analysis
Though limits affect only 1% now, high-def video will change that
ABC News Sep 2, 08 4:33 PM CDT
(Newser)
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With Comcast setting a limit on Internet usage beginning next month, the end of the Internet as we know it may be at hand, as ISPs move toward usage-based models like public utilities. Comcast, the second-largest US Internet provider, was careful to say that the bandwidth limit is so high—250 gigabytes per month—it won't affect 99% of customers. But "today's bandwidth hog is tomorrow's average user," one critic tells ABC.
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ISP decides to slow down users rather than P2P programs after FCC scolding
Bloomberg Aug 21, 08 9:41 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Comcast plans to reduce Internet connection speeds for heavy users, Bloomberg reports. The company's "FairShare" system will slow users down for 10 to 20 minutes during peak periods. Comcast was recently scolded by the FCC for improperly blocking file-sharing programs like BitTorrent in an effort to manage Web traffic.
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OPINION
Analyst argues metered service will halt innovation and stunt growth
GigaOm Jun 5, 08 5:05 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Cable companies are wooing Wall Street by saying they’ll offset expensive implementation of a new, high-speed software protocol by metering broadband Internet access. Bad move, Om Malik writes on GigaOm. Flat-rate high-speed access has enabled recent revolutionary innovation in the telecom business, which led to almost 70 million broadband subscriptions in 2007, and a cash cow for the cable companies.
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Copyright holders pressure British ISPs
to unplug users
The Register Mar 31, 08 8:40 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Virgin Media may become the second ISP to unplug users who share files illegally, the Register reports. The company is in talks with a UK record industry association over a "three strikes" system, which would disconnect users who share copyright-infringing files after two warnings. "We are taking this problem seriously and would favor a sensible voluntary solution," Virgin Media said.
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Broadcasters remain fearful of interference
Wall Street Journal Mar 24, 08 4:25 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Google is re-doubling its efforts to get the FCC to allow the development of unused space in the TV spectrum for wireless Internet service, the Wall Street Journal reports. "The vast majority of viable spectrum in this country simply goes unused," the tech giant wrote to the commission. "There is no benefit to allowing this spectrum to lie fallow." TV broadcasters, fearful of interference, oppose the co-opting of the white space.
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Internet creator decries spyware: 'You can't have' my data
BBC Mar 17, 08 5:35 PM CDT
(Newser)
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He may have created a web that's worldwide, but Internet founder Tim Berners-Lee is very proprietary when it comes to tracking programs, such as Phorm, that allow ISPs to monitor their customers. Berners-Lee says he’d drop any company caught mining his data. “It’s mine—you can’t have it,” he said. “If you want to use it for something, then you have to negotiate with me.”
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'The problem is not peer-to-peer technology, the problem is how you deploy it.'
Associated Press Mar 14, 08 5:22 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Verizon announced today that it plans to use peer-to-peer software to speed the deployment of legitimate content over its networks, in a break from the industry’s usually negative stance towards file sharing, the AP reports. Working with a P2P company named Pando Networks, Verizon found that when an ISP optimized sharing software like BitTorrent or Kazaa, they could increase download speeds by 60%.
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$850M acquisition for a company struggling to change roles
Wall Street Journal Mar 13, 08 1:46 PM CDT
(Newser)
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AOL will buy Bebo.com for $850 million in an attempt to enter the social networking market, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bebo has 22 million unique visitors a month, well behind MySpace's 109 million, but the site’s strong European presence will give AOL access to key youth demographics outside the US. The move comes amidst reports of internal turmoil and a possible sale of the Time Warner subsidiary.
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Ship expected to reach 2nd severed undersea line today as well
Reuters Feb 5, 08 6:18 AM CST
(Newser)
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Repairs have begun on a segment of undersea Internet cable reported severed off the coast of the United Arab Emirates last Friday, Reuters reports. FLAG, an Indian telecom, said that one of their ships had reached the cable, the most recently disrupted of three main lines to undermine access across the Middle East and South Asia. Another repair ship is expected to reach one of the other two cables today.
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Repairs could take days or even weeks
CNN Feb 1, 08 1:18 PM CST
(Newser)
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A third cable carrying Internet traffic to the Mideast was cut today off the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, and web and phone service remained disrupted in large areas of the Mideast and India because of breaks in two cables in the Mediterranean Wednesday. The cables severed earlier carried as much as three-quarters of the traffic between Europe and the Mideast, so their loss was more serious, CNN reports.
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Egypt goes offline; India hit with severe delays
Financial Times (UK) Jan 31, 08 6:59 AM CST
(Newser)
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Damage to two underwater cables has huge swaths of the Mideast and South Asia offline and repair ships scrambling to restore internet service to millions. One of the cables has been completely severed, the Financial Times reports. Some 70% of Egypt's service was disrupted, including all of Cairo, and bandwidth in India is reduced nearly 60%.
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Cell phones, Internet continue to shine as landlines decline
New York Times Jan 29, 08 1:38 PM CST
(Newser)
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Verizon Communications, riding a wave of wireless and Internet growth, yesterday announced net income rose to $1.07 billion for the fourth quarter, up nearly 4% from $1.03 billion a year ago, reports the New York Times . Verizon Wireless, second to AT&T in the US, added some 2 million customers in the quarter, despite a slumping economy.
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Critical postings, government shutdown may spark legal fight
Associated Press Jan 6, 08 6:32 PM CST
(Newser)
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A Thai ministry has shut down a website critical of the country's monarchy, the AP reports. Postings on Sameskybooks.com questioned news accounts that all citizens mourned the king's sister, who died Wednesday, and criticized officials. "I think we're one of the few sites posting remarks against the monarchy," Thanapol Eiwsakul, who ran the site, told a Thai newspaper. "This is the price we are paying."
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Lambaste industry group behind study predicting failures
Techdirt Nov 25, 07 3:39 PM CST
(Newser)
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Ominous warnings earlier this week of a looming Internet disaster are highly misleading, suggest critics. "As we've stated previously, most warnings of capacity armageddon come from traffic shaping companies looking to sell hardware," the industry web site Broadband Reports writes about a recent Nemertes Research study, which was funded in part by the Internet Innovation Alliance.
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Consumer groups lodge complaint against Comcast file sharing interference
Associated Press Nov 1, 07 4:53 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Consumer groups and legal scholars filed a complaint with the FCC today asking the agency to fine Comcast for interfering with subscribers' file transfers. The case will be the first major indication of the FCC's actual stance on Net Neutrality. The petitions call on the FCC to fine Comcast $195,000 for every affect subscriber, the Associated Press reports.
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