Miami Beach Loses Google High-Speed Bid
MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) - Miami Beach gave it their all in trying to get picked as Google's test community for its ultra-fast broadband network.
But, Miami Beach came up short as Google announced Wednesday it has selected Kansas City, Kansas to test its 1 gigabit per second network.
Last year, the city put together a YouTube video that parodied Lady Gaga to help sway Google to select the city. It also created a website and a special Facebook page to bolster its campaign.
In a blog post, Google thanked all of the communities for their proposals, but said it was looking for a city to "make an impact on the community and develop relationships with local government and community organizations."
Google said the new service would go live in early 2012. If Google can put together the 1 gigabit per second speed, it would dwarf the average download speeds for most Americans. The U.S. ranks 15th in the world for Internet speed.
Google also teased that they will be looking at ways to bring the fast internet service to other cities.
