Google seeking permission to test high-speed wireless broadband

Google is seeking permission to test high-speed wireless broadband in 24 US location, including 12 cities for up to 24 months, according to an FCC filing. The company's goal was to try out experimental transmitters over the 3.4 to 3.8 MHz frequency range, according to commentators.

The locations include those where wired Fiber was already operational, like San Francisco, as Google opted for cities for their radio propagation environment, buildings and foliage to test interference, pre-existing Google infrastructure and "existence of partners who may participate in the tests," the filing said.

Some reports aver that the term"partners", could be partly referring to Webpass, the ISP Google acquired in June (Google Fiber acquires San Francisco ISP Webpass), that already served point-to-point wireless and fibre internet to tens of thousands of customers.  According to commentators, delivering broadband over the air bypassed many regulatory requirements for wiring up homes directly to a telecommunications grid.

However, people in the test cities need not get excited with the prospect of the new technology as the company noted in the filing that these tests would not involve the average user. Only Google employees, contractors and "trusted testors" under close supervision would get to try out the wireless fiber. Until the testing went public, the rest of us would have  to wait.

The news comes around three months after a major construction plan was approved by San Jose officials to bring Google Fiber to the city. Mountain View and Palo Alto too were working with Google to get fibre internet service but said Monday that the company told them the project had been delayed.

"It was a surprise," said Mountain View public works director Mike Fuller, who added that Google told city officials the company was still committed to providing fiber service in Mountain View, San Jose Mercury News reported. "We didn't expect it because we were working on what was their plan at the time."