broadband

Why Tiered Broadband Is the Enemy of Innovation

Om Malik Om Malik, in a GigaOm article last week, suggests that, while newly introduced tiered broadband pricing schemes appear to be a pre-emptive strike on the future of video-on-demand, they will, by stifling new innovative applications – throwing the baby out with bathwater, as he puts it – ultimately become a self-inflicted wound for the network operators.
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AT&T: Internet to hit full capacity by 2010

AT@T logoA CNET article reports that, at a recent forum in London Jim Cicconi, VP of legislative affairs for AT&T, warned that the current systems that constitute the Internet will not be able to cope with the increasing amounts of video and user-generated content being uploaded.

“The surge in online content is at the center of the most dramatic changes affecting the Internet today,” he said. “In three years’ time, 20 typical households will generate more traffic than the entire Internet today.”

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NYCBAC Queens public hearing audio

NYC sealThe New York Broadband Advisory Committee held its fourth Public Hearing on Monday Mar 3rd 2008 at LaGuardia Community College in Queens. ISOC-NY videotaped the meeting and the audio has been posted on the ISOC-NY wiki.

The hearing was attended by Senator Larry Pressler – author of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that, amongst other things, established the E-Rate system. Continue reading

California Broadband Task Force reports

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger commissioned the California Broadband Task Force (CBTF) to “remove barriers to broadband access, identify opportunities for increased broadband adoption, and enable the creation and deployment of new advanced communication technologies.”  The Taskforce just published it’s report, saying that better, faster and more available broadband capabilities would propel economic growth for the most populous U.S. state, where 96 percent of households already have access to basic high-speed communications. They suggest the state consider issuing bonds to pay for the broadband build out. Continue reading

FIRMS TEAM UP TO OFFER INTERNET VIA SATELLITE IN TRANS-ATLANTIC PUSH

viasatEutelsat French satellite operator Eutelsat SA and U.S. equipment provider ViaSat Inc. have formed a partnership intended to make Internet access via satellite more competitive. The goal is to deliver faster, more flexible and less expensive broadband connections than those typically provided by existing satellite or ground-based rivals on both sides of the Atlantic. Continue reading

Dublin abandons “illegal” muni wifi, SF “Free the Net” project surges

RTE reports that the Dublin City Council has decided that a plan to provide free wireless broadband throughout the city must be been abandoned because it would be contrary to EU law on state aid. But the Labour Party, which says it originally proposed the idea of a free wi-fi city, has accused the Council of backing down as a result of pressure from the telecommunications industry.

On this side of the pond, San Francisco’s Free the Net project has distributed 40,000 Meraki repeaters to residents, creating a redundant mesh network for free wifi.

From BoingBoing