UPDATED 14:40 EDT / JUNE 10 2016

NEWS

Google wants to beam high-speed WiFi straight to your home

Google has been quietly disrupting the internet service provider industry with its Google Fiber program, which has already expanded to a handful of cities across the US with more on the way. Now, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, may soon be ready to launch another disruption by offering high-speed Wifi service beamed directly into consumers’ homes.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Alphabet chairman and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently told company shareholders that the Alphabet has been experimenting with “point-to-point” wireless internet that would be “cheaper than digging up your garden” to install. Schmidt said that this technology could be capable of delivering speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, which matches the speed of the much more expensive to install Google Fiber.

If this technology is as cheap and as powerful as Schmidt claims, then it could have a huge impact on the internet service provider industry, which includes major corporations like Time Warner Cable, Comcast, and AT&T. One of the biggest hurdles to increasing bandwidth for internet connectivity is the enormous cost involved with building the infrastructure required for higher speeds. If Alphabet is able to circumvent a large portion of these costs using wireless technology, then it could offer dramatically improved internet speeds that other ISPs might have trouble matching.

The amount of data being transmitted through the internet to consumers has been growing at an accelerated pace in recent years thanks to multimedia services like Netflix and now Facebook Live. Streaming high-res video content places an enormous strain on existing networks, and this problem is only going to grow as virtual reality media streaming becomes more commonplace.

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it,” Mr. Schmidt said during his talk with shareholders. “We start from that premise here at Alphabet.”

Alphabet’s new WiFi technology is currently being tested in Kansas City, where the Google Fiber project began. Schmidt did not give a timeline for when the technology might be demonstrated for the public.

Image credit: Star Wars: Return of the Jedi | The Walt Disney Company

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