Showing posts with label Broadband. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Broadband. Show all posts

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Net Neutrality In Danger?

Logo of the United States Federal Communicatio...
Logo of the United States Federal Communications Commission, used on their website and some publications since the early 2000s. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Tim Wu: Goodbye, Net Neutrality; Hello, Net Discrimination
The broadband carriers want to make more money for doing what they already do. Never mind that American carriers already charge some of the world’s highest prices, around sixty dollars or more per month for broadband, a service that costs less than five dollars to provide.
It is a matter of disbelief to me that net neutrality should be in jeopardy. That is quite a statement on the political system. This impacts quite literally everybody. And yet the vested interests are ploughing along. What should instead happen is deregulation that brings the price down on broadband services.

So long, net neutrality? FCC to propose new pay-for-preferential treatment rules
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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Friday, July 27, 2012

Google And The Stagnant ISP Space

Image representing Google as depicted in Crunc...
Image via CrunchBase
I have long advocated Google go into the ISP space, strong and sturdy.

The economics of Google Fiber and what it means for U.S. broadband
this network isn’t a charity case .... goal is to bring the same efficiencies that have helped create cheaper, smaller and more powerful computers and create a cost and improvement curve for broadband access that resembles the curves for compute storage ..... what Google has done here has fundamentally lowered the cost of building and deploying a network ..... it will pummel existing ISPs on price and service ..... From the infrastructure on the back end to the TV and Wi-Fi routers in the home, Google has built its own stuff. .... taking the most basic elements of a network and assembling them into custom gear, much like it does on the data center side. ..... Google has built its own hard drive to act as a DVR, a TV box to provide channels and a network box that acts as a modem and provides Wi-Fi connectivity in the home ...... a QR code that a technician will scan. ..... Eventually consumers will be able to do this for themselves, perhaps after they order a box on Google’s Play store. .... “Why are the Comcasts and AT&Ts of the world complaining about how much it costs to serve up broadband when Google can deliver 100 times the traditional ISP’s top speeds for the same or a lower price.” .... “This is a beginning.”
Broadband speed has been the laggard in computing.
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Thursday, July 26, 2012

Gigabit Fast

Image representing Google as depicted in Crunc...
Image via CrunchBase
Google Unveils Superfast Internet in Kansas City, Mo.
purchasing the gigabit Internet service for $70 a month ..... the current average household broadband speed was only slightly faster than it was 16 years ago .... Google wants to provide such high-speed Internet to flex its muscle in Washington, where policy makers have been criticized for being slow to deliver national broadband ..... “fiberhoods” ..... a free 5-megabit-per-second broadband connection .... Google believed “there’s no need for caps.” ..... “I’ve never met someone who’s said ‘My Internet connection is too fast.’” ...... if two cars left Kansas City for New York at the same time, the one traveling 100 times faster would reach New York before the other car even left Missouri
I wish Google entered the ISP space for good.

Just like Google Search is ad supported, Google Fiber should also be ad supported. Use snooping technology to serve just the right ads. And at gigabit speeds an ISP could serve ads like TV stations do.

There is so much potential.


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Friday, July 20, 2012

Bad Public Policy And Internet Speeds

Emblem of Hong Kong
Emblem of Hong Kong (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Tokyo, Seoul, and Paris get faster, cheaper broadband than US cities
The most expensive city surveyed was New York, where Verizon charges $154.98 for the cheapest fiber triple-play package...... In contrast, Riga, Seoul, and Paris all offered triple-play packages for less than $40 per month. London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, and Hong Kong all had triple play packages available for under $50. .... The best-performing American city was San Francisco, where Webpass offers a 200Mbps service for $37.50 per month. New Yorkers and Washingtonians can get 25Mbps service for less than $40 per month ...... way behind the world leaders. A Hong Kong service provider offers 500Mbps service for $37.34 per month. Providers in Tokyo, Riga, Seoul, Paris, Bucharest, and Berlin all offer services with 100Mbps download speeds service for less than $40 per month. ..... Residents of Chattanooga, TN, can get gigabit Internet access. Unfortunately, that service costs $317.03 per month. Verizon offers 150Mbps service in New York for $159.95 per month, and Comcast offers 105Mbps service in Washington, DC, for $105.00. ..... In Hong Kong, you can get a gigabit connection for $48.59 per month. Amsterdam offers a half gigabit for $83.33 per month. Tokyo residents can get a symmetrical 200Mbps connection for $26.85 per month. ...... incumbents in the United States don't offer ultra-fast speeds even in urban areas whose high density ought to make them cost-effective ..... broadband policy in recent years has been based on the "really flawed assumption that telephone companies and cable companies are going to compete with each other." Instead, he said, we've gotten a "negotiated truce" in which cable incumbents enjoy a de facto monopoly on high-speed broadband service, while Verizon and AT&T focus primarily on their wireless platforms ..... policymakers should re-evaluate the 2005 decision to abandon line-sharing rules. In many other countries, incumbent firms are required to lease their facilities to competitors at regulated rates. ...... more cities should consider municipal fiber projects.
The two policy prescriptions make tremendous sense. One, incumbents should be required to share their pipes with competitors. Two, cities should lay down fiber optic lines.
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