Gig.U's speedier Internet

[Commentary] College campuses are shielded from many of the ugly realities of the outside world, such as dead-end jobs, underwater mortgages and pokey Internet connections. Now, a group of research universities wants to bring one of their perks — blazing fast Internet access — to the communities that surround them. They're trying to persuade telecommunications companies to use the towns as test beds for broadband services almost 200 times faster than today's average connection. The goal of the effort, dubbed Gig.U, is to spur a leap in broadband technologies and the services they enable. Although it's something of a "Field of Dreams" notion, the project could help the country surmount one of the biggest obstacles to a truly high-speed Internet.