Mobile Devices and Cloud Usage to Grow with Free Broadband Services

GLOBAL – It started with Google Fiber, a free internet service for Kansas City with speeds of up to 1 gbps, and now Birmingham in the UK is already interested in joining the bandwagon.

Services such as these are crucial for users to enjoy what their smartphones and tablets can offer in terms of cloud apps and other web uses. Even though these devices now pack 4G connectivity and offer apps such as Dropbox and Skydrive for cloud storage, Google Maps with satellite views for navigation, or even multi-player gaming over the internet, these can’t always be fully used since network operators don’t offer compatible data plans. “Uncapped” packages themselves have fair usage policies, so even if the listed apps have a chance, more data-intensive services such as movie streaming would eventually cause the user’s account to be shaped.

Google Fiber can make a difference in this, and now the Birmingham City Council has received funding confirmation from the European Commission State Aid, but Virgin Media and BT (who also makes BT cordless phones) claim that there is “significant overbuild” in the current network availability. The two projects could eventually spread all over the world.