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Sonic.net starts trial of 1Gbps fiber-to-the-home internet in California, asks just $70
You'll be forgiven for not being intimately familiar with Californian ISP Sonic.net, though we get the feeling you'll also wish it operated a little closer to your abode by the time you've finished reading this. You see, Sonic has always dabbled in the business of high-speed, low-price internet connectivity, and now it's going for the jugular with a new fiber-to-the-home service, which costs just $69.95 a month, reaches speeds up to 1Gbps, and bundles in two phone lines and unlimited long distance calling. Just for reference, Comcast's "Extreme" 105Mbps connection costs $105 a pop when taken as part of a bundle, whereas Sonic's budget menu option will net you a 100Mbps line for $39.95 (plus a phone line with unlimited calls). Understandably, Sonic's grand plan is starting out small, with a trial in Sebastopol spanning 700 households, but provided the company doesn't go bust by giving people so much for so little, expansion to bigger cities will follow, with San Francisco and Santa Rosa being the prime candidates. And just in case you're questioning Sonic's credentials, Google's chosen the ISP to manage its gigabit fiber network at Stanford University, and who knows ultrafast broadband better than Google? [Thanks, Roland]
Virgin Media to test 1.5Gbps broadband on London's Silicon Roundabout
Just last week we reported on Fujitsu's plans to get in on the gigabit broadband game, and now Virgin Media is taking things a step further by announcing its intention to test internet speeds up to 1.5Gbps in east London. The trial, which plans to deliver upload speeds of 150Mbps, uses a similar fiber optic setup as the one employed by Fujitsu, and targets multimedia companies near the junction of the city's Old Street and City Road, also referred to as the Silicon Roundabout. These tests have been made possible by a £13 billion investment from Virgin Media. If this thing pans out, it looks like Google might have some catching up to do. Full PR after the break.
Fujitsu to build 1Gbps fiber optic broadband network in the UK, but needs BT to play fair first
Good news for anyone feeling left behind by the broadband revolution just because of their post code: Fujitsu has just announced a joint venture to deliver fiber optic connectivity to neglected rural homes in the UK. Built on hardware provided by Cisco and supported by Virgin Media and TalkTalk, this network will focus on channeling fiber directly to the home, which is said to provide symmetrical 1Gbps bandwidth with up to 10Gbps speeds considered possible down the line. Best news of all, perhaps, is that the cabling will be available on a wholesale basis to all ISPs, not just the ones involved in the project, so the UK may finally get a decent taste of what competition in the internet service space feels like. Alas, there's a key line in the press release that notes the new venture is dependent on BT providing "access to its underground ducts and telegraph poles on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms," which it apparently isn't doing at the moment. Ah well, we're sure they'll sort things out like the mature professionals that they are. Full PR after the break.
Logitec's new wireless router is crazy-looking, crazy fast
The new Logitec (not Logitech) LAN-WH450N/GR offers four Gigabit Ethernet ports, 802.11a/b/g/n wireless networking that maxes out at a theoretical 450Mbps, and just about the wildest router design we've yet seen. Yes, it's justified by improved wireless throughput as a result of having three antennas sprouting out of the thin-bodied device, but who is Logitec trying to kid? It's a futuristic, desktop-straddling robocopter and everyone at that company knows it. Should you or the geek in your life be interested in obtaining one, the new routers are going on sale in Japan in mid-April for ¥19,000 ($230).
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.
Study: 802.11ac devices to hit the one billion mark in 2015, get certified in 2048
Okay, so there's a good chance that the developing 802.11ac Gigabit wireless standard will receive its official seal of approval long before 2048, but by 2015? Given that it took 802.11n a full seven years to move on from Draft N status, we aren't holding our collective breath. Regardless, there's obviously a need for a far faster interface than what we're using now, and the Wi-Fi Alliance is obviously doing everything it can to keep on keeping on. According to a loose study by In-Stat, Planet Earth will go from zero 802.11ac devices in 2010 to one billion by 2015, with Vice President of Research Frank Dickson noting that a draft of 802.11ac should be cleared at some point in 2011. As for backwards compatibility? Looks like you'll just have to wait and see.
TRENDnet TEW-690AP wireless access point has a theoretical 450Mbps top speed, a real $200 price
It's a sad fact of our digital lives that no matter how stylish we make our daily-used devices, we'll still need some antenna-riddled ogre in the corner of the room to blast out the WiFi goodness. Enter TRENDnet's latest contender, the TEW-690AP (even its name betrays an absolute lack of charisma), which has three spatial streams per antenna to deliver a max theoretical throughput of 450Mbps. It goes up to a full gigabit should you find any reason to connect via its wired Ethernet port, while a few extra bells and whistles -- like a repeater mode, WiFi Protected Setup with compatible devices, and up to four unique, encrypted SSIDs per wireless band -- complete the $200 value proposition. Whether you say yay or nay, look out for more from these guys at CES, they're promising to announce some more "first to market" wireless innovations.
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.
Google receives 'more than 1,100 community responses' for gigabit fiber network
Ever wondered what it looks like when the entire nation wants a piece of Google? Well, we've already seen some crazy action in a few cities, but here's a bigger picture -- a map showing the vast lot of locations that have signed up for Google's experimental 1Gbps fiber network service. What's more, the number of community submissions almost doubled between 10am and the 5pm deadline, resulting "more than 1,100 community responses and more than 194,000 responses from individuals." Yep, that sure is a lot of paperwork to go through, but Google reckons it'll have a location or two picked "by the end of the year." Meanwhile, let's hope that these Googletown-wannabes will churn out enough nutso videos to keep us entertained.
Hitachi, Panasonic and Toshiba to deliver 60GHz wireless products in 2H 2010
The year's 2010, yet we're still leering at the dusty pile of cables behind our AV equipment and wondering, "O UWB, where art thou?" Well, the folks at Tech-On have got a little update for us: Hitachi, Panasonic and Toshiba are reported to be delivering products donning 60GHz wireless chips -- which sip little juice but churn out 7GHz of colossal bandwidth and 1.5Gbps of data rate -- in the second half of this year. While none of the manufacturers are directly pimping either WirelessHD or WiGig, it appears that Hitachi and Panasonic are siding with WiGig's extra functionalities like media access control (MAC), and the latter even envisions "embedding the functionality into portable gear" for downloading digital content from kiosks. Either way, it's nice to see some progress here -- we don't want things to drag on any longer, do we?
WiGig Alliance completes multi-gigabit 60GHz wireless specification: let the streaming begin
The WiGig Alliance captured our imaginations back in May, but now it seems that the world of multi-gigabit streaming is so close, we can taste the data slipping over our tongues on their way to the next access point. Put simply, the specification that the group has been toiling on over the past few months is finally complete, and while some of its members have been prototyping wares along the way, this 1.0 announcement effectively opens the flood gates for partnering outfits to implement it into their gear. In case you're curious as to how 60GHz will help you, have a listen: WiGig enables wireless transfer rates more than ten times faster than today's fastest wireless LAN, and it's completely backward compatible with existing WiFi devices. As we've already seen with those totally bodacious dual-band (2.4GHz / 5GHz) routers, having another band with this kind of speed potential can only mean great things for the future. We had a talk with Dr. Ali Sadri (the group's chairman and president) as well as Mark Grodzinsky (board director and marketing work group chair) in order to get a better idea of what's at play here, and frankly, we're anxious to see this get implemented into... well, just about anything. WiGig v1.0 supports data transmission rates up to 7Gbps, and if living in a house full of WiGig-enabled devices, you could finally envision streaming HD content from a bedroom PC to an HDTV and a living room netbook without any wires whatsoever. In the case of the netbook, there's even a chance that the embedded WiGig module could support faster transfer rates than the sockets around the edges, which would simultaneously enable wireless to be faster than the wired (at least in this scenario) and your brain to melt. Finally, the group has picked up four new members -- NVIDIA, AMD, SK Telecom and TMC -- though unfortunately, WiGig wouldn't comment on the future availability of 60GHz products. We were told that they would be shocked if anyone had a prototype 60GHz device on the CES show floor, but you can bet that won't stop us from looking. Oh, and if we had to take a wild guess, we'd surmise that companies interested in speeding up their own offerings will be jumping on this quick, so hopefully you'll be ditching 2.4GHz once and for all come next summer(ish).
BT plans 100Mbps UK broadband service by 2012, Gigabit speeds possible
British Telecom just announced its new £1.5 billion fiber fibre-based, broadband plan for the UK. By 2012, BT hopes to have "as many as 10 million homes" (about 40% of the UK) wired for service with speeds up to 100Mbps -- potentially capable of exceeding 1,000Mbps (1Gbps) at some unspecified point in the future. BT plans to deliver 100Mbps direct to new homes or 40Mbps (and possibly 60Mbps as they test new technology) to homes with a copper link to the fiber cabinet. For the plan to be implemented, BT says that a "supportive and enduring regulatory environment" is required with the removal of current barriers to fiber investment identified as a good place to start. In other words, 2012 might easily become 2020 (without the clarity) if an agreement with regulators and rivals can't be reached.[Via Guardian, Thanks L.Rawlins]
Airport Extreme not using Gigabit speeds?
Along with all the other updates in the Apple Store on Tuesday, Airport Extreme got a nice one-- according to the specs on the page, they're now offering Gigabit ethernet speeds. Or are they? ComputerWiz went out and grabbed two of them right away, but no matter what he tried to do, he couldn't get the base station to move past 100Mb speeds.There could be a number of things happening here-- I don't have the knowhow to judge whether they did everything they could or not, but the attempt seems reasonable to me, and if you have to mess with settings that much on an Apple product, something is wrong. They also say that Apple had to go into the back room to get the Airport Extreme, so it's conceivable that they grabbed the wrong one-- except that CW claims the box itself said Gigabit.So something is screwy here-- is it possible that Apple shipped Gigabit Airport Extremes that weren't actually Gigabit?Update: Looks like it was just a faulty unit, as CW updated, and apparently the second unit worked fine. Anyone else having problems with theirs?Thanks, David!
Apple tosses in gigabit Ethernet on refreshed AirPort Extreme
While the majority of you are likely scoping out Apple's more noticeable introductions, the firm did manage to provide a subtle, albeit entirely welcome upgrade to the 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station. Still priced at $179, the revamped device doesn't change much, as you can still look forward to the slimmed-down design, USB port, and security slot, but those utilizing a wired network will greatly appreciate the four gigabit Ethernet ports. Interestingly, there are still a number of locations in which Apple has yet to update the technical information of the new AirPort, but the tried and true checkout page holds the newly implemented details.[Thanks, iData]
Airport Extreme Base Station now with Gigabit Ethernet
Apple has quietly updated one more product today. Hidden at the end of the iMac press release we find out that the Airport Extreme Base Station now sports Gigabit Ethernet ports (one WAN, 3 for devices) whereas only yesterday they were 100baseT. The Airport Extreme Base Station tech specs haven't been updated on its own site as of yet, but the picture above was snagged from the Apple Store. They are still priced at $179.Thanks, Stephen Chan.
Western Digital gets NASty with My Book World Edition HDDs
Western Digital is at it again with its My Book lineup of HDDs, but rather than bumping the storage capacity from the already roomy (albeit bulky) 1TB Pro II Edition, WD is adding an Ethernet port for remote access ability. The My Book World Edition II sports a shiny white finish and touts 1TB of storage, RAID 1 capability, a USB 2.0 port for stringing on more external drives, and the obligatory gigabit Ethernet jack to boot. Additionally, this device pays a bit more attention to detail by offering up a "unique capacity gauge LED that allows users to discern at a glance remaining storage space," but the real story is its ability to be accessed from any internet connection as a standalone device. Essentially becoming a NAS drive at heart via the included Anywhere Access software, this Book also includes Data OnHand software which makes the drive active in Windows Explorer regardless of your location, and boasts the ability to let friends and family access / upload files without having to actually be near the drive. Notably, the My Book World Edition II is deemed "user-serviceable," and should be available by the week's end for $499, but if you're interested in the half-sized 500GB My Book World Edition, you can snag it for just $279.[Via Yahoo, thanks Steve]
Toshiba Portege R400 12-incher revealed
Among the fistful of products announced in the Bill Gates keynote was the Toshiba Portege R400, a 12-inch mobile PC that's constructed on Windows SlideShow technology and of course, is Vista-friendly. We haven't gotten much new info that we didn't know from last time: it's got 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth and gigabit Ethernet. Unfortunately, we're still waiting on an MSRP and a full spec list.
Samsung develops 1Gb synchronous DRAM module
Apparently, Samsung has been on quite the rampage (ahem) lately, busting out its new Powerhouse Fusion memory, working with NEC in hopes of crafting a one-terabit chip, and now announcing the industry's "first gigabit-density mobile DRAM" module. Using 80-nanometer process technology, the 1Gb synchronous DRAM module claims to be "more cost effective than other high density mobile solutions," and requires around "30-percent less current" than the double-die stack chips commonly used today. The monolithic chip introduces a new "temperature-sensing feature" that purportedly maximizes the "self-refresh cycle" to reduce power drain in standby mode, and also touts a 20-percent decrease in thickness over its predecessors. While we've no idea how much these modules will bump the price of your future gadgetry, they should begin finding their way into "handsets, digicams, PMPs, and handheld gaming machines" in the second quarter of 2007.[Via Physorg]
Buffalo intros USB-equipped AirStation Nfiniti Giga draft-N router
Aside from the fact that Buffalo has nearly worn its own AirStation moniker thin with all these router releases, the reviewers say it's got a good thing going, so we've no qualms with it busting out yet another offering in the Nfiniti lineup. The AirStation Nfiniti Giga sports the same basic design and feature set as the, um, non-Gigafied version, but boasts a USB port for retro machines (or stripped ultraportables) that lack at Ethernet port. Still, the unit reportedly supports the draft-spec of 802.11n as well as 802.11b/g, packs a built-in 4-port Ethernet "hub," and claims to offer "up to 80Mbps" through the air. So if you're digging the trio of antennas and need a USB port to boot, you can pick up this router later this month for a surprisingly high ¥34,800 ($295).[Via Akihabara News]
Kontron intros ultra-rugged 13-pound NotePAC
If you think your Toughbook or Itronix laptop is hardcore, then you haven't been formally introduced to Kontron's forthcoming NotePAC. While we've seen our fair share of rugged (and not-so-rugged) devices, this bad boy definitely ups the ante. Presumably designed to literally go through hell (and back), the nearly 13-pound beast can survive a 3-foot drop onto solid concrete, is MIL-STD 810F and IEC 529 certified for shock and vibration tolerance, and there's even an available upgrade that adds MIL-STD-461 certification for low electromagnetic radiation output, and ATEX (atmospheric explosives) certification "for use in areas where the slightest spark could prove deadly." Besides the tank-like armor surrounding it, it holds a 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo T2300 processor within, accompanied by up to 2GB of DDR RAM, a 12.1- or 14.1- touchscreen LCD, removable 80 GB / 120GB SATA hard drives (mounted in shock absorbing, sealed cartridges, no less), and a hard disc heater that keeps your platters spinning down to minus 36 degrees Fahrenheit. Additionally, you'll find twin PCMCIA slots, gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, VGA output, and a myriad of connectivity options that include UMTS, GSM, GPRS, GPS, WiFi, and Bluetooth. Notably, the system has been "fully validated" under Windows XP, but can also be ordered sans an OS if users wish to install Linux, and the company's own product manager stated that Kontron had already tested SUSE Linux and found that it "ran well" under the circumstances. Though we've no idea how much coinage this uber-tough NotePAC will demand, it'll be available to customize starting next month.
