Like many Americans, Liv and her neighbors are cut off from high-speed broadband access because they live in an area that the cable company says is too far for them to run lines to. She says she’s spent a few years trying to convince them but hasn’t made any headway, even getting the neighbors to band together and say they would all agree to service. What can she do to change AT&T or Comcast’s mind, or can she even and would she be better off with a DIY solution? [More]
broadband
Broadband Internet Keeps Cable Companies Dominant Despite TV Losses
By 3.9.11
Cable companies are hemorrhaging subscribers, but the businesses are still sitting pretty thanks to the trump card of broadband internet access. [More]
Rich DC Burbs Pay $9.58, Rurals Pay $31.17/Mbps
By 2.18.11
The rich get richer while the poor get…slower? A new report by investigative journalist John Dunbar cracks open the numbers that are tightly held by the industry and found vast disparities in the quality and price of service based on how close to town. By comparing customer speed tests and surveys, he found that while folks in the low-income areas outside of the Washington Metropolitan Area pay slightly less for their broadband, those in the wealthier DC burbs are getting far more bandwidth for their buck. The poor are paying on average $31.17/Mbps while the rich are paying only $9.58. [More]
Map Shows Which Areas Of The Country Have Broadband Access
By 2.18.11
The country’s access to broadband internet has inched its way above the two-thirds mark, according to a Commerce Department survey that found 68 percent of American households have high-speed internet access, compared to 63.5 percent last year. It also released a National Broadband Map that lets you search and analyze its data. [More]
FCC Looking To Shift Land Line Subsidy Efforts To Broadband Internet Access
By 2.7.11
The FCC has long subsidized access to land lines in rural areas, but will vote Tuesday to possibly shift the funding toward high-speed internet access. [More]
Virgin Killing Off Unlimited Mobile Broadband Plan
By 1.27.11
Say “sayonara” to another unlimited mobile plan, Virgin is adding a 5GB cap and throttle to its $40 “Unlimited Broadband2Go” MiFi plan. After you surpass the threshold in a month, your transfer speeds will get reduced to 256 kbps or lower for the rest of the month. The changes go into effect Feb 15. Happy Valentines Day. [More]
My House Is In The Tiniest Broadband Dead Zone In Texas
By 10.8.10
Cliff and his wife recently purchased a house–hooray for them! Strangely, Cliff tells Consumerist, this house exists in a tiny pocket of space and time that their broadband provider of choice, AT&T Uverse, cannot reach. Well, that, or they live in a newly constructed area that doesn’t have the infrastructure for it…even though it should. [More]
Why U.S. Broadband Sucks
By 10.6.10
The US is falling way behind other countries in the speed and cost of broadband access because of a lack of competition. Elsewhere in the world, the company that owns the physical internet backbone must sell access to a range of independent ISPs on the wholesale market. The result is a panoply of companies competing on service, quality, and price. But, a recent Scientific American article argues, back in 2002, the FCC reclassified broadband as “information service” instead of “telecommunications service,” and Mr. Local Monopoly has been partying it up ever since. [More]
Why Haven't Broadband Prices Dropped?
By 9.20.10
Ten years ago, 5% of the country had access to broadband Internet. Now over 95% of the country has access. In other technology markets, notes the authors of a new study, prices tend to drop significantly once a technology matures–but with broadband, prices since 2004 have dropped by less than 10% in most markets, if at all. So what’s going on? [More]
My AT&T DSL Nightmare Began On Friday The 13th
By 9.3.10
Koji would like to sign up for AT&T DSL. However, some evil force at AT&T doesn’t want him as a customer, and keeps sneaking into the computer system to cancel his account activation and otherwise destroy any hope that he might have of DSL. Why is this happening? No one at AT&T knows. [More]
"Up To" Broadband Speeds Are BS, FCC Study Shows
By 8.18.10
Just like you’ve suspected/known all along, the “up to” broadband speeds providers offer – “up to 10 mbs!” – are nigh unattainable. A new FCC report finds that broadband users are, on average, only getting half of the advertised “up to” speeds. [More]
White House Backs FCC Plan For Wireless Broadband
By 6.29.10
If you’re having trouble getting a signal on your smartphone, the White House feels your pain. The Obama administration has endorsed an FCC plan to nearly double the bandwidth available for wireless devices by freeing up additional wireless spectrum. But don’t expect blazing speeds or better signals overnight. The plan will take several years to implement, require congressional approval, and is tied to a bandwidth auction to get the carriers to pay for the right to use the spectrum. [More]
Charter Communications Rep Says Cable Companies Taking Over All Streaming Video On May 1st
By 3.16.10
The Charter Communications CSR who spoke with Dustin has some pretty astounding news about what’s on the horizon for all of us. It looks like starting May 1st, cable companies will have total, FCC-sanctioned control over streaming video and will take down all competing services. [More]
FCC Leaks Summary Of National Broadband Plan
By 3.15.10
The FCC has released a scan (PDF) of the five-page executive summary of the National Broadband Plan that it will present to Congress in two days. Although the summary is packed with recommendations, here’s a couple that a lot of broadband customers might be interested in: the FCC wants to develop “disclosure requirements for broadband service providers” so that consumers can make the best choice for service, and it wants to map broadband services across the country to better identify “specific geographies or market segments” where there’s not enough competition. [More]
Test Your Broadband Speeds For The FCC
By 3.15.10
Last Thursday, the FCC started collecting information from consumers about the quality of their broadband service. If you’ve got a PC that can run Java, you can go to Broadband.gov and run the test now. (The FCC will collect your IP address and physical address, but not your name or email address, reports Wired.) If you’ve got an iPhone or Android smartphone, you can download an app to measure your connectivity and report it. [More]
FCC To Unveil National Broadband Plan On March 17
By 2.23.10
While President Obama was busy attempting to get his plan for a national health care system rolling, those folks at the FCC announced they will unveil their National Broadband Plan — which will provide Internet access to 93 million Americans who can’t currently look at home videos of cats — to Congress on March 17. [More]
You Want Broadband At Home? Fine, British Telecom Wants $70,000
By 2.18.10
The Walker family, who live in a 150-person village in England, would like to upgrade their dialup Internet connection to broadband. Unfortunately, in order to do that, British Telecom insists that they would need to install higher capacity equipment for the entire village, and send the Walkers the £45,000 ($69,788) bill.
It probably goes without saying that BT has a monopoly.
Jack In The Box's Free Wi-Fi Experiment Ended. Did Anyone Notice?
By 2.9.10
Knowzy.com, the website that’s been tracking which Jack in the Box stores were offering free Wi-Fi, reports that the restaurant chain has pulled the plug. The Wi-Fi offer came with the installation of HDTVs that displayed ads in the dining area, but those are gone too: “In mid-2009, the TVs and the Wi-Fi began disappearing. By the time McDonald’s made their free Wi-Fi announcement in December, Jack had completely dismantled his Wi-Fi network.” [More]
