If you’re a cord cutter, there’s no chance FreedomPop’s new “freemium” home broadband is a fit for you. But by selling a minimal connectivity package, the MVNO is targeting the casual user and those who can’t afford broadband. Read more »
HughesNet has turns on its residential broadband service, offering 15 Mbps speeds in rural America where the quality of broadband connections have always suffered. Hughes isn’t the only one though. A new generation of satellite tech is dramatically boosting speeds available to underserved areas. Read more »
Google has convinced 10 percent of the people living in areas where it can deploy fiber to pre-register for the service with two days left before the Sept. 9 deadline. That’s a good start, but it might not be enough to get the service to profitability. Read more »
You thought it was hard to get cellular coverage in your basement — try getting it in the rain forests of the Congo. RascomStar plans to ensure that remotest communities in the Republic of the Congo get mobile service using the smallest access node imaginable: the femtocell. Read more »
After distributing much of the $500 million broadband stimulus program to narrow the digital divide in 2011, these investments should start bearing fruit. But the success faces two challenges: insufficient broadband infrastructure in some low-income areas and broadband adoption efforts that miss the mark. Read more »
Every year, IBM comes up with a list of five innovations it believes will become popular within the next five years. For 2011, it has come up with the following technologies it thinks will gain traction. I also look back at some of its previous predictions. Read more »
Technology used by ISPs as well as regulatory decisions have shaped the Internet. The New America Foundation sees danger in the current evolution of the Internet as the web becomes segregated by what people are allowed to access and the cost of that access. Read more »
For one-quarter of smartphone users, their device is the primary way they access the Internet, according to new data. It’s a sign of the growing dependence on smartphones and also shows that for a sizable chunk of users, it’s out of necessity. Read more »
BitTorrent is known as a way to quickly download gigabytes of data, ranging from TV show episodes to Hollywood blockbusters. The technology doesn’t work quite as well over dial-up. Pakistan-based researchers have found a way to change this by tweaking some of BitTorrent’s core design principles. Read more »
