“We’re on fire! We want broadband now! So we’re meeting up at the fire station on Orcas Island,” says enthusiastic organizer Alex Huppenthal. “We’re rallying local residents, activists and contributors to help express interest in Google Broadband Internet. Google plans to install between 50,000 and 500,000 individuals with Gigabit Internet access. That is over 1,000 times faster than the typical island connection. That’s a quantum leap!”

Google plans to launch one or more experimental “ultra-high-speed broadband networks” in communities that evidence interest and support for the project, and at reasonable prices.

“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,” reads the Google project website, explaining various scenarios that could be made possible by the project. The company says it will announce its choices of communities for the trial sometime this year.

Huppenthal recently launched a Facebook group, “Bring Google Gigabit Internet to the San Juan Islands“, which to date has 83 supporters.

In addition to the general public, he has invited members of the San Juan and Island county commissioners’ boards to a public meeting, to be held on Sunday, March 14 at 5 p.m. He will present a slide show regarding the need and opportunity for broadband access in the area, and discuss possible formation of a broadband cooperative. The meeting will be set up to record video testimonies, which will be passed on to Google in support of the cause.

“We might just be able to move the islands to state-of-the-art broadband, matching world class services available in other countries,” says Huppenthal.