Ever since Google announced last month that it would build its own high-speed fiber optic Internet network, there has been a fierce competition between countless cities and communities to become ground zero for the Google Fiber experiment.
Earlier today, the technology titan posted an update on the status of the experimental Google Fiber project. While the company didn't divulge many new details, it did release some interesting numbers.
The most notable: More than 600 different communities have expressed specific interest in Google Fiber. While "community" can be hard to define, it likely still means that hundreds of cities, towns and other locations in the U.S. have told Google that they want it to be their high-speed broadband network. More than 190,000 responses from individuals have come through the search giant's doors on the subject as well.
Google's about to start the next step of the process: reviewing the different communities, conducting on-site visits and meeting with local officials in order to pick the first community to get Google Fiber.
The final decision from Google won't be for some time, though. The company's announcement says that it will have a decision "by the end of the year."