Internet

Is the $100 Triple Play viable?

November 21, 2008

So on Linkedin, Neal Lachman, asked if the $100 Triple Play was Viable in today's economic molasses. Neal writes:

Bundling voice, video, data services for a higher ARPU was an obvious, great move when broadband services and advanced digital services were first introducded...... However, the market is moving more towards a lower ARPU for the triple play services. This is especially going to play a big role in future operations. The time of high ARPUs is going, and soon it will be history.

Posted in Internet, Marketing, bandwidth, broadband, cableco, duopoly, economy, linkedin, telco, telecommunications, video, wi-fi, wireless

Bandwidth Caps

November 17, 2008

Bandwidth caps have more to do with preserving TV revenues than network management business. Yes, there are issues of last mile and node congestion for both telco and cableco networks. It is also a function of the band-aid approach that these companies take. instead of one huge upgrade (like say Verizon with FiOS), there have been baby step fixes.

It's also about preserving revenue.

Posted in FTC, Internet, Web 2.0, bandwidth, broadband, cableco, duopoly, telco, telecommunications

The IP Resale Tumble

November 17, 2008

As prices of IP bandwidth sink to new lows, resellers - like Bandcon, AlphaRed, and the rest - are facing pressure. In fact, AlphaRed has apparently closed its doors, which could create problems for other resellers that it buys from and sells to, like BandCon who is the CDN for AlphaRed. For every reseller that closes, a new one opens up.

(Please note: the other reason that AlphaRed may have closed was that the Washington Attorney General is suing AlphaRed CEO for scareware.)

Posted in Internet, bandwidth

Spam Response Rate

November 17, 2008

1 in 12.5 Million responses to spam -- but it is still highly profitable. If the spam was just selling products with $10 profit per sale, it would still be highly profitable. But when you are stealing credit card numbers and identities, it makes spam hugely profitable.

Spammers usually run off of botnets of infected computers. Why people don't update (and run) anti-virus programs regularly is beyond me. Why we haven't defeated spam yet is another issue.

Posted in Internet, Marketing

Best VoIP Commercial Ever

November 10, 2008

Saw this commercial on TV yesterday for oovoo, which is a Skype replacement.

Why did I like it? Because it demonstrated what it does while doing what Ma Bell used to do in the old days with its Reach Out and Touch Somebody ads.

It makes a connection with the audience. The connection is an emotional bond. No talk of features or benefits. Perfect.

Luca says that there isn't room for any more players. To an extent that is true because the market is full and it will be a zero-sum game of take-away. But with marketing like this, I can see how oovoo could take market share -- but how do they make money?

Posted in Internet, Marketing, im/chat, telecommunications, voip

It's Going to be Limiting

November 5, 2008

AT&T is testing broadband caps in Nevada. First, cable now Ma Bell. In both cases, the reason may have to do preserving TV revenue than anything. There is concern. It even popped up as a LinkedIn question.

Posted in FCC, Internet, bandwidth, broadband, duopoly, wireless

Frontier Adds a Cap

November 3, 2008

Frontier Communications has added a download cap to its Internet service. It will charge folks for heavy usage.

The company caused confusion and some dismay among customers earlier this year, when it said it would charge for Internet use above 5 gigabytes per month, starting next year. [tbo.com]

What's most interesting is the comments. People are not happy about caps.

Caps are not new. We had time limits in the dial up days. (When you can only access at 33K, time is the limiting factor.) Satellite has always had bandwidth caps on its Internet service. It will become more pervasive as revenues for ISP's decline in this economy.

UPDATE: AT&T Trials Tiered Broadband in Nevada

Posted in Internet, bandwidth, telco

Cogent and Sprint De-Peer

October 31, 2008

According to Alex Muse, DSLReports and GigaOm, Cogent and Sprint de-peered this morning in a tiff of some kind. Cogent claimed this year that it was settlement free - coupled with its roots in the PSInet backbone network made it a Tier 1 provider. Cogent has had issues with other backbones including Level3 and Telia.

Cogent is incensed at the move,saying it violates a contractual obligation to exchange internet traffic on a settlement-free peering basis, and is taking legal action. It wants Sprint-Nextel to re-establish the link on the same basis.

So Cogent decided to make an offer:

Cogent is taking the moral high ground, and offering every Sprint-Nextel wireline customer that can't connect to Cogent's customers a free 100MBps internet connection until Sprint reconnects, though it says it can't do the same for wireless users.

Posted in Internet, bandwidth, telecommunications

Sequoia's Message to Start-ups

October 10, 2008

It's been all over the blogosphere this morning (GigaOm, Om again, Bear, Alley): Sequoia Capital is worried. They have given advice to all their portfolio companies. Here's some of it:

The Good Times are Over!
Cut spending. Cut fat.

Posted in Internet

Here's a Tweet

October 7, 2008

Congress joins the Web 2.0 world thanks to a bill pushed by some grass roots groups like this one and that one. There are Congressmen already using Twitter. They are listed here. You can watch them with this widget:

Now there is an open source microblogging service like Twitter called Identica.

Posted in Internet, Web 2.0, politics, twitter

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