Google submits FCC filing, looks to expand wireless Fiber testing to 24 U.S. cities

Speedy wireless broadband is coming your way via Google.

In a recent Federal Communications Commission filing, Google noted that it has been testing a new wireless-transmission technology using the 3.5-GHz band in Kansas City, but the heavily redacted FCC filing suggests that it wants to dramatically expand to testing “experimental transmitters” at up to 24 US locations, including Provo, Utah, Omaha, Nebraska, and Boulder, Colorado, for a period of 24 months.

Google is requesting authorization to operate between the 3.4 and 3.8 GHz band.

The company stated that is is currently in the early stages, but hopes to grow.

Google Fiber’s original plan to spread super-fast internet across the US involved running high-bandwidth fiber-optic cable directly to each home that its network would serve. That process has so far proved to be expensive and slow-moving.

Since it announced the acquisition of point-to-point wireless-internet company Webpass earlier this summer, the Fiber team has started turning more of its attention to a using a new approach that will pair existing fiber with its own wireless technology.

Google has also delayed its own Fiber rollout in two Silicon Valley cities as it explores means of finding cheaper, wireless alternatives.

Although several of the cities that Google wants to test are already Fiber cities, the tests will be non-commercial for now. All of the end-user devices used for testing will be in the hands of Google employees, contractors, and “‘trusted testers’ selected by Google on a volunteer basis without payment.”

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Via Business Insider and the San Jose Mercury News