The state of Hawaii “;has jumped all over”; the Google plan to bring 1-gigabit-per-second Internet speed to some U.S. locations on a trial basis, said Lenny Klompus, senior communications adviser to Gov. Linda Lingle.

Google announced plans last week to test ultrahigh-speed broadband networks, at speeds more than 100 times faster than the typical Internet connection, at competitive prices.

It has urged the Federal Communications Commission to improve Internet access through the National Broadband Plan, but Google will not wait around for the federal government - known to move at a glacial pace even without blizzards.

Google has invited state and local governments to complete an online request for information and will use the responses to determine where its trials will take place. Individuals also can vote for their communities.

“;We cast a wide net with our request for information, and we hope to receive many high-quality submissions in order to have a good selection of options for the project,”; said Dan Martin, Google spokesman.

Key factors in Google's decision-making will include “;the level of community support, local resources, weather conditions, approved construction methods and local regulatory issues,”; he said.

“;We will also take into account broadband availability and speeds that are already offered to users within a community.”;

However, since Google wants a range of results for its experiment, it is unlikely that only cities that are highly wired or have prevalent Wi-Fi and/or WiMAX access will be selected. The company is well aware that there are underserved and totally unserved communities starving to step into the Internet Age.

“;Our goal is to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone,”; Martin said. “;We hope that our innovation and experimentation in these limited, trial deployments will inform and accelerate ultrahigh-speed deployments elsewhere and help push the entire Internet ecosystem forward.”;

Google said on its blog that it wants to see what developers and users can do with ultrahigh speeds, such as creating new, bandwidth-intensive “;killer apps”; and services. Google also wants to explore new ways to build fiber networks and create a network that other service providers can use to offer the same high-speed service, sort of like the traditional wire-line phone companies did with competing long-distance service providers back in the 1980s.

Hawaiian Telcom's network is capable of providing such speeds, said Ann Nishida, media relations manager. “;We plan to increase them in the future and will share details at an appropriate time.”;

State officials are in the process of contacting “;the heads of Google. ... We have hosted them a couple of times”; for robotics activities, Klompus said.

“;We're fortunate that we do have a relationship with them ... so we feel good about that and hope we can be one of those states”; chosen to participate, he said.

Lingle and a team of officials are preparing to travel to Washington, D.C., for the National Governors Association conference, and Klompus said “;we are happy to go meet (with) and do whatever is needed to do to move this forward on behalf of the governor.”;

“;This is a great thing and a wonderful opportunity to have speeds 100 times faster than what we have today,”; Klompus said. “;We need it.”;

The powers-that-be at Google will announce the company's decisions “;sometime this year,”; Martin said.