Category Archives: Broadband

failed US broadband policy – excellent lecture by Larry Lessig

Posted on April 20, 2010 by ward

There is a good article over at PCWorld titled Why America’s Telecom System Stinks. It refers to a lecture by Larry Lessig which you can view in its entirety here. The first 25 minutes or so deal with broadband policy. … Continue reading →

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apparently some EU telecoms are just as greedy and stupid as their US counterparts

Posted on April 13, 2010 by ward

It seems Telefónica, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom all think that somehow, they should get paid twice for the internet bandwidth they provide to their end-user customers. An article in the Financial Times quotes leadership from those three companies saying … Continue reading →

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Google’s ultra fast fiber network

Posted on February 11, 2010 by ward

Google has announced it is going to build a real broadband network in the US, to test ultra-high speed applications and networks. They intend to provide service to at least 50,000 and possibly up to 500,000 people. It will be … Continue reading →

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Monticello municipal fiber now really a go

Posted on June 23, 2009 by ward

I wrote about Monticello, Minnesota and its fight with the local incumbent telco TDS last fall. At the time, TDS had its lawsuit against the city thrown out for lack of merit. No big surprise, since the gist of the … Continue reading →

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we might actually get real telecom policy

Posted on November 15, 2008 by ward

Via the wired blog: Net Neutrality Advocates In Charge Of Obama Team Review of FCC. The two people appointed are Susan Crawford and Kevin Werbach. They ‘get it’ – they understand that the US is a broadband backwater, that the … Continue reading →

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city of Monticello, MN can proceed with its fiber rollout

Posted on October 10, 2008 by ward

TDS Telecom lost its lawsuit against the city of Monticello, MN. Some background: citizens of Monticello approved in a referendum a plan to roll out a city-owned fiber network to provide cheap and fast internet access. Immediately after the referendum … Continue reading →

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Free the Airwaves

Posted on August 18, 2008 by ward

Via the Google blog: the FCC is set to rule shortly on the unused ‘white spaces’ – parts of the spectrum between broadcast TV channels that currently goes largely unused. Google’s launching Free the airwaves – a campaign to make … Continue reading →

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my apartment needs a tail

Posted on August 1, 2008 by ward

Ars Technica describes a pilot project in Ottawa that puts a new twist on telecommunication infrastructure: the customer-owned last mile. From the article: A private company has recently completed a project to string dark fiber from a colocation facility under … Continue reading →

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Soviet ministries

Posted on October 25, 2007 by ward

Walt Mossberg gets it, too: he likens wireless carriers in the US to Soviet ministries. I would go further and include most incumbent telcos, but hey, this is a good start. I think things are going to change in broadband-land.

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hear, hear

Posted on October 21, 2007 by ward

Great article in the New York Times’ business section on the upcoming 700 MHz auctions and the White Spaces Coalition. Here’s to hoping that the FCC will take up professor Judith Chevalier on her advice; we desperately need more competition … Continue reading →

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