Tag: Internet access

America’s cities want gigabit broadband and they are not prepared to wait

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English: Availability of 4 Mbps-Capable Broadb...

English: Availability of 4 Mbps-Capable Broadband Networks in the United States by County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yesterday evening saw the launch of Next Century Cities, a US bipartisan, city-to-city initiative dedicated to ensuring the availability of next-generation broadband Internet for all communities. The 32 cities involved and their elected leaders are collaborating as they recognise the importance of using gigabit-level Internet to attract new businesses and create jobs, improve health care and education, and generally give residents new opportunities.

During the launch in Santa Monica, the mayors of Lafayette, Louisiana, and Chattanooga, Tennessee – both of whom preside over community gigabit cities – spoke at length about the difficulties they had to overcome in order to reap the rewards of having city-wide ultra-high speed broadband available to all at affordable prices. Continue reading

GOOGLE ADDS TO BROADBAND TESTING

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Google has been rapidly testing and deploying a variety of high speed internet delivery systems. The first volley for consumers was its Google Fiber gigbit internet access, which saw municipalities in the US competing to present their cities as the best fit for high speed access. Then, CivSource reported on a constortium of tech companies including Google, which were deploying TV White Space Broadband, sometimes called Super Wifi. Now, the company appears to be testing millimeter wave technology to provide wireless broadband according to a recent public FCC filing.

Millimeter wave technology uses the frequency spectrum from 30 GHz to 300 GHz, between microwave and infrared waves. Historically, like TV White Space (TVWS), these parts of the spectrum haven’t really been used. It the case of TVWS, that technology relies on extra and empty TV channels to transmit broadband access over long distances like they already transmit TV stations. Until the last decade or so, few devices could transmit millimeter waves but now the technology is more economical. Millimeter waves have been floated as a 5G network for mobile phones as well.

The battle for spectrum among technology providers and governments has already been high profile, with major telecommunications companies like Verizon and Comcast going to every spectrum auction they can to bolster their private networks. The development of FirstNet also touches on the scarcity and politicized nature of spectrum use as program administrators try to find spectrum bands that can be allocated to first responders.

If successful in commercial use cases, millimeter wave technology would allow for more spectrum for all of these networks, and would also be able to transmit bulky data wirelessly. However, there are limitations. As readers might guess from the word millimeter, these waves don’t go that far. The magazine Electronic Design breaks down just how much you might expect from millimeter waves without further technological innovation.

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How Come My ISP Won’t Increase Internet Speed and Lower My Bill, Like They Do in Sweden?

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By Anders Bylund | More Articles | Save For Later
October 7, 2014 | Comments (5)

We Americans are getting addicted to our high-speed broadband connections. Unfortunately, they are often slower and more expensive than the Internet hook-ups you can grab in many other developed nations.

For example, my brother pays $40 a month for his 100-megabit broadband connection in Karlstad, Sweden. He can take his pick from 19 different service providers, all using a common last-mile infrastructure and competing on price and features. For $70 a month, he could upgrade to a full gigabit. Continue reading

Telecoms want to stop high-speed internet spread, but not Google Fiber this time [sic]

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This is another poorly written article that may just be news instead of an editorial. What caught my eye was the quote below.

But for some internet service companies, the deployment of faster internet “must be” regulated, and more specifically in some areas where internet businesses are protected by laws.

Although the sentence does not make sense, I believe that they are supporting regulating Internet Service Providers (ISP). Why is it a foregone conclusion that the Internet must be regulated? The Internet has grown organically with little to no regulation. Unlike the statements made in this article, there are ways to provide competition in the broadband services market. The only reason that the so-called press wants regulation is their proclivity towards government control and to preserve their industry. Traditional media is dying and having the government regulate the Internet helps to preserve their business.

I agree that municipalities and localities need to be in control of their broadband future, but not at the expense of taxpayers. I do not agree with the state laws preventing cities from entering into business relationships that can increase their broadband penetration, but I also do not think that they should compete with commercial enterprises. Once again open-access broadband infrastructure is the answer.

Internet Connection

Who doesn’t want to stream faster Netflix videos? Access Facebook seamlessly, or watch YouTube videos in 4K resolution? The bottom line, there’s a demand for cheap, but very fast internet connection.

See Google Fiber as one of the best examples out there.

Google Fiber is the search giant’s popular but very expensive to build internet service with a 1-gigabyte-per-second internet connection. The Mountain View, California-based search and advertising company is already serving three markets in America, Kansas, Provo and Austin, and could expand to nine others in the near future.

And while the mobile phone market is growing and computers are getting cheaper, consumers are now demanding for faster and affordable internet speed. Luckily, faster internet is not limited to mega cities only, or cities selected by Google, AT&T or CenturyLink.

But for some internet service companies, the deployment of faster internet “must be” regulated, and more specifically in some areas where internet businesses are protected by laws. These business giants are now asking the FCC to stop the expansion of — well, not Google Fiber this time, but the city-operated internet services.

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FCC Officials Outline Plans for 100 Million in Funding for Rural Broadband Experiments

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, Reporter, Broadband Breakfast News

WASHINGTON, July 29, 2014 – In a webinar on Thursday, July 17, the Fiber to the Home Council hosted a webinar with Federal Communications Commission officials on a $100 million fund for expanding broadband capabilities to rural communities. FCC officials encouraged companies to apply for the funds, but also cautioning them of the heavy commitment.

The FCC voted at its July 11 monthly meeting to authorize the experiments, and applicants have until Oct. 14 to bid for funding. The $100 million will be split into three categories, said Jonathan Chambers, Chief of the FCC’s Office of Strategic Planning & Policy Analysis. About $75 million will be used for testing networks that service plans at 25 Megabit per second downloads and 5 Mbps uploads. Another $15 million will go to testing delivery service at 10 Mbps down/1 Mbps upload speeds in high cost areas. The remaining $10 million will go to 10 Mbps down/1 Mbps upload service in remote rural areas.

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AT&T Sends Mixed Messages on Paid Prioritisation

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AT&T partially has the right idea by supporting traffic prioritization at the users’ request but they present it as selling more bandwidth instead of guaranteeing maximum latency and jitter. The user should be able to specify if they want their traffic prioritized whether they pay a service provider for that option or whether they purchase an option to label certain traffic from the ISP. AT&T wants to use this as an opportunity to sell a higher tier of service so they can drive up ARPU instead of selling a guaranteed maximum latency and jitter rate that is much less expensive to provide. Is AT&T being disingenuous or are the people presenting the public face truly ignorant on the subject of traffic management? I am beginning to wonder.

AT&T

AT&T (Photo credit: MrVJTod)

U.S. telco in favour of enforcing net neutrality under section 706 but wants to give customers option to pay for Internet fast lanes.

AT&T has somehow managed to simultaneously support a ban on paid prioritisation while at the same time recommending that prioritisation agreements should be permissible.

In a blog post late Thursday, the U.S. telco came out in favour of reinstating the Federal Communications Commission‘s net neutrality rules “including banning paid prioritisation – where an ISP prioritises packets over the consumer’s last mile broadband Internet access service without being directed to perform that prioritisation by the consumer”.

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Google Reportedly Wants to Launch Its Own Wireless Network

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Google is reportedly considering running its own wireless network. Sources tell The Information that company executives have been discussing a plan to offer wireless service in areas where it’s already installed Google Fiber high-speed internet. Details are vague, but there are hints that it’s interested in becoming a mobile virtual network operator or MVNO, buying access to a larger network at wholesale rates and reselling it to customers. Sources say that Google spoke to Verizon about the possibility in early 2014, and that it talked to Sprint about a similar possibility in early 2013, before the company was officially acquired by Softbank.

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