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13
Aug 2008 |
The Speed Matters blog, which was started by the Communications Workers of America, has been tracking the average American Internet connection in each state, down to the zip code level. According to the organization's latest data, comprised of 230,000 online speed tests, there has been little progress over the previous year in the last-mile speed of a user's Internet connection. According to the organization, the average real-time download speed increased only 0.4 megabits per second (mbps) to 2.3 mbps. Acc... |
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12
Aug 2008 |
It's 2008, and that series of tubes called the Internet has been around for a while. You'd think that by now, you'd be able to simultaneously download giant videos while uploading photos while checking e-mail while streaming Net radio stations, thanks to the cheetah-like speed of your broadband connection.
Broadband router But as anyone who's ever used the Internet knows by now, speeds these days are less like a cheetah and more like a dog that sometimes runs kind of fast and other times slogs along.... |
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11
Aug 2008 |
Mobile network operator 3 has told Techradar it is hoping to double mobile broadband speeds to 7.2 mbps over the summer.
A spokesperson from the service provider said that its network currently offers 3.6 mbps, which in real terms is about 1 mbps. Investment in the network could result in 2 mbps.
The spokesperson went on to say that the company is working on upgrading to 14.4 mbps and increasing capacity in order serve more users.
"Appetite for data is huge, so we have to have a sufficiently deep n... |
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8
Aug 2008 |
THE slow-turning wheels of the federal Government's multi-billion-dollar national broadband network tender creaked forward a little yesterday, with the announcement that Telstra must provide network information to potential bidders by August 22.
The terms of the new deadline are set out in legislative instruments that will commence today.
Potential bidders for the $4.7 billion contract need information about the existing infrastructure to inform their bids for the contract to build a network that will... |
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8
Aug 2008 |
ISPs implementing bandwidth caps is something that has waxed and waned since the first days of the Internet, and is something that is coming back into focus as they look for ways to solve the issue of ever-increasing bandwidth demands. Comcast, for instance, has toyed with the idea of a 250GB monthly cap, something that on the surface seems reasonable.
Other ISPs are looking to be a little more draconian. One ISP in the U.S., for instance, apparently has decided that a mere 5GB of traffic is too much and... |
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6
Aug 2008 |
A number of airlines in the USA are to begin offering Wi-Fi access to their passengers, reports CNN.
American Airlines, Delta, Virgin Atlantic and Southwest Airlines are some of the major firms which have struck agreements with broadband providers, it adds, in a move which could improve passenger services forever.
Delta has said that its internet service from Aircell will soon be available on around 60 per cent of its seats a day, providing access to the web for PDAs, smartphones, laptops and other de... |
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6
Aug 2008 |
One side effect of the FCC's recent move against Comcast's P2P "delaying" technology has been to make discussions about the dark art of network management even more pressing (and they were pretty pressing before). If Comcast can't use TCP reset packets to limit the number of BitTorrent connections a client can spawn, what legitimate techniques can ISPs use to deal with congestion ? Google's Vint Cerf, one of the grandfathers of the Internet, today weighed in with his answer: transmission rate caps.
Cerf,... |
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6
Aug 2008 |
Time Warner has confirmed it is to split its AOL internet business in two as the US media conglomerate begins to refocus itself as a content-only business.
The group, created by the $164bn (£82bn) mega-merger of Time Warner and AOL in 2001, is to separate AOL's content and internet access operations by 2009, as it looks into selling one or both parts.
The move is part of chief executive Jeff Bewkes' plan to turn Time Warner into a more homogenous company, focused on providing media content.
advertise... |
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5
Aug 2008 |
Singaporean carrier M1 this week entered the fixed line broadband market, kicking off with speeds of up to 100Mbps.
M1 Fixed Broadband is available to all homes with cable access points or which are cable ready. Upload speeds are available up to 2Mbps.
Prices start at just over S$58 per month for a 10Mbps downlink, and run up to over S$118 for the 100Mbps option.
"M1 is repositioning itself for the future as it develops new businesses anchored on our core competencies. The launch of M1 Fixed Broadb... |
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5
Aug 2008 |
Even in these days of credit crunches and other financial pressures, it would appear that British broadband users would hang on to their connections until the very end.
In fact, in a survey conducted by the internet service provider Plusnet, it was found that ninety two per cent of broadband users have no intention of giving up their internet connection, no matter what the financial situation is, or looks like in the future.
Although there is some food for thought that the ISPs should be considering, ... |
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4
Aug 2008 |
Just three of the UK’s biggest broadband providers are responsible for 65 per cent of illegal peer-to-peer downloads, according to new research (04-08-08).
Internet analysts Envisional tracked 28,000 unique IP addresses that were making illegal downloads during June and found that 22.6 per cent belonged to Carphone Warehouse, owner of AOL (www.AOL.co.uk) and TalkTalk (www.TalkTalk.co.uk), 21.6 per cent to Virgin Media (www.VirginMedia.com) and 21.2 per cent were from BT (www.BT.com).
"These three ISPs h... |
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2
Aug 2008 |
Children living on Oxford's estates could be the first to benefit from a free city-wide Internet connection - if a new scheme is given the go-ahead.
Following in the footsteps of examples set in Milton Keynes and Manchester, a group of Oxford Brookes academics are investigating the possibility of providing free Internet to the whole of Oxford, offering better education for children and home care for the ill.
Wireless broadband access would enable people to log on to the Web from anywhere without havin... |
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2
Aug 2008 |
Comcast must feel it’s being attacked by all sides. It’s been hit by lawsuits, investigated by the FCC, and roundly criticised everywhere else. It has brought the issue of traffic shaping to the forefront of people’s minds, and into public discussion. Aiming to highlight ISP’s and their shaping, the EFF has released a new tool for users to test their connection’s integrity.
Switzerland logoIt’s been about a year since we first broke the story about Comcast and their torrent-throttling practices. Today, t... |
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1
Aug 2008 |
It is hard to make sense of some things, but imagine a remote island monastery off the south coast of Wales near Tenby in Pembrokeshire, where the only inhabitants are an order of monks.
Nothing spectacular about that, as there must be a lot of places like that in the UK, but not with a super fast internet connection, which has a speed of up to 30 Mbps!
Their order has been at the monastery since 1929, but was quick to realise that they could raise funds by selling a wide range of products over the in... |
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1
Aug 2008 |
It may sound strange, and it's certainly not what we're used to. Today we have a "carrier-centered" model; phone and cable companies spend billions to build, operate, and own the "last-mile" connection -- the copper, cable, or fiber wires that come into your house. Individual consumers then pay for particular services, like phone service or Internet access.
In turn, we tend to think about broadband deployment in carrier-centric ways. If we want to see super-fast fiber connections rolled out to consumers,... |
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