Today, the SROA Board of Directors approved a motion to submit a RFI (Request for Information) to Google. Google has said that it will pay to have 1 gigabit of fiber optic cable brought to all homes, businesses, schools, etc., for up to 50,000 to 500,000 homes. Sunriver’s RFI is proposing that Google work with Chambers Cable to bring this capacity to the 6,000 homes passed by Chambers. The estimated cost for this project (which Google would pay) is about $5 million.
Why is Google offering to do this? We believe they are trying to do for homes and small businesses what Apple iPhones did for cell phones. There are currently over 150,000 applications that work on iPhones. Google believes a similar thing could happen in the home if the capacity was available and wants to find out.
Even though it is expected that Google will receive thousands of RFIs from communities across the country, we believe Sunriver has an excellent chance of being chosen to participate in this project? Why? We have identified many compelling reasons.
First, and most importantly, for the cost of wiring 6,000 homes, this technology will be exposed to over a million potential users every year. How? Because this is how many visitors come to Sunriver every year.
Second, we are “shovel ready.” This means if we got the go ahead, work could begin immediately.
Third, within Chambers’ territory, we have a broad spectrum of demographics…from Caldera and Crosswater to Sunriver to Spring River. Google could see how the different demographics represented by these areas come into play with this technology.
Fourth, Sunriver airport is only a short flight from Google headquarters in California.
If chosen, this would help put Sunriver on the national map. It would help tourism, property values, and definitely entice work-at-home technology workers and businesses to come live and work in Sunriver.
Why are we sending you this email? First, to let you be among the first to know what is going on, and second, to solicit your help. Google’s RFI indicates the more support we can demonstrate from the community, the better our chances of being chosen. We’ve gotten great support from the Resort, Property Managers, the Chamber of Commerce, Three Rivers School, the Nature Center, and Chambers Cable. But we now need owners to lend their support. It is critical that you act soon as our RFI has to be submitted before the March 26th deadline. Below are the steps you can take to be included in our RFI:
Go to the Google RFI site at: http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options
Click on “Nominate Your Community”
Fill in your affiliation, i.e. permanent resident, second home owner, etc.
Be sure to list City as “Sunriver”, and State as “OR”
Fill out the rest of the questionnaire about how this will benefit you and the community…increased rental income in a depressed economy, being able to conduct business from my Sunriver home, be able to monitor Sunriver home remotely, etc.
Optionally – if you want to do a short YouTube video – upload it to YouTube, and input the URL to it into the questionaire so Google can find it.
Do the bandwidth tests Google suggests (preferably in the evening), fill in the results and hit “Submit.”
Send us an email at infosroa@owners.org letting us know that you’ve sent Google an email, posted a YouTube video or submitted results of your internet access bandwidth test.
Thank you for your interest.
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