No Word on Google Fiber as Year Draws to a Close

So that Google Fiber thing? Is that happening?

Google Fiber is expected to announce by the end of the year whether it will begin offering its fiber optic internet service in the Atlanta market. Monday is Dec. 1. So, you know, you gonna hook it up or what, Google?

The company isn’t saying much. Continue reading

Sprint MVNO Ting sets foundation to deliver 1 Gbps FTTH service

imgresTing, a Sprint (NYSE: S) mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) partner, is building its own 1 Gbps fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) by purchasing Charlottesville, Va.-based Blue Ridge InternetWorks (BRI).

Initially, the focus will be on bringing services to customers in the Charlottesville market. According to a Washington Post report, Ting will provide 1 Gbps service for about $100 a month, and expects to hook up around 12,000 homes in Charlottesville beginning in the first quarter of next year.  Continue reading

Medina County Fiber Network’s growing pains end; revenues rise

Medina County Fiber Network director David Corrado works out of the Medina County Economic Development Corporation's office at the county administration building in downtown Medina. Donna J. Miller, The Plain Dealer

Medina County Fiber Network director David Corrado works out of the Medina County Economic Development Corporation’s office at the county administration building in downtown Medina.
Donna J. Miller, The Plain Dealer

MEDINA, Ohio — The Medina County Fiber Network that carries cost-saving broadband services to businesses, government buildings and school districts is approaching a pivotal year in its development.

“With nationwide carriers bringing their Internet, voice and Internet-transmitted television services to the county, we are concentrating now on doubling the customer base from the current 50,” CEO David Corrado said. Continue reading

Father of the World Wide Web says it’s getting worse all the time

Tim Berners-Lee speaking at the launch of the ...

Tim Berners-Lee speaking at the launch of the World Wide Web Foundation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I find it ironic that Tim Berners-Lee finds that increasing government surveillance and censorship on the Internet should be stopped by more government control. It is that increased government control that is making the Internet less free.

By Martyn Warwick

A new report from the World Wide Web Foundation concludes that the web is becoming less free and more unequal with users increasingly subject to state and government surveillance  as laws to prevent, or at least circumscribe and control, mass interception of private data and communications are either pathetically weak or even non-existent in 84 per cent of the world’s countries. Meanwhile state censorship of access to and the content of web sites is also increasing. And with dedicated server hosting plans, websites can now easily handle high levels of traffic. Continue reading

Analysis: Consumer Bills Could Soar Under Title II

By: John Eggerton

Consumers’ broadband bills could go up close to $90 a year if the FCC reclassifies Internet access service under Title II common carrier regs, according to an analysis by the *Hal Singer of the Progressive Policy Institute and **Robert Litan of Brookings.

According to a paper being released today (Dec. 1), the average increase in state and local fees on wireline, and potentially wireless, broadband, would be $67 and $72 annually, plus an added $17 per year in federal fees. Continue reading

Plotting Next Steps Towards High Speed Municipal Broadband for Seattle’s Internet-Hungry Masses

Remember when local comedian Brett Hamil fucking nailed it in a video-blog bemoaning his sluggish internet service? He’s back with a follow-up—still waiting, six months later, for Mayor Ed Murray to make up his mind about whether to pursue building a high-speed municipal broadband network in Seattle:

Continue reading

AT&T joins case; Chanute needs state nod to offer fiber broadband, says 1947 law

Chanute, Kansas

Chanute, Kansas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After beating back a legislative effort to stop them, city leaders in Chanute now face another state government hurdle in their effort to extend ultra-high-speed fiber broadband to residents’ homes and businesses.

Because of a 1947 state law on utilities, the city has to get permission from the Kansas Corporation Commission to sell bonds to fund its fiber-to-home project, which would extend some of the fastest Internet service in the nation to the rural community of about 9,200 people in southeast Kansas. Continue reading