vermont is planning to offer affordable fiber-based internet to its 17,500 customers. For those of us longing for such high-speed connections, it's encouraging to see more and more areas rolling out gigabit internet — if the pace continues to accelerate, we might hit the FCC's goal of gigabit service in all 50 states by the end of 2015.

Thanks, Tyler!