Sure, a majority of the planet gets Internet access over slow-ish DSL and cable connections , but a growing minority is getting access to faster connections, thanks to fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) technologies. While these fiber connections — which range in the 20-50 megabits per second range — are plenty fast, some broadband providers are actively thinking about boosting the speeds on their networks. Why? Because of the sharp growth... 

Verizon Communication delivered broadband speeds of almost 1 gigabit per second to a customer in Taunton, Mass. in June as part of tests of its FiOS fiber to the home network. The test customer achieved throughputs of 925 Mbps down and 800 Mbps up. Today, there’s not much one needs such speeds for — unless you’re sending terabytes of data round the web for scientific research or your computer is a massive torrent hub —... 

Back in November 2007, I remember sitting in my office one evening and reading then-Senator Obama’s Technology and Innovation Platform for the first time. I was genuinely excited about this PDF . I was particularly taken by a paragraph that appeared right up front: . . . Because most Americans only have a choice of only one or two broadband carriers, carriers are tempted to…  Read More →

Back in November 2007, I remember sitting in my office one evening and reading then-Senator Obama’s Technology and Innovation Platform for the first time. I was genuinely excited about this PDF . I was particularly taken by a paragraph that appeared right up front: . . . Because most Americans only have a choice of only one or two broadband carriers, carriers are tempted to impose a toll charge on content and services, discriminating against... 

Google has finally responded to widespread criticism of the framework it developed with Verizon for addressing the issue of net neutrality. Unfortunately, Google’s blog post on the matter borrows heavily from the semantic gymnastics practiced by the telecommunications industry Google has cozied up to. Google Hasn’t Sold Out The post explains that Google hasn’t “ sold the tech industry…  Read More →

Several grassroots organizations dedicated to network neutrality are  planning a protest at noon tomorrow on Google’s Mountain View, Calif. campus. The groups include MoveOn, Color of Change, Creedo Action and the Free Press, who plan to protest at the search giant because it has teamed up with Verizon to put forth a legislative framework that has the potential to create a two-tiered Internet by allowing ISPs to discriminate against web... 

On Monday, Google and Verizon announced a controversial framework for compromise around the contentious issues of network neutrality: the idea that ISPs shouldn’t discriminate against certain types of web traffic. The issues are so complex that Congress has tried three times to make some sort of law regarding the idea, and for the last year the Federal Communciations Commission (FCC) has received tens of thousands of comments in a public... 

Cable and telephone companies added a scant 336,000 net broadband subscriptions during the second quarter, according to the Leichtman Research Group : the lowest amount in the nine years that the analyst firm has tracked such additions. This isn’t a surprise, as the broadband market is mature, with most homes who want it already signed up for it. The holdouts attribute their reluctance to zip down the information super highway to affordability,... 

The news media wasn’t buying the network neutrality compromise that Google and Verizon shared on Monday, but today the two chief executives of the companies wrote a joint editorial explaining their goals and their proposed framework in the Washington Post . If they can get Congress to buy into it, the agreement could influence policy. There are hundreds of millions of Internet users in the United States, and no two companies should be... 

Updated : Google and Verizon have agreed to a compromise on network neutrality that lays out seven principles tied to how operators can manage traffic on their networks. As expected, the compromise makes network neutrality enforceable on wireline networks, without extending the same to wireless. However, the agreement does ask for transparency in network management on wireline and wireless networks. The Google and Verizon agreement also leaves... 

Municipal broadband networks may the fastest way for smaller communities — and those in areas without much competition — to bring better broadband to their businesses and residents. These networks aren’t generally popular with incumbent communications providers, which have a history of suing to stop them. However, their tactics have changed. In 2005, the main goal of large incumbent telcos and cable companies was to try for... 

Our world is getting smaller and smaller, thanks to the increasing number of folks connecting to the Internet. Our world is getting faster, thanks to us being connected everywhere. Our world is getting more connected and that in itself is changing the way we live, work, communicate and share. Here is a visual representation of our connected planet, by the numbers. Infographic by Column Five Media  Read More →

A long time ago, I offered to make a bet with a friend that when commercial interests would collide with the broader interests such as network neutrality, Mountain View, Calif.-based Google would do what any large company does: do what is right for its commercial interests. I should have made that bet. I would have won. Today, news emerged that Google has reached an agreement with Verizon over Internet traffic management. It is the first step... 

Few people question the need for broadband and the value it can bring to a community. However, for proponents of community broadband networks, the challenges of financing buildouts, generating revenues, and ensuring a network’s long-term financial security are ones not easily resolved. So the question becomes: Who’s going to pay for community broadband networks, and how? Because the method by which a community pays for its network helps... 

Clearwire’s Mike Sievert Clearwire today said it now provides its 4G WiMAX service to five new cities, which brings its total mobile broadband coverage to 49 markets and 51 million people. That’s great, except that it is August and the carrier is only 43 percent of the way to its goal of covering 120 million people before the end of the year–a goal that means a considerable amount with Verizon’s planned Long Term Evolution...