Topeka Kansas Renames Itself Google Kansas For One Month

by Amy Judd | March 2, 2010 at 07:06 pm

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Topeka Kansas Wants to Win the Fiber For Communities Program from Google

The town of Topeka Kansas underwent a transformation today when it unofficially renamed itself Google Kansas for one month in the hope of attracting Google to select them for their Fiber for Communities program.

Mayor Bill Bunten told CNN that the change would not be premanent, but says that he thinks his town would benefit from faster internet connections that would come from being selected by Google.

Fiber For Communities Program

Google has stated that they are going to test 'ultra-high speed broadband networks' in at least one location throughout the country, and this will mean internet speeds over 100 times faster that what most people would be used to. Google is asking any city or town to apply if they wish to be considered.

The Web giant is going to install new Internet connections in unannounced locations, giving those communities Internet speeds 100 times faster than those elsewhere, with data transfer rates faster than 1 gigabit per second.

Google has not commented on Topeka's enthusiasm for the project.

Topeka Kansas Will Not Make the Change Permanent However

Mayor Bunten wants to encourage younger people to stay in Topeka and build businesses, and hopes that Google will help this, but he insists that the change will not be permanent.

"To have this high-speed where people can sit down and have lunch and still keep working is a positive for young people," he said. "The young people are the ones that caught onto this and go to the Internet and asked people in the city to sign on as supporting Google coming to Topeka."