GigaOM

I happened across a post on Verizon’s Policy Blog this afternoon and had to chuckle. The entire post is an effort to refute statistics used by organizations that claim the U.S. is falling behind in speed or has really pricey broadband compared with other nations. We all know that statistics can lie, but this particular diatribe is hilarious coming from a company that has stood in the way of collecting meaningful broadband data for years, most recently by suggesting the government pay a nonprofit to collect it. From the Verizon post:

The statistics cited regarding broadband speed, penetration and pricing are confusing, often compare apples and oranges, and in most cases don’t measure really important factors such as who is deploying next generation technologies most rapidly. Mark Twain had a very earthy saying about statistics - “There are lies, damn lies, and statistics”. He meant this as a humorous observation about how easy it is to assume numbers are always right. But it is not the numbers per se but rather how they are used and how comparisons are made that is key.

So while the post knocks the numbers and reports available, Verizon, AT&T and other carriers know the penetration, costs and speeds of most of the broadband users in the nation — and continue to fight giving out those numbers. So, to Mark Twain’s “earthy” aphorism I would add, yes, there are lies, damned lies and spin.

Updated: We’ve talked about how popular wireless broadband is for a growing spectrum of the population. I personally would give up my iPod before my 3G USB modem. But how much bandwidth can you really get? DSL Reports recently noted that Canadian wireless provider Telus is backtracking on its original unlimited wireless broadband plan and capping users at 1GB for $65. That has some rural users in a tizzy since they use it for their home network. I’d be in a tizzy too, since I use my modem whenever I travel or visit coffee shops rather than pay for Wi-Fi.

In the U.S., Sprint started enforcing a 5 GB data cap on unlimited plans in May; since few people reached those caps the wider consumer market hasn’t protested. But with the iPhone, reasonably priced 3G data plans and the carrier focus on increasing data usage, how long before consumers believe 5GB isn’t enough? Continue »

Today the Wall Street Journal drills into another aspect of the maturing broadband market: price wars. But instead of being good for consumers, in the end these may actually end up hurting them — by enticing them into capped services from cable providers or tying them to plans with early termination fees.

With fewer new customers signing up with DSL or cable providers, we’ve tracked the side effects of maturity such as negative advertising and the boosts in speed offered to prospective customers. To illustrate the expected price wars, the WSJ cites price cuts from Verizon and pricing guarantees from AT&T, the nation’s two largest DSL providers, and assumes cable companies will respond. The cable guys had pretty much won the war when it came to attracting new broadband subscribers, partly because they can advertise faster speeds, and because the newer high-speed services from the phone companies are cannibalizing DSL sales.

This is a price war that will be played out among the average user of “garden variety broadband services,” as the WSJ calls it. My guess is these are the folks using what Comcast cites as the average 2 GB or 3 GB per month, rather than those of you taking the 250 GB challenge in response to the caps some cable companies are implementing on their user base. In Time Warner’s case, the caps will likely benefit from price wars as a way to sign up customers under the new capped plans for lower prices. I noticed Verizon’s offer also contains an early termination fee. Both of which mean that in this price war, some consumers will lose.

image courtesy of Verizon

Comcast is out defending its bandwidth caps and how they are not bad. And how 250 GB transfer is plenty and enough to do whatever we want to do. Of course, in today’s terms that is more than enough, but what happens in the future? Nevertheless, if they are going to put caps, then they need to give us what I think is an acceptable expectation: a meter.

Metered billing needs a meter we can see, use and monitor any time we desire to do so. Water and electric utilities provide that meter (regardless of whether we use it or not), so why not Comcast?

If a customer surpasses 250 GB and is one of the top users of the service for a second time within a six-month timeframe, his or her service will be subject to termination for one year. After the one year period expires, the customer may resume service by subscribing to a service plan appropriate to his or her needs.

Figure out a way to tell us what our monthly usage is, and let us know if we are running up against a 250 GB cap, so that we know when to stop and not pay overage. I want to know at every single minute how much bandwidth I have used.

Continue »

Larry Dignan, who writes at the Between The lines blog, talked to Qwest CTO Pieter Poll about company’s future plans including fiber-based broadband. Unlike Verizon, Qwest has opted for fiber-to-the-node strategy. The company is pushing fiber to a point where it can feed 350 homes using VDSL2 over copper.

Some highlights from the conversation and my take on why faster broadband isn’t just an option but a necessity for the company below the fold. Continue »

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 the Progress and Freedom Foundation conference in Aspen, Colo.:

“I won’t divulge too many secrets here, but we’ll focus on providing simple calling plans, integrating all our services into one device with a consistent cross-platform interface; and making our content and applications mobile.” (via PC Mag)

Here is a quick rundown of cable’s wireless plans so far:

• Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Brighthouse Networks backing the Clearwire-Sprint’s WiMAX venture.
• Cox Wireless doing it alone.
• Comcast recently hired Dave Williams, former CTO of O2, to head up Comcast Wireless.
• Cablevision: no plans.
• Charter Communications’ owner Paul Allen’s Vulcan Spectrum acquired 700 Mhz spectrum.
• Bend Broadband of Oregon also snagged a 700 MHz Block B license.

Earlier this year we reported that Cox had started working on a wireless network using some of its newly acquired 700 MHz frequencies. Cox spent around $304 million to acquire 14 Block A and eight Block B licenses as part of the recently concluded 700 spectrum auctions. Chinese equipment maker Huawei is going to supply CDMA gear for a wireless network. Huawei is making gear that works on CDMA and LTE networks.

Phone companies have to be fretting: They are competing in the traditional land-line and broadband business and losing to the cable guys. Now cable companies want to go after their cash-cow wireless operations.