Verizon shook the industry with a move to 20Mbps synchronous connections. UTOPIA rocked it further by allowing providers to ramp up to 50Mbps. Now the entire cable industry has gone nuts trying to ramp up speeds in short order during Q4. Insight Communications and Cox Communications have each decided to… Continue reading
Cable companies are testing 100Mbps cable modems, an Aussie PhD claims to have found a way to make DSL ramp up to 250Mbps within 3 years and Verizon is trying out some 400Mbps connections on its FIOS service. Big numbers, but the Internet backbone probably can't handle it. A recent… Continue reading
Before I left town for a jaunt to DC, Venice and Florence, I had a few questions posed to me by Rep. Steve Urquhart of St. George on my summary of the November 7 subcommittee hearing. It seems he has some concerns over the financial viability of the project and… Continue reading
I'm going on vacation to Italy by way of Washington, DC and will not be posting until I get back on the 17th. I'll have limited access to e-mail (read: none) and zero cell phone coverage, so I'll get back to you when I return. Ciao, everyone.
It passed the House. It passed the Senate. And on October 31, President Bush channeled his dad's words and said "no new taxes." After getting right down to the deadline, Internet access will remain tax-free for another seven years. Not all is good, however. VoIP services no longer have those… Continue reading
I was rather surprised to see the UTOPIA legislation get tabled at today's meeting. Given that this issue has consumed a significant amount of time at each meeting I've attended and has received a significant amount of public comment, I would think any proposals on the table would have been… Continue reading
It's time for another liveblogging! It's looking like the meeting is likely to start late… again. Maybe we could all chip in to buy the committee members some new watches. 😉 1:04PM It sounds like the tabled items are going to have minimal effect on UTOPIA or other muni broadband… Continue reading
I wrote the following letter to all members of the Government Competition and Privatization Subcommittee to express my disapproval at the proposals brought forth at their last meeting.
Just a reminder that the Government Competition and Privatization Subcommittee will be meeting tomorrow, Wednesday November 7th at 9AM in Room W125 of the House Building at the Capitol Complex. This meeting will be to specifically discuss UTOPIA-related legislation as discussed in the prior meeting. (Read more here.) Prior to… Continue reading
The bad news for Vonage just keeps on rolling in. The face of VoIP providers everywhere has reportedly coughed up $80M to make Verizon leave them alone. That's almost a third of their cash on hand, not a pretty picture for a company with high churn rates due to some… Continue reading