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UK ISP rapped for disguising flyers as missed delivery slips
It's fairly common for the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to wag a finger at ISPs and mobile operators for misleading claims or poorly worded fine print. Every now and again, though, the watchdog deals with a slightly more unusual complaint. The latest company giving the ASA a headache is fibre broadband provider Hyperoptic, which is in trouble for a snail-mail marketing campaign that looked a little too similar to the cards you get through the door when you've missed a parcel delivery.
Google Fiber to test home wireless internet in up to 24 US areas
According to an FCC filing, Google Fiber's next experimental stage is nigh. The tech titan is purportedly seeking permission to test high-speed wireless broadband in 24 US locations, including 12 cities, for a period up to 24 months. Their goal: hook a bunch of company men up and try out experimental transmitters over the 3.4 to 3.8 GHz frequency range.
Google Fiber buys a gigabit ISP that uses fiber and wireless
Hoping Google Fiber will come your way soon? The Alphabet subsidiary just made an acquisition that could help it roll out high speed internet faster. It agreed to purchase Webpass, a company that currently has "tens of thousands" of customers for high speed internet in the Bay Area, San Diego, Chicago, Boston and Miami. Webpass is notable because it's used high-speed point-to-point wireless technology as well as fiber to link up apartment buildings and businesses without having to wait for a physical link, and offers its customers speeds of up to 1Gbps.
Google bakes Cast capabilities into its Fiber boxes
If you're a Google Fiber subscriber, you no longer need to use a Chromecast to stream content from your mobile device to your tv. Google announced today that it has integrated Cast technology (what makes your Chromecast work) directly into their Fiber set-top boxes. It cuts out the Chromecast middle man, is what I'm saying. You can just chuck that dongle since it's now superfluous. The casting process is exactly the same, it just runs straight through the set-top box now.
Fiber cut knocks out internet for some in the northeast
If your internet is or was out this evening and you live in the northeastern part of the US, you are not alone. Customers in New York City, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and other nearby areas are seeing outages, which can apparently be traced back to what Time Warner Cable has said are "multiple fiber cuts" at a network provider. Customers from Comcast and Cox have also reported problems, and the network provider in question, Level 3, says it is working on restoring service. In a statement, the company attributed the outage to third-party construction and said technicians are onsite. Time Warner Cable just updated us that repairs are "well under way" and it has restored service for customers in NYC, which matches what we're seeing on outage tracking websites like DownDetector. Update: As of 8:30AM, Level 3 reported service was restored, although most users were back online well before that. Additionally, Comcast contacted Engadget to say that it did not see any effects as a result of this fiber cut.
Verizon policy: switch from copper to fiber, or no fix for you
It won't shock you to hear that Verizon is not so fond of copper phone lines (just ask those left out in the cold after Hurricane Sandy), but it's now clear exactly how the carrier plans to make you ditch those old wires. The Philadelphia Inquirer has obtained documents detailing a longstanding "Fiber is the Only Fix" policy that effectively forces you to move to a fiber optic connection if you want assistance. If you ask for repairs on copper phone service in an area where fiber is available, technicians are supposed to tell you that the only remedy is to move to the newer technology. Decline, and you won't get any help -- Verizon's official stance is to refuse repairs on copper.
Google Fiber drops free basic service in its original city
Google Fiber's biggest hook has always been its $70 gigabit internet access, but there has usually been a far more frugal option: you could get free 5Mbps service if you were willing to pay a construction fee. However, that choice appears to be going away in at least one city. Google has quietly dropped that free tier in Kansas City, its first Fiber area, and has replaced it with a 100Mbps option that costs $50 per month. Anyone using the free tier has until May 19th to say they want to keep it. The company hasn't explained the move (we've asked Google for comment), but customers in Austin and Provo still have that choice; Atlanta never had it to start with. Also, this doesn't change Google's plan to offer free service in low-income areas.
AT&T offers unlimited data on U-verse, with a catch
AT&T's U-verse internet service has had data transfer caps for years, but they're about to come off... if you're fiercely loyal to the company, anyway. The telecom is re-introducing unlimited data on May 23rd that will be free of charge, but only as long as you're also subscribing to either DirecTV or U-verse TV on the same bill. Determined to cut the cord? Unfortunately, it'll cost you $30 extra to get that same privilege.
Scientists push a record 57Gbps through fiber optic lines (update)
Need proof that the limits of fiber optic technology have been shattered? You just got it. University of Illinois researchers report that they've set a record for fiber data transmission, delivering 57Gbps of error-free data. And importantly, they sent the data at room temperature -- they didn't have to cool things down to keep those bits going. Even when things got toasty (185F), the technology could still deliver a brisk 50Gbps.
Google Fiber is coming to San Francisco
That sound you heard was the collective sigh of relief from legions of Bay Area tech workers. At long last, Google has announced that it's bringing Fiber to San Francisco -- the heart of the industry will finally get to see how Google's gigabit internet service works in practice, not just in tests. The company will use existing fiber optic deployments to wire up apartments and condos, and residents in affordable housing projects will get it for free.
Google Fiber comes to Alabama through a city-run network
Until now, Google has had to build Fiber's gigabit networks the hard way, either from scratch or by making deals to use some existing lines. It's about to try something new, though: the search firm is bringing Fiber to Huntsville, Alabama by using a not-yet-finished municipal network. Huntsville Utilities will "design and construct" the fiber optics, while Google and other providers will simply ride on top. There's no timetable for when Google Fiber will be ready (that's contingent on Huntsville), so you shouldn't expect to sign up any time soon.
Google is offering home phone service to select Fiber customers
Google is expanding the Fiber line to include a home phone service, according to The Washington Post. A letter the publication has obtained is giving members of Fiber's Trusted Tester program a chance to get the product earlier than anybody else. Based on that email, it sounds like Google Fiber Phone will fold in features from Google Voice. It has a phone number that lives in the cloud, delivers transcribed voice mails, screens calls and filters spam.
Google taps Los Angeles and Chicago to explore Fiber
Google is considering installing Fiber, its 1000 Mbps internet service, in Chicago and Los Angeles. Fiber is live in three cities across the US -- Austin, Provo and Kansas City -- and it's heading to six more for certain, from Salt Lake City to Raleigh-Durham. Los Angeles and Chicago join eleven other cities on Google's radar, including Portland, Phoenix, San Diego and Tampa.
AT&T expands its fiber internet service to 38 new cities
AT&T's mission to blanket most of the US with gigabit internet is moving at full speed. Today, the network revealed that its GigaPower fiber service is coming to 38 more cities, adding to the 18 metro areas it's already available in. The newly announced places include Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Detroit, Cleveland and Memphis, along with 29 others. In a blog post, AT&T said that it's not done either, noting that it plans to bring GigaPower to over 14 million locations, both residential and commercial.
Mayors unite to trash Verizon over slow fiber internet rollouts
New York isn't the only city getting up in Verizon's grill over the provider's reluctance to roll out FiOS across its service areas. The mayors of 13 large US cities (plus a mayoral candidate in Philadelphia) have sent a letter to Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam criticizing his company's network practices, especially its lackadaisical attitude toward fiber internet access. The telecom reportedly hasn't met its obligations to offer FiOS in some cities (such as Newark and Pittsburgh), and in other cases (like Albany and Syracuse) is refusing to offer it at all. Verizon isn't just frustrating customers who want high-speed data, the mayors say -- it's reducing competition.
Google Fiber considering Irvine, Louisville, and San Diego for expansion
Google has announced that it is considering rolling out its high-speed Fiber internet service to three additional American cities. The company stated on its Fiber blog on Thursday that it hopes to enter a joint planning process with the cities of Irvine, California; Louisville, Kentucky; and San Diego, California. "We'll work with Irvine, Louisville and San Diego to conduct a detailed study of factors that affect construction," wrote Jill Szuchmacher, Director, Google Fiber Expansion, "such as local topography, housing density, and the condition of existing infrastructure."
22 Massachusetts towns will build their own gigabit internet service
The FCC made it clear that towns should have the freedom to build their own broadband services, and one cooperative group is determined to take advantage of that liberty. WiredWest has gained the support of 22 Massachusetts towns for a municipal broadband effort that will give them all fiber optic service. It won't be the cheapest option, but it'll be much faster than the pokey DSL, fixed wireless and satellite data that residents have had to settle for in the past. It'll start at $49 per month for 25Mbps speeds and no caps, with 100Mbps and a lightning-quick 1Gbps respectively available for $79 and $109 per month.
Researchers have broken the capacity limits of fiber optic networks
You can allay those fears that the fiber optic network that delivers your internet is going to overload. At UC San Diego's Qualcomm Institute, engineers not only broke the supposed limits of fiber optic data transmission — they utterly smashed it, increasing the power of optical signals almost twenty times the base level. Engineers have usually cranked up the power of the signal to send and receive data faster. However, at one point, that power increase starts to create interference, degrading whatever's getting send to the point of not delivering the data at all. As more light is beamed through cases, the amount of interference between carriers increases — at some point, the data becomes so distorted that it can't be untangled and decoded by the receiver. This time, engineers were able to send the information 7,400 miles without the need for pricey electronic regenerators to boost the signal.
Verizon gets slapped by New York City mayor
Way back when, Verizon pledged to build fiber optic services to every home in NYC, but for some reason, it never got around to finishing it. Unfortunately, New Yorkers are used to getting what they want, and so Mayor Bill de Blasio has slammed the company saying that it needs to sort out the problem, or else. The city has delivered Big Red a very public ultimatum: Either it brings its FiOS network to "every household" in the five boroughs, or it'll face some heavy penalties.
The internet risks hitting peak capacity soon, but it can be saved
The internet has more than one capacity problem to worry about, apparently. Researchers met in London this week to tackle growing concerns that fiber optic cables, which represent the internet's backbone, are hitting their physical limits. An Alcatel-Lucent representative warned that we could hit this barrier, about 100 terabits per second, in five years -- not good news when 8K video and other data-hungry technologies are just over the horizon. The only conventional solution would be to add more cables, which isn't always practical.
