Google Fiber buys a gigabit ISP that uses fiber and wireless

Hoping Google Fiber will come your way soon? The Alphabet subsidiary just made an acquisition that could help it roll out high speed internet faster. It agreed to purchase Webpass, a company that currently has "tens of thousands" of customers for high speed internet in the Bay Area, San Diego, Chicago, Boston and Miami. Webpass is notable because it's used high-speed point-to-point wireless technology as well as fiber to link up apartment buildings and businesses without having to wait for a physical link, and offers its customers speeds of up to 1Gbps.

Running fiber everywhere faces both regulatory and labor hurdles that those wireless links could help sidestep. There's no word on the exact plans in place or price, but Webpass president Charles Barr writes that his company "can accelerate the deployment of superfast Internet connections for customers across the U.S.," and Google Fiber will help it reach more customers.