Google made the announcement last week that it would be bringing their ultra-fast internet service to our community. But with the excitement came questions: When will we receive Google Fiber? Will my neighborhood be included? How much will it cost?

The short answer to all of those questions is – we don’t know yet.

John Bjurman, Chief Information Officer with the Town of Chapel Hill, says the town is still in discussions with Google on these topics.

“Google has not been open to some questions that we have for them,” he says. “And I think it’s probably because they don’t know themselves.”

Bjurman emphasizes the announcement was just the first step in a long process.

“If they nailed down a date for somebody and don’t meet that date, it would be very embarrassing. They don’t want to do that,” he says. “And I understand that.”

We do know Hillsborough will not be included in the Google Fiber expansion. Town officials say they are working on expanding faster internet service to areas of the town through Time Warner Cable or other competitors to Google Fiber.

Chapel Hill Town Council Member George Cianciolo says the town and Google are continuing discussions about how to move forward with implementing Google Fiber.

Ciancillo adds faster internet service is not the only benefit of the Google Fiber service in our community.

“I think the competition is great,” he says. “I think, [for] both AT&T and Time Warner, now there will be downward pressure on some of their fees given that there’s competition. That’s what for years, I think, has been lacking.”

He also says one part of the continued negotiations is providing internet access to areas throughout the community that have not been afforded the service in the past.

“I know with AT&T part of the negotiation was to provide service to our public housing areas,” he says. “It would not be gigabit service. It would be lower-level service, but service nonetheless.”

One thing Bjurman says will be very impactful in determining which areas receive Google Fiber, and in which order the service is deployed, will be registering online.

“It’s very important that people do that,” he says, “because then they’ll know engaged interest in where [Google] would want to start and where they want to go.”

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