The rumours of Google’s plans to become a service provider have gained some veracity with this announcement from the Google Blog.  They are requesting applications from US cities to participate in a test roll out of a 1 Gb/s fiber-to-the-home service.  Eventually they plan to offer this service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people, so the space is fairly limited.  They are looking to hear from local governments as well as private persons, so if you want a good shot you might want to contact some of your local politicians and have them submit requests as well.

Google wants to give you Gigabit internet - General Tech 2

“Imagine sitting in a rural health clinic, streaming three-dimensional medical imaging over the web and discussing a unique condition with a specialist in New York. Or downloading a high-definition, full-length feature film in less than five minutes. Or collaborating with classmates around the world while watching live 3-D video of a university lecture. Universal, ultra high-speed Internet access will make all this and more possible. We’ve urged the FCC to look at new and creative ways to get there in its National Broadband Plan – and today we’re announcing an experiment of our own.”