Google to Test 1Gbps Internet at Stanford's Residential Subdivision

Remember when Google said it would be offering 1Gbps Internet to a community?

Well, this isn't about that community but rather a test area for the 1Gbps Internet. Stanford's Residential Subdivision has been selected as the test site for Google's 1Gbps Internet service. The Residential Subdivision at Stanford University is a small chunk of the campus that has houses for faculty and staff, roughly 850 of them.

This is a far cry from the 50,000 to 500,000 homes Google wants for the community, but it will at least be a leaping off point to see how well it does. The plan is to break ground on the service in early 2011. Google chose Stanford because the university was willing to test out the new fiber service and the Residential Subdivision is laid out in such a way as to make it easy for Google's engineers to wire it up. Plus Google is headquartered just a few miles away so the engineers will have a short travel time to fix any potential problems.

Google still plans to roll out the 1Gbps connection to a community in the future, just Stanford will be a beta test if you will.