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FCC offers $67 million more per year for rural broadband programs
The Federal Communications Commission announced today additional funding to its Connect America Fund dedicated to expanding broadband internet service to rural communities. The agency will make available $67 million more per year than originally earmarked for the project. The funds could bring high-speed internet connections to more than 100,000 additional households and businesses, per the FCC.
Microsoft helps bring broadband internet to rural tribal lands
Microsoft announced today that it is partnering with Native Network to deliver broadband internet access to unserved rural communities in Washington and Montana. The effort will reach about 73,500 people living in and around the Flathead Reservation in Montana and the lands of Lummi Nation and Swinomish Tribe in Washington.
Microsoft will help expand rural broadband in Ohio
Tens of millions of Americans, especially in rural areas, still don't have access to broadband internet. As part of its five-year plan to help close that gap, Microsoft is partnering with telecoms company Agile Networks to roll out broadband access to 110,000 people in rural Ohio. The companies will also expand access in underserved areas over the next four years, and say that more than 900,000 people could benefit overall.
Study: Americans are ditching home internet for mobile
According to a new study from the US Census Bureau, more and more American households across a range of incomes are relying on mobile internet service as their sole means for getting online. In fact, mobile internet service has reached the point where it now "appears to be competing more directly with wired internet connections," writes Giulia McHenry, Chief Economist of the Office of Policy Analysis and Development.
Cox continues rolling out its gigabit internet to US cities
Last May, Cox Communications announced that it would join Google and AT&T in offering residential customers gigabit-fast wired internet service to Phoenix, Las Vegas and Omaha. Today the service, dubbed "G1GABLAST", has finally arrived in Omaha and Las Vegas as well as parts of Orange County, California. "We started in Phoenix last fall, but we have not stopped there," Cox President Pat Esser said in a statement. "We are excited to have the choice of gigabit speeds available to more customers today, and we're adding new building projects every month." To that end, Cox has already increased the speeds of its High Speed Internet (HSI) Essential and HSI Starter plans over the past few months and intends to similarly boost its HSI Ultimate package later this year. The company also announced that communities in Arkansas, Louisiana, Rhode Island, Oklahoma and Virginia will be offered gigabit speeds by this summer with Cox's entire user base receiving the option by the end of 2016.
BT says faster broadband is coming, but it could take 10 years
Everyone in the UK wants super-fast broadband in their home. The most reliable and effective solution right now is fibre, which every internet provider uses as the backbone for their network nationwide. But there's a problem -- the fibre often stops at the street cabinet, and many customers are limited by the slower copper cables running up their driveways. While fibre can be installed for the final leg, it's expensive, so companies such as BT are looking for new ways to give their traditional copper a speed boost. One approach is "G.fast," a technology that uses a wider frequency band to increase performance. It works best over shorter distances, although rural homes can still be supported via remote nodes and distribution points, which bring the fibre connection closer to the property.
BT admits it's not even close to hitting its original fibre broadband target
When BT first set out plans to connect Britain with fibre optic broadband, it wanted to get 25 percent of homes on its network online without using old copper cables. That meant fibre optic wires running straight into your home, rather than just to your local cabinet on the street, where BT's aging infrastructure has to make the final push. Alas, the company's plans didn't pan out and it eventually resorted to its copper network to get fibre connections in more homes in a shorter space of time. However, that means slower downloads; while BT's fibre-to-your-door can get you speeds of up to 300 Mbps, its copper lines top out at 80 Mbps (although it could theoretically get a whole lot faster).
FCC releases interactive map for latest Broadband Progress Report
The FCC has been providing regular updates on the progress of broadband rollout in the United States for some time now, but it's gone a bit further for its latest Broadband Progress Report. It's now also released in a new web-based interactive map that lets you zoom in on broadband availability county-by-county to get a better picture of all that data, with details on things like population, income and access to different types of broadband provided for each area. In case you missed it, the report itself found that 19 million Americans lack access to any sort of fixed broadband service, and that a further 100 million haven't subscribed to a broadband service even in areas where it is available. You can find an embedded version of the map after the break, or a larger version at the source link below.
Internet speeds drop around the world according to Akamai, adoption rate up
Here's an odd one: average connection speeds around the globe dropped 14 percent to just 2.3 Mbps during the last quarter of 2011. The drop off remains something of a mystery since the data used to calculate that result doesn't include mobile broadband (so its increased adoption can't be dragging down the whole) and Akamai offers no explanation. Still, it's not time to start panicking, just yet. Even though speeds in the US dropped 5.3 percent from the previous quarter, average connection rates are still up significantly over the previous year. Otherwise, things largely stayed the same. Global broadband adoption was steady at 66 percent and the US continued to trail its friends across the Pacific (by a lot) in the race for the fastest Internet connections. Interestingly, while the number of broadband connections stayed consistent the number of narrowband lines (under 256 Kbps) declined dramatically. Yet, the percentage of the world's population connected to the web managed to increase 2.1 percent quarter over quarter -- and 13 percent for the year. So, while it may seem that the internet had a temporary set back in Q4 of 2011, the long term trends look good. The number of people online is increasing, the average speeds being pulled down by those people is climbing and the number of folks stuck in the dial up era is dropping. To get a copy of the full report hit up the source.
Israel announces plans to build national broadband network, increases fiber intake
Israel is home to a burgeoning tech industry, but the country's broadband infrastructure hasn't really been able to keep pace. In terms of broadband penetration, in fact, Israel ranks just 21st out of 34 developed nations, according to statistics gathered by the OECD. All this may be changing, however, now that the country's state-run electric company has announced plans to create a new national broadband network. According to the AP, the forthcoming network will use so-called fiber to the home (FTTH) technology, which is capable of providing connections at speeds of between 100Mbps and 1Gbps. That would be about ten to 100 times faster than the connections most Israelis have today, and could offer obvious benefits to a wide array of businesses and industries. The electric company is aiming to have 10 percent of the country connected to its new network by next year, and to have two-thirds covered within the next seven years.
FCC enlists more cable providers to offer discounted broadband to low-income families
Back in September, Comcast teamed up with the FCC to offer discounted broadband access to low-income families, in the hopes of bridging the connectivity gulf separating the haves from the have-nots. Today, that campaign is gaining new momentum, now that Time Warner Cable, Cox and most other major US cable providers have thrown their hats into the ring. According to the New York Times, many of the industry's heaviest hitters have agreed to offer high-speed access for just $9.99 per month, fueling the FCC's efforts to reach the estimated 100 million Americans without an at-home internet connection. The low-cost service will be made available for a 2-year period to disconnected families who have at least one child enrolled in the national school lunch program, and who have not recently subscribed to a broadband provider. On top of that, Ohio-based IT firm Redemtech will provide discounted computers to these families at a price of $150, with Morgan Stanley offering microcredit to those who need a little extra time to make the payment. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski says the initiative, slated to be announced later today, should make a "real dent in the broadband adoption gap," by making the internet more accessible and, in theory, more valuable. The Commission hopes to expand the program to the entire country by September 2012, now that it's enlisted most cable heavyweights. Notably missing from the initiative are Verizon and AT&T (which has its own FCC-related matters to worry about), though the reasons for their absence remain unclear.
AT&T enhances network in part of Manhattan you probably won't visit
If you're walking through New York City today, you may notice that your AT&T phone just got a little bit faster. But you probably won't. The carrier activated a new broadband cell site in Manhattan's Turtle Bay area in Midtown -- somewhere between Times Square and the Upper East Side -- in a five-block area that few tourists ever visit. The company says the upgrades are part of a larger plan to enhance coverage across the nation and eventually roll out 4G LTE coverage, with help from recently acquired T-Mobile -- that is if all goes well in court, of course.
Comcast's Internet Essentials offers $10 internet access to low-income families
Earlier this year, when Comcast bought up NBC Universal, the company made a promise to boost broadband access in underserved communities and, with the launch of its new Internet Essentials service, it looks poised to follow through on that commitment. Originally laid out as the Comcast Broadband Opportunity Program, the plan offers internet access for only $10 a month to families with children who qualify for free lunch programs. Taking its commitment even further, the outfit is offering a $150 voucher for the purchase of a computer, access to free digital literacy training, and a Norton Security Suite. Of course there are a couple of requirements -- one being that you have to have made good on previous Comcast bills -- but we're hoping this will help the old red, white, and blue climb a couple rungs on the broadband adoption ladder. Full details of the ambitious plan await you in the PR after the break.
Akamai sees internet speeds climb, Asia still dominates broadband arms race
Akamai's annual State of the Internet report is loaded with all sorts of interesting, if not terribly surprising, tidbits about both broad and narrowband connections around the globe. The big news? The world-wide average connection speed has jumped 23-percent from last year, to 2.1Mbps. Speeds in the good ol' US-of-A were up 15-percent for an average of 5.3Mbps, though we still languish in 14th place on the list of fastest countries. As expected, Asia continues to dominate the speed race, with 61 cities in Japan alone making the top 100 list. If you want the fastest connections the States have to offer you'll have to head for San Jose or Riverside in CA or the home of the Wu (that's Staten Island for those of you not in the know), which all tied with an average 7.8Mbps connection. Check out the PR after the break and click the more coverage link to download some charts.
Eutelsat's Ka-Sat satellite goes into service, provides broadband to 13 million homes across Europe
Europe's already extensive broadband coverage may be expanding even further, now that Eutelsat's Ka-Sat satellite has officially gone into service. The new craft, which launched from Kazakhstan in late December, uses spotbeam technology to generate areas of connectivity that are about 250 kilometers wide, with each beam carrying a total capacity of 900Mbps. Unlike the Hylas 1, its reach will extend far across the continent, providing Tooway's high-bandwidth services to 13 million households in remote locations. Subscribers will have download speeds of up to 10Mbps and upload rates of 4Mbps, though they'll still have to put up with latency on the order of 250ms, making life even more difficult for Eastern European OnLive gamers. Of course, this access won't come for free, but Ka-Sat's 82-beam network structure significantly lowers its operating costs, allowing Eutelsat to offer prices that are on par with market rates. According to company CEO Michel de Rosen, customers should expect to pay around €30 for basic service, in addition to €250 they'd have to spend on a 77cm satellite dish. That's not necessarily a small amount of cash for low-income families to fork over, but at least they'll have an option that didn't exist before. Head past the break for a video about Tooway's Ka-Sat services, along with a full PR.
CRTC sets target of 5Mbps broadband for all Canadians by 2015
The FCC may be sticking with its target of 4Mbps broadband for everyone in the United States, but it looks like the CRTC thinks Canada can do one (megabit) better. The regulatory agency has just set its own target of 5Mbps download speeds and 1 Mbps upload speeds for all Canadians -- a goal that it says must be met by 2015. Those speeds, the agency notes, must be actual speeds not advertised ones, although it's not yet going as far as to declare internet access a basic service to ensure that happens. The CRTC says instead that it prefers to rely on "market forces" for the time being, rather than subsidies that would come with such a declaration. Of course, while 5Mbps is faster than the FCC's target, it's still well short of some of the more ambitious broadband goals of other countries around the world -- Finland, for instance, has already declared that 1Mbps broadband a legal right and is promising to bring 100Mbps speeds to everyone by 2015.
Google's gigabit fiber network to be built in Kansas City, Kansas; people of Topeka reportedly crestfallen
We were just wondering what Google was doing with that super-fast gigabit network it promised to set up in one lucky city and here's finally a fresh development. The winner has been chosen and it's Kansas City, Kansas. Having the winning community in its own state will be quite the bitter pill for the people of Topeka to swallow, as they actually renamed their town to Google, Kansas, just to try and appease the Mountain View overlords. Hey, we're sure Google knows best! An agreement has now been signed to roll out the fiber goodness in Kansas City, which should result in gigabit service becoming available to locals in 2012. A press event is scheduled for 1PM ET, which will be livestreamed at the YouTube link below, and you can check out the announcement video after the break while you wait. Update: That livestream is rolling, folks! Google's reps just said "this is the beginning and not the end." Kansas City, Kansas, will be just the first market where this 1Gbps goodness will be installed. Guess there's hope for the rest of us yet.
Alcatel-Lucent's lightRadio shoves a base station in a box, minimalists cheer
They've been fashioned after palm trees, Christ on the cross, and what look to be Dyson Ball vacuum attachments. But now, Alcatel-Lucent is giving cellphone towers a makeover that might actually stick. The company's new broadband base station solution, known as lightRadio, eliminates the need for cumbersome huts at the base of cellphone towers and packs antennas into a series of 2.5-inch boxes, while simultaneously improving capacity and reducing cost. These so-called radio cubes combine 2G, 3G, and LTE antennas with an SoC for processing, making them small enough to prop up on a lamp post. They're firmware upgradable, and utilize beamforming to more efficiently connect to wireless devices; according to the company, groups of 'em can not only increase broadband capacity by 30 percent, but also cut operation costs and CO2 emissions in half. Clearly, lightRadio makes a compelling case for narrowing the digital divide, but it won't be available broadly until 2012, which means the creative cover ups will just keep on coming. Sorry, JC. [Thanks, Nathan]
Chattanooga becomes home to 1Gbps internet service, just $350 per month
It pales in comparison to Sigbritt Löthberg's home internet connection, but it sure makes Comcast's Extreme 105Mbps broadband package look downright sluggish. EPB Fiber Optics (Chattanooga's municipally-owned fiber-to-the-premises network) and Alcatel-Lucent have teamed up to offer America's "fastest" home broadband service -- a service that brings 1Gbps (or 1000Mbps, if that strikes you better) directly to your PC. Best of all, the service is actually on sale starting today, and every single home and business within EPB's 600 square-mile, nine-county service area will be able to access the network. Oh, and in case you're wondering, this actually isn't affiliated in any way with Google's own proposed 1Gbps service, which likely means that this record will only sit in southeast Tennessee for a few months. Still, we hear this place is some kind of beautiful in the fall, but make sure you're cool with a $350 monthly charge before pulling the trigger on a relocation. Update: Tipster Jens notes that he can get a 1Gbps connection for 900 SEK per month in Stockholm, or around $126. Baby steps, we Americans are taking.
FCC reevaluates US broadband competitiveness, finds 14 to 24 million lack access
The National Broadband Plan may one day bring broadband to everyone in the United States but, as a new report from the FCC itself reveals, there's still quite a ways to go. According to the report (issued every year by the agency), between 14 and 24 million Americans have no access to broadband, which is now defined by the FCC to be a 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream. That's a significant revision from the previous 200kbps downstream standard used by the annual report, and brings it in line with the minimum goals set by the National Broadband Plan. What does that mean for the 14 to 24 million without broadband access? Not much at the moment, unfortunately. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski says that those individuals are mostly in "expensive-to-serve areas with low population density," and that "without substantial reforms to the agency's universal service programs, these areas will continue to be unserved." Of course, that finding is just one part of the report -- hit up the source link below to check out the whole thing.
