No, the FCC Isn’t ‘Overturning Net Neutrality’

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Set aside the Chicken Little fears about the internet dying.

The left is in a veritable state of hysteria as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moves to vote on Chairman Pai’s deregulatory “Restoring Internet Freedom” (RIF) order on Dec. 14. It’s gotten so bad that incensed supporters of so-called “net neutrality” have taken to harassing commissioners’ children and even threatening to kill a congressman.

It’s a nasty state of affairs, and it’s one unfortunately driven by a lot of false rhetoric and outright fearmongering over how policy is actually changing. Telling people that a policy change will “end the internet as we know it” or “kill the internet” can agitate troubled people into doing crazy things. Continue reading

Riverside County Introduces Broadband Initiative for Area the Size of New Jersey

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RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA, April 19, 2017 – At 7,200 square miles, this Southern California county is nearly the size of New Jersey. On April 3, the county put out a “Request for Participants” in an effort to jump-start a $2 billion to $4 billion initiative building a gigabit fiber network.

The project is dubbed RIVCOConnect, and represents one of the most ambitious county-led efforts to entice the private sector to do what it hasn’t yet done: Upgrade speeds and connectivity throughout less-populated regions of this sprawling county. Continue reading

Apple is reportedly looking to put broadband-beaming satellites into orbit

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Apple has a new high-flying project in the works.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is getting involved in launching satellites that would beam down broadband Internet access. Recently, Apple poached two Google satellite executives to form a new hardware team within the company. John Fenwick led Google’s spacecraft operations and Michael Trela was head of satellite engineering. Continue reading

From unserved to connected: Leverett’s fiber-optic system a model for rural towns

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By Larry Parnass, [email protected]

LEVERETT — Inside a green metal building in Leverett, lightning-fast internet connections pulse through yellow-coated fibers, one per customer.

One strand belongs to Susan Valentine, an artist who lives down the hill on Long Plain Road in this Franklin County town.

“Man, it was a long time coming,” she said recently. Continue reading

The Debate Over Muni Broadband Expansion

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By Stephanie Kanowitz

As communities across the country continue to clamor for high-speed broadband, the number of critics speaking out against municipal broadband is growing.

At the heart of the debate is whether governments or private industry should have jurisdiction over broadband. Those who favor private industry point to the historical success of capitalism, while “broadband populists,” as a new report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) calls them, favor government regulation and operation much like other city services. Continue reading

AT&T Trialing Fixed-Wireless Internet

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AT&T (NYSE:T) is trialing a point-to-point millimeter wave wireless technology designed to use in-building wiring to deliver 100 Mbps Internet service to each apartment unit. The trial covers several apartment complexes in Minneapolis, outside of the telco’s traditional 21-state wireline service area.

The trial uses millimeter wave wireless technology to send a multi-gigabit signal from a central building connected to fiber to neighboring apartment buildings, and then connects each apartment unit via in-building wiring. The apartment buildings have small radio/antenna systems placed on the properties’ rooftops, as well as a satellite dish for DirecTV service. Services are then distributed to each unit in the building via existing or new wiring in the property. After customers in the trial properties sign up for service, they can plug a WiFi router into an existing wall outlet to get Internet service. Continue reading

Google Fiber Halts Rollout; Top Exec Leaves

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SAN FRANCISCO — Google Fiber is halting its rollout in 10 cities and laying off staff as its chief executive, Craig Barratt, steps down, dealing a major setback to the Internet giant’s ambitions of blanketing the nation in super-speedy Internet.

Barratt, CEO of Alphabet’s Access division who had been in charge of Google Fiber, said in a blog post that he would stay on as an adviser. Continue reading