Archive for June, 2007
Monday, June 11th, 2007
iProvo Gets Tax Money to Cover Bond Payment
The Provo City Council voted 5-1 to pay down part of iProvo's debt using a surplus of sales tax revenue. This replaces the previous proposal to fund another loan from the city's electric utility to make the remainder of this year's debt payment. The Council felt that it was wiser to pay down debt now [...]
No Comments » - Posted in News by Jesse
Thursday, June 7th, 2007
Will WiMax Be Patent-Encumbered?
San Francisco is intent on using WiMax to reach more rural areas around the Bay Area's numerous hills. Clearwire has bought access from AT&T to start operating a national WiMax network and Qualcomm is set to laugh all the way to the bank. In a move all too reminiscent of Rambus sneaking their patented bits [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Jeers, News by Jesse
Wednesday, June 6th, 2007
North Carolina Municipal Networks Could Be On The Rocks
Just as Wilson, NC has been ramping up to build their own municipal broadband network, the state House has passed a bill from committee severely restricting their ability to enter the market. Unsurprisingly, Time Warner Cable is the chief backer of the bill. It should also come as no surprise that a talking head from [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Jeers, Legislation, News by Jesse
Tuesday, June 5th, 2007
iProvo Break-Even Still Five Years Away?
iProvo might still be some time away from breaking even, or so says the "we'll print anything negative about iProvo" Deseret News. According to the article, a miscalculation places the break-even point with current projections as far away as 2012. The original calculation failed to take into account repayment of funds borrowed from the city's [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Jeers, News by Jesse
Tuesday, June 5th, 2007
Questar Gas Seeks to Shut Out Public Comment
In a move only a die-hard monopolist would dare engage in, Qwestar Gas is moving to keep individual consumers out of rate hearings. The move is designed to prevent upset customers from criticizing the company and questioning its witnesses at Public Service Commission hearings. This is all despite very few people actually appearing at the [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Jeers, News by Jesse
Tuesday, June 5th, 2007
VoIP Hit With USF Charges, Blocked Access
It's a bad week to be Vonage. A federal court has ruled that all VoIP providers must start collecting and paying into the Universal Service Fund (USF), adding about $1.30 a month to the average bill. Vonage had sued the FCC to protest not only having to pay but having to pay so much compared [...]
2 Comments » - Posted in Jeers, News by Jesse
Tuesday, June 5th, 2007
IPTV is the Future of Television
As new entrants into the cable TV market look for more efficient means of delivering video compared to the broadcast signals of coax, more and more of them are turning to IPTV. AT&T is pushing U-Verse while Verizon pushes FIOS, but a number of smaller RLECs are getting into the game too. The advantages? By [...]
No Comments » - Posted in News by Jesse
Tuesday, June 5th, 2007
ISP Bandwidth Shortage May Lead to Video Restrictions
Reports from the UK show that some ISPs are engaging in "packet shaping" to restrict the use of peer-to-peer video services, even if they're legal. Given the net neutrality debate in the US, we might very well see such things coming to our shores soon, especially since telcos and cablecos can't keep up the connection [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Jeers, Legislation, News by Jesse
Tuesday, June 5th, 2007
Municipal Wireless Has a Place
I'm not a fan of most municipal wireless systems. They're usually greatly over-budget while delivering weak indoor signals and low speeds. Earthlink has been learning the hard way that municipal wireless is bad business, significantly scaling back the number of projects it had planned to handle.
Wireless does, however, go right from time to time. Witness [...]
No Comments » - Posted in News by Jesse
Tuesday, June 5th, 2007
Illinois Pushing for Universal Rural Broadband
Rural areas are found to be woefully underserved when it comes to broadband options, a condition that could stunt economic growth. It's no wonder then that Illinois is aggressively pursuing universal access for everyone in the state. Lt. Governor Pat Quinn is one of the main cheerleaders for rural broadband, pushing the DOT to install [...]
