Dish Network could announce a multi-room DVR and broadband satellite service at CES
Satellite provider Dish Network might unveil a broadband satellite service and a new home DVR solution called the “Hopper” at CES Monday, according to leaked reports.
The Hopper DVR will work across multiple rooms, allowing you to stop a show in one part of your house, and pick up where you left off in another. It will have three tuners: the 2 terabyte main unit acts as a server, and two extender units, called “Joeys,” … Continue Reading
Vint Cerf: Internet access isn’t a human right
Vint Cerf, one of the godfathers of the web and chief Internet evangelist for Google, wrote a controversial op-ed for the New York Times today saying that Internet access is not a human right.
With all the protests and unrest around the world being fueled by social media and access to the Internet, people started discussing the idea of the Internet as a human right, something every person on Earth should be privy to no … Continue Reading
With grand wireless plans, Dish wants to buddy up with T-Mobile if AT&T deal fails
T-Mobile certainly won’t be lacking in suitors if AT&T’s $39 billion acquisition falls through. Dish Network is interested in partnering with T-Mobile for a wireless network of its own, if AT&T can’t seal the deal, Dish CEO Joseph Clayton said in an interview today.
Clayton joined Dish earlier this year with the promise of upping acquisitions and creating a streaming-video competitor to Netflix. He says that the company could combine its newfound wireless spectrum — … Continue Reading
Verizon to kill unlimited data plans on July 7
Beginning Thursday, Verizon will no longer offer new customers an unlimited data plan for smartphones, the company confirmed to FierceWireless.
Verizon is making its newest customers pick from four data plans capped at between 75 megabytes and 10 gigabytes of data. The monthly data fees range from $10 for the 75-megabyte plan to $80 for the 10-gigabyte plan. Tethering the phone to another device to enable Internet access on any plan will cost an extra … Continue Reading
Actually Comcastic: Comcast shows off Gigabit broadband
Comcast showed off its gigabit broadband service today.
It took about one and a half minutes for Comcast CEO Brian Roberts to download an entire season of NBC sitcom 30 Rock during the live presentation given at cable industry trade event The Cable Show.
The official data transfer speed topped out at 1084 mbps, according the speedtest.net test conducted during the presentation, which Roberts pointed out was a real download, not a canned demo.
Acknowledging … Continue Reading
FCC boss says wireless spectrum allocation is key to making mobile broadband competitive
Federal Communications Commission chairman Julius Genachowski said today he is hopeful that the government will be able to reallocate spectrum to satisfy the insatiable appetite for mobile broadband capacity.
But rather than seize the spectrum outright, Genachowski wants Congress to approve a plan that would allow the current owners of the spectrum to share in the proceeds as the government auctions it off to infrastructure companies. Once that spectrum is in the right hands, Genachowski … Continue Reading
Level 3 buys broadband provider Global Crossing for $3B
Level 3 Communications said it will buy broadband services provider Global Crossing for $1.9 billion plus $1.1 billion in debt assumption. The aim is to create a global broadband network across three continents and reduce overall expenses.
The deal brings a much-needed consolidation to the broadband market, where the potential for traffic growth is huge but the major players have been hurt by low prices.
Broomfield, Colo.-based Level 3 agreed to buy Global Crossing in … Continue Reading
Verizon's wired broadband soars to 150 megabits a second
Verizon’s wireline broadband network can now reach speeds of 150 megabits a second, or about 21 times the average broadband speed across the country.
Ivan Seidenberg, chief executive of the communications giant, and Lowell McAdam, chief operating officer, said that some pockets of the broadband network have such good quality that they can deliver huge speed boosts to users. At 150 megabits a second, you can download a movie in 4.5 minutes.
Seidenberg said such … Continue Reading
FCC to approve Comcast-NBC merger with some conditions
The Federal Communications Commission is set to approve the merger of cable TV company Comcast with NBC Universal, clearing the way for the mega-merger to become a reality.
Julius Genachowski, chairman of the FCC, issued a draft order approving the merger on the condition that the combined company play fair with rivals. The approval is contingent on Comcast-NBC agreeing to share shows with competing cable and satellite TV providers. It would also ensure that competing … Continue Reading
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski says U.S. could lead in mobile broadband
Julius Genachowski, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, wants the U.S. to catch up with other countries in making sure a high percentage of the population has access to broadband communications. He believes the way to do that is to set aside more of the radio spectrum for mobile broadband services than is currently allotted. Speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday, Genachowski talked about how to maximize investment in broadband … Continue Reading
Nokia to make phones for LightSquared's wholesale 4G network
Nokia has announced that it will develop mobile devices for billionaire Philip Falcone’s LightSquared — an ambitious 4G cellular network venture meant to compete with established carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, Bloomberg reports.
Falcone’s Harbinger Capital hedge fund is backing the project, and Nokia Siemens has committed $7 billion to building up the 4G network over the next few years. LightSquared plans to have 92 percent of the U.S. population covered with its network … Continue Reading
AOL and Google renew search deal as Bing creeps up
Every time AOL is expected to fade into obscurity, something crazy happens to make it relevant again. Today it’s the five-year extension of AOL’s contract with Google to provide search functions and a portion of ad revenue.
AOL still possesses a 2.3 percent market share of the search market, which isn’t negligible, though it’s dwarfed by Google’s Boeing-sized 66 percent market share, according to ComScore. Yahoo checks in next at 17 percent, with Microsoft’s Bing a … Continue Reading
Obama's broadband plan leans on TV broadcasters
A big chunk of the new wireless broadband spectrum that President Obama wants to make available in the next five years would come from television broadcasters, who will be asked to give up radio spectrum slots for which they have fought and paid so that wireless data carriers can use them mostly for mobile Internet access instead.
The proposal would nearly double the available amount of bandwidth for wireless broadband, from today’s 547 megahertz to … Continue Reading
Verizon slows down expansion of its FiOS fiber network
A big chunk of the new wireless broadband spectrum that President Obama wants to make available in the next five years would come from television broadcasters, who will be asked to give up radio spectrum slots for which they have fought and paid so that wireless data carriers can use them mostly for mobile Internet access instead.
The proposal would nearly double the available amount of bandwidth for wireless broadband, from today’s 547 megahertz to … Continue Reading
FCC announces National Broadband Plan
A big chunk of the new wireless broadband spectrum that President Obama wants to make available in the next five years would come from television broadcasters, who will be asked to give up radio spectrum slots for which they have fought and paid so that wireless data carriers can use them mostly for mobile Internet access instead.
The proposal would nearly double the available amount of bandwidth for wireless broadband, from today’s 547 megahertz to … Continue Reading
Virgin Media to roll out 100Mbps fiber broadband to 12.6M UK homes
A big chunk of the new wireless broadband spectrum that President Obama wants to make available in the next five years would come from television broadcasters, who will be asked to give up radio spectrum slots for which they have fought and paid so that wireless data carriers can use them mostly for mobile Internet access instead.
The proposal would nearly double the available amount of bandwidth for wireless broadband, from today’s 547 megahertz to … Continue Reading
