FCC Chairman Kevin Martin seems to not be in the business of making friends lately. Despite talking tough on "a la carte" stations and cable conglomerates, he's failed to make much headway with fellow members of the commission or members of Congress. His goal? To treat cable operators like phone… Continue reading
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
In the wake of Comcast's throttling, er, "delaying" of BitTorrent connections, it seems like all hell has broken loose for the mammoth cable operator. Not only are they facing lawsuits, consumer complaints to the FCC and some seriously peeved members of Congress, but they'll also have to contend with a… Continue reading
The FCC is expected to hand down some new rules on Wednesday to ban exclusive provider contracts in apartments, condos and other multi-unit dwellings. This is a reaction to cable rates that have jumped 93% in the last decade. FCC Chair Kevin Martin noted that cable rates often drop 30%… Continue reading
The rumor mill at DSL Reports says that UTOPIA residential connections will be beefed up to 50Mbps in both directions. That means downloads at least 7 times faster than cable or DSL and uploads over 60 times faster. The price? Still $40 a month as always. Even though the speeds… Continue reading
After what seems like an eternity of telcos and cablecos not understanding that we like to send as well as receive data at blazing speeds, Verizon decided to launch a 20Mbps symmetrical connection for home users. The real shocker? The price tag, a paltry $65 a month, shockingly low for… Continue reading
There's all kinds of good news on the municipal fiber front. First up is the fiber optic system built in Burlington, Vermont. The system currently serves about 2,000 of the city's 39,000 residents and is expected to provide up to 20% of the city's general fund when the bond debt… Continue reading
Have you been sweating the phase-out of analog TV signals that starts in just 17 little months? If you're a cable subscriber, you can breathe easier for a few extra years. The FCC has mandated that cable companies continue to support analog TV sets for at least three years after… Continue reading
The city council in Washington City has voted to become a non-pledging member of UTOPIA, the first city to do so since the moratorium on new members expired in July. The council was split on the decision and Qwest was, as usual, present to protest membership. City manager Roger Carter… Continue reading
iProvo finally surpassed the 10,000 subscriber mark amid some big plans for the network. According to the Daily Herald, the city is currently negotiating to bring in up to three more service providers and possibly hire DynamicCity (now PacketFront) to help manage the network and improve its financials. The new… Continue reading