Tag: BROADBAND

Last year, the FCC conducted a survey of the broadband landscape in the U.S, and things aren't looking good. The findings, released this week, reveal that 60-percent of broadband connections fall short (PDF) of the 4 Mbps download speeds that constitute the "minimum bandwidth generally required to accommodate today's uses." It's not all bad news, though; 31-percent exceeded 6mbps, and wireless ...

On May 2nd, AT&T will impose a broadband data cap for all DSL and U-Verse customers, after having already implemented similar usage limits for wireless users nearly a year ago. People connecting to the Internet through DSL will face a monthly limit of 150 gigabytes, while U-Verse users will be capped at 250 GB per month. Anyone exceeding these limits more than three times in three different ...

The FCC is looking to make changes to two telephone subsidy programs, with an eye toward providing greater broadband access to poor households. In 1985, the FCC launched its Lifeline Assistance and Link-Up America programs, which subsidize telephone service and installation expenses for low-income families. Yesterday, the Commission officially launched a notice of proposed rulemaking (or, a ...

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration just unveiled the National Broadband Map, a $200 million tool under development for the past five years that lets you explore, compare and analyze broadband availability and connection speeds across the country. The minimalist homepage offers a Google-esque search for targeting a state, ZIP code and street, as well as a map tool for ...

The final details surrounding the Obama administration's auction of wireless spectrum, potentially doubling that available for broadband, were announced by the president at a speech in Michigan on Thursday. The plan could net up to $27.8 billion dollars over the next ten years, with roughly a third of it going to reduce the budget deficit. It's the rest of the plan, though, where the really ...

Today, more people have access to broadband Internet than ever before. According to a new study (PDF link) from the Department of Commerce, however, Internet access is far from a guarantee in the U.S. -- especially for racial minorities. The report, which was published on Monday, finds that 68-percent of white households have high-speed Internet, compared with just 49-percent of ...

According to the United Nations, the number of Internet users will exceed two billion people this year, approaching one-third of the global population. The International Telecommunication Union, an agency within the U.N., is reporting that Internet access was extended to 226 million new users in 2010, with 162 million of them coming from developing nations. In the last five years, the number of ...

Starting today, July 1st, broadband Internet is the legal right of all Finnish citizens. Last October, Finland passed a law that guaranteed all citizens access to Internet connections of at least 1Mbps. Today, that law went into effect, requiring the nation's service providers to cover the few remaining Net-deficient households. With an estimated 96-percent of the population covered (in a country ...

There's no fury like a blogger unable to access a working Wi-Fi connection. But a new personal device could make it easier to get connected. According to The New York Times, Virgin Mobile USA released the MiFi 2200 wireless Internet hub on Monday. Personal hot spots are nothing new, but Virgin here has taken a different approach to how users pay for said technology. Rather than purchase an extra ...

The Obama administration is making a major push to improve the state of broadband in the U.S., and to make large swaths of the wireless spectrum available for mobile data services. A full 500 Mhz of spectrum (nearly double what is available now) is expected to be freed up over the next ten years and be auctioned off primarily to broadband companies. The effort should create jobs, in both ...

Improving national broadband accessibility and speed has been high on the FCC's agenda for a while, now. And yesterday, the Commission issued the first regulatory vollies in what many are expecting to be a public-private sector showdown. The Commission has proposed three separate plans for public comment, including something known as 'the third way.' According to the BBC, the plan, supported by ...

With hopes of keeping Internet service providers honest (and hopefully improving consumer broadband education), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is asking broadband customers to help test connection speeds. According to the AP, as part of a study, the FCC wants to install routers that measure broadband speeds in the homes of 10,000 volunteers across the country, part of the large-scale ...

In March, industry analysts from Forrester Research found that only 41-percent of all Web-surfing Americans know the exact speed of their broadband connection. While that figure may seem low to some, it wasn't that surprising, given the fact that determining connection speeds is an inexact science at best. But a new survey from the FCC shows confirms only about one in five American users know just ...

Share For the better part of the last decade, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has maintained a relatively laissez-faire approach to the Internet. In recent years, though, Internet titans like Google and Amazon have more vocally implored the FCC to implement hard regulation requiring broadband providers to guarantee access to all Web sites. Now, FCC Chairman Julius Genchowski is ...

Highlights from this morning's other big tech headlines.... It has only taken 12 years, but 'StarCraft II' seems finally set to arrive in the video game marketplace. Activision announced that the follow-up to perhaps the "quintessential realtime strategy (RTS) title of all time" will touch down July 27th. According to Daily Tech, another enormously popular title is now available, as MekTek ...