your Internet connection could be 100 times faster than it is today. The question is whether the market forces are in play to deliver that technology to your house.

A new plan announced Wednesday by Google to experiment with fiber-to-the-home high-speed broadband networks could provide connection speeds of one gigabit per second to between 50,000 and 500,000 homes. If the plan is successful, it will almost certainly draw greater consumer attention to the technology. But could it actually nudge more established Internet service providers into speeding up their connections?

Right now, 63% of American adults have broadband Internet connections at home, and 34% of broadband users now say they pay for a premium service that offers faster connection speeds, up from 29% of users in 2008, according to data from a 2009 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center s Internet and American Life Project.

Meanwhile, the government has been active in trying to increase high-speed Internet access. On Feb. 17, the Federal Communications Commission plans to present a plan to ensure every American can tap a broadband connection, as part of a Recovery Act program to increase broadband access, particularly in rural areas.

Google says its new program aims to push the envelope on Internet speed and accessibility. Our goal is to experiment with new ways to help make Internet access better and faster for everyone, the company said in a blog post Wednesday.

However, given the small scale of the project Google is proposing, analysts say it s unlikely to have an impact on the competitive landscape for high-speed Internet providers. It s difficult to make a business model work with so few homes, because it is a scale business, says Chris King, an analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus & Company who covers Verizon, Comcast, and other major providers. Building high-speed networks is very expensive, and Verizon, for example, is still years away from achieving a positive return on investment with its fiber-to-the-home FiOS network, despite a 30% adoption rate among consumers to whom the option is available, King says.

The project would have more impact if Google were to partner with a telecom company to achieve greater scale, says Joe Bonner, an analyst who covers the sector for Argus Research Company. Verizon s investment in optical fiber would make it a logical choice for such a partnership, but there s no indication yet that Google seriously intends to get into the broadband business, Bonner says.

The speed goal Google is aiming for sounds impressive, but no one needs a gig per second today, King says. Verizon s FiOS network would be capable of offering top download speeds of 2.4 gigabytes per second with minimal upgrades, but consumers simply don t need more speed than they ve got, he says. In its statement announcing the broadband experiment, Google said the company wants to see what could be done with these ultra-high speeds.

If an ultra-high speed connection already sounds like something you d pay for, here are the details on some of the fastest services currently available:

Cox Ultimate Internet: Download speed of up to 50 mbps
Provider: Cox Communications
Price: $139.99 a month, or $109.99 with 12-month contract (varies depending on location and current special offers)
Availability: Currently available in half the company s markets

FiOS Internet: Download speed of up to 50 mbps
Provider: Verizon Communications
Price: $144.99 a month (varies depending on location and current offers)
Availability: Currently available in 16 states

Wideband Internet: Download speed of up to 50 mbps
Provider: Time Warner Cable
Price: $99.95 a month (varies depending on current offers)
Availability: Currently available in New York City only

Extreme 50: Download speed of up to 50 mbps
Provider: Comcast Corporation
Price: $99.95 a month for current Comcast Cable or Digital Voice customers (varies depending on location and current offers)
Availability: Select areas

Correction: The original article incorrectly identified the top connection speed Google is offering. The top speed is 1 gigabit per second, not 1 gigabyte per second.