broadband

768k - now that's fast!

June 16, 2008

The FCC has updated its definition of broadband from the clunky 200K to the new, faster 768k. Telecomweb reports:

"The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), following years of criticism and threats of Congressional action, yesterday finally issued an order scrapping its previous definition of "broadband" as any service delivering of at least 200 Kb/s. .... The order, to be implemented by new rules to be issued within 120 days, sets 768 Kb/s as the minimum speed for what the FCC is now calling "basic" broadband, which extends up to 1.5 Mb/s.

Posted in FCC, broadband

DSL Anti-Trust

June 23, 2008

Supreme Court [finally] To Investigate If AT&T Is Violating Antitrust Laws With Wholesale DSL Pricing

TechDirt writes about the Supreme Court deciding to accept the Appeal of PacWest (now called AT&T) in its anti-trust battle with an ISP named LinkLine.

"A series of lawsuits followed, including an appeals court ruling that found that AT&T was abusing monopoly rights to offer prices that were simply out of line with market pricing -- making it effectively impossible for any other provider to compete. AT&T has appealed and now the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case.

Posted in broadband, politics, telco

DSLReports.com has an editorial titled, U.S. Broadband Cannot Be Fixed Until You Tackle Corruption. It seems that the new group, Internet for Everyone, has upset Karl. Karl is right in a way. There have been numerous groups over the years, including COMPTEL and its prior siblings, that have tried to get grass-roots support for a change at the FCC and in DC.

Posted in FCC, Internet, broadband

Dr. Reed in The House

July 21, 2008

Dr. David Reed gave testimony to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce last week in a hearing on DPI (deep packet inspection). The House Committee is trying to figure out what to do about DPI, Privacy (HA! What privacy?), NebuAd and Targeted Advertising. Dr. Reed wasn't the only one to testify.

Posted in Internet, broadband, cableco, telco

FCC, Comcast and Muddy Water

August 5, 2008

The FCC made a ruling on Comcast's network management (or P2P traffic interference). There are 2 blogs that give an excellent view of the ruling - one is from OpenID and the other from Prof. Susan Crawford.

I wonder why they just don't use the Common Carriage definition. If cable is a Common Carrier like telcos then stuff like DPI and traffic interference are a no-no. What? You mean Embarq and others are infringing on Common Carriage with something like NebuAd and Sandvine? No. Couldn't be. Not with the FCC around protecting the consumer and stuff. Oh, wait. ILEC's have a hall pass. I forgot.

UPDATE: Kevin Martin 's Open Network Manifesto on NYT.

Posted in FCC, bandwidth, broadband, cableco, duopoly, politics

Telco TV

August 6, 2008

Gary Kim and IP Business have a couple of decent articles on Telco TV. (They call it IPTV, which by strict definition it is not for most telcos. FiOS uses RF just like cable). the first article frames the debate: Should Telcos Have Gotten into IPTV?

Posted in broadband, telco, video

The Baller Herbst Report on Broadband

August 7, 2008

There is a Broadband report that you should all read: Bigger Vision, Bolder Action, Brighter Future: Capturing the Promise of Broadband for North Carolina and America (The Baller Herbst Report)

Here are some great excerpted quotes:

Broadband is not simply a consumer service or good, like cable television or an XBox. Rather, it is also a distribution system, a personal tool for interacting with the world, and a catalyst and enabler of an endless array of other products, processes, and services. Broadband will increasingly become integrated into virtually everything that we do at work, at home, and at play. From economic development to entertainment, from education to health care, from environmental sustainability to public safety and homeland security, from our smallest hamlets to our largest cities, from our young people to our senior citizens, almost everything and everyone will come to depend directly or indirectly on affordable and ubiquitous access to broadband.

Posted in broadband

Hotspot Revenue

August 24, 2008

In-Stat's study on hotspot revenue, according to Communications Direct:

The number of hotspots providing public wireless LAN access continues to grow globally and more people are using them, reports In-Stat. But access revenues do not appear to be keeping up with the growth in use, the high-tech market research firm says.

My favorite part is the summary that makes some obvious conclusions, as we see here:

According to an In-Stat consumer survey, people are increasingly using hotspots for personal reasons.
Survey respondents are showing an increased reluctance to pay for hotspot access. Nearly 50% of respondents said they would only use a free hotspot.
Access revenues will start to decline due to increased competition and users' reluctance to pay.

So no one wants to pay for wi-fi access.

Posted in broadband, wi-fi

FCC Grants Reporting Forbearance

September 10, 2008

SERVICE QUALITY, CUSTOMER SATISFACTION, INFRASTRUCTURE AND OPERATING DATA GATHERING. Granted forbearance from legacy reporting and accounting requirements. Seeks comment on industry - wide reporting. (Dkt No. 07-21, 07-139 , 07-204).

Posted in FCC, broadband, telco

Politics on the Internet

September 28, 2008

The first presidential debate was streamed live, which just shows you that the Internet is becoming a mainstream news and entertainment outlet. YouTube has channels for both candidates. Both parties are working the websites, forums, "social networks", etc. to get the message out and spread the word.

Posted in Internet, broadband, politics

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next

On Rad's Radar?