Push to bring faster broadband to college towns; PCI chairman Charles Benton attends

Published: September 27, 2011

Partnership for a Connected Illinois chairman Charles Benton attended a meeting with Google and more than 50 other companies in Chicago on Monday, aimed finding funding for faster broadband for 37 college campuses including University of Chicago and University of Illinois.

SFGate reported:

Google, Comcast and Intel are among companies considering a project to bring faster broadband Internet access to more than 30 college towns in a push to spur Web traffic and nourish technology startups.

They're being courted by computing nonprofit Gig.U to finance ultra-high-speed networks capable of transmitting movies, games and other data-intensive content at speeds 100 times faster than many services currently available.

The Gig.U project wants to bring the service to more than a million Americans living near 37 campuses, such as California Institute of Technology, University of Illinois and Duke University. Blair Levin, executive director of Gig.U, presented the idea to Google and more than 50 other companies at a meeting in Chicago on Monday, aimed at removing the biggest roadblock to a nationwide upgrade: a multibillion-dollar price tag.

Click here to read the full article on SFGate.