Wired broadband is in trouble. And ISPs and Silicon Valley are to blame. The idea that wireless could be a real substitute for wired broadband showcases how crappy our current broadband is. We need fatter pipes, but we also need applications that take advantage of them. Read More »
Tech
Cox, the nation’s third-largest cable company, today said it had successfully delivered a voice call and high-definition video streaming over a fourth-generation Long Term Evolution network, but the trial raises more questions than it answers about the cable provider’s 4G wireless plans. Read More »
After years of breakneck growth, U.S. broadband is in slowdown mode. During the second quarter of 2009, U.S. service providers added less than 650,000 new accounts, down more than 50 percent from 1.6 million additions in the first quarter. (Stats below the fold.) To… Read More »
After a fourth-month delay, the DTV transition, which will enable several services to run on the 700 MHz spectrum that had long been used for analog TV, will kick off tomorrow. For the string of companies affected by the delay, it… Read More »
The cable industry, in an effort to boost sales, is looking to business customers. As broadband growth slows, revenue from consumer households is fairly flat, and as a new report out today shows, most consumers aren’t willing to pay more for their Internet service, which… Read More »
The metered bandwidth malaise that is spreading across the U.S. — Internet service providers such as Cox, Comcast, Charter, Time Warner and AT&T are all dabbling at restricting your monthly bandwidth — is taking root in other parts of the world. In India, two major… Read More »
The Free Press issued a report today that blames deep packet inspection technology for “The End of the Internet,” arguing that Internet service providers’ use of equipment that can inspect individual packets of data should raise concerns for both users and lawmakers. The report: “Deep Packet… Read More »
Telecommunications equipment provider Zeugma Systems today released software called SmartMeter that helps carriers manage broadband traffic. It’s not alone in offering such a product, but with SmartMeter Zeugma is trying to ride a change in the way broadband providers price their services — moving from… Read More »
Wall Street has been losing its enthusiasm for the four-play plans that offer voice, video, data and wireless services to consumers. The initial results of such efforts have so far been marginal; one can understand the investor skepticism. But don’t tell that to cable and phone… Read More »
The all-out war between telephone companies and cable companies is now going to be fought on a whole new front: wireless. Last week, Cox confirmed that it was getting into the wireless business, joining cable industry peers. Patrick Esser, president at Cox, revealed wireless at… Read More »
For any of us who recognize that personal privacy on the web is an illusion, the response to a Congressional inquiry asking how various ISPs and online portals target advertising and collect data will come as no surprise. Aside from the use of deep-packet inspection… Read More »
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has recently taken up a populist and politically lucrative crusade against Comcast and its nefarious efforts to block certain kinds of traffic. But this is nothing more than a diversionary tactic, one aimed at taking attention away from the service providers’ implementation… Read More »
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