Since it became obvious that internet access was going to be an essential for everyday living, the Federal Communications Commission has wrestled with how to encourage providers to build expensive wired networks to reach rural and remote communities, but not with much luck. Now the FCC is considering a new tactic for solving this problem: Suggesting that maybe there isn’t a problem so long as you can get online with your phone. [More]
internet access
CenturyLink Snapping Up Level 3 For $34 Billion To Make Internet Service Voltron
By 10.31.16 — Updated: 11.1.16
Boo! If you think mergers and acquisitions are scary, than two huge companies have a special Halloween morning treat for you: CenturyLink and Level 3 announced this morning that the former is acquiring the latter for $34 billion. [More]
Google Drops Free Fiber Option In Kansas City
By 4.11.16
Ever since Google began providing the residents in Kansas City the option of signing on for its Fiber service in 2011, the tech company has offered a hard-to-refuse deal: pay a one-time installation fee, and you get internet access for free – in some cases up to seven years. But it looks like the almost-free ride is over. [More]
President Signs Bill Making Internet Service Tax Ban Permanent
By 2.24.16
While federal law has long blocked most states from collecting taxes on Internet service, that prohibition has to be renewed every few years. But today President Obama signed into law a new piece of legislation that makes existing bans permanent, and puts an end date on Internet taxes for the few states that still collect them. [More]
Want Fast Internet? Live Near Rich People
By 9.5.13
What happens when you compare an area’s median household income with the average download speed for Internet users in that area? You find out what you’d always kind of guessed, that there appears to be a direct relationship between an area’s wealth and the quality of its Internet service. [More]
Cable Industry Admits That Data Caps Have Nothing To Do With Congestion
By 1.18.13
A month after one study called shenanigans on the cable industry’s repeated assertion that data caps and usage-based pricing are intended to relieve congestion, the president of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association has admitted as much. [More]
Dial-Up Won't Die: AOL Signed Up 200K New Customers In Last Year
By 11.4.11
Even though we’re well past the age of AOL’s ubiquitous free trial CDs, the shrunken ISP giant still manages to coax hundreds of thousands of new customers into its antiquated dial-up service. According to its earnings report, the company added 200,000 new customers while losing 630,000 users in the past year. Shockingly, 3.5 million users still greet the internet with the nostalgic, ear-splitting sound of their landlines connecting to the internet. [More]
FCC Broadband Study Shows Which Companies Actually Come Close To Meeting Advertised Download Speeds
By 8.2.11
Today, at — of all places — a Best Buy in Washington, DC, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the results of the agency’s Measuring Broadband America study, which looked to put a more accurate number on what consumers should be expecting from their broadband providers. [More]
AT&T Will Cap Internet Use, Charge Overage Fees Starting In May
By 3.14.11
Heavy AT&T internet users will have to keep an eye on the amount of data they’ve downloaded, because come May they’ll be subject to overages after a preset amount of gigabytes gobbled. [More]
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]
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]
Best Buy To Peddle Its Own Mobile Broadband Service
By 6.29.10
In a recent Sunday ad, Best Buy pimped Best Buy Connect, its upcoming mobile internet service. [More]
Which Hotels Have Decent Wi-Fi?
By 5.3.10
If you want to pay out the nose for Wi-Fi, stay in a W hotel, says HotelChatter. The site has released its 6th annual report on Wi-Fi in U.S. hotels, and the W Hotel chain is named as the worst with no free lobby access and $15/day room rates. Other hotels that suck when it comes to wireless: DoubleTree, Four Seasons, Marriott, and Mandarin Oriental. [More]
McDonald's To Offer Free Wifi
By 12.16.09
What goes better with greasy fries and corn syrupy sodas than delicate electronic equipment? McDonald’s announced today that they plan to roll out free wi-fi in their outlets that currently offer it for a fee. The goal is to make their restaurants more amenable to people hanging out, and gobble up more of Starbucks’ share of the latte-sipping market. [More]
ISPs Threaten Metered Broadband As Net Neutrality Looms
By 10.21.09
Remember when you called up your ISP and, after an unholy modem screech, were billed for every minute you spent online? (Actually, it occurs to me that many Consumerist readers probably don’t remember this.) If ISPs’ current efforts pay off, we may all soon be paying for every little byte of Internet that we use.
AT&T Will Roll Out Tiered Internet Access In October
By 7.22.08
“When AT&T provides broadband service by speed, it will do so in discrete, non-overlapping tiers,” Quinn said in written testimony. “We will strive to provide service within the speed tier purchased by the customer and, if we find that we are not providing service within the ordered speed tier, AT&T will take action either to bring the customer’s service within the ordered tier or give the customer an option to move to a different tier.”
