PBS's excellent weekly news magazine,
Need to Know,
explains why European broadband speeds are racing ahead of the USA. Britain now has 400 broadband suppliers with service available for as little as $6/month. Bonus: Harvard's Berkman Center
reports on broadband supply trends around the world.
posted by anigbrowl
on May 13, 2011 -
53 comments
Broadband.gov -- the FCC wants
you to have broadband, and to get what you're paying for. They've created a site which will benchmark your broadband for you.
posted by Chocolate Pickle
on Mar 12, 2010 -
72 comments
"For the month of March 2010, the city of Topeka will be known as
Google, Kansas." Mayor Bill Bunten says the proclamation is an attempt to
stand out from the crowd, as cities around the United States have until March 26 to tell Google they're interested in participating in the
Fiber for Communities program, part of the company's recently announced plans to build a series of superfast broadband networks across the country [
previously on MetaFilter]. Other cities are trying to get Google's attention, but Duluth, Minnesota, has
upped the ante by pledging to name its firstborn sons "Google Fiber" and its firstborn daughters "Googlette Fiber" in a
video [YouTube, 3:34] spoofing Topeka's efforts.
posted by amyms
on Mar 4, 2010 -
47 comments
The End of the Internet? "The nation's largest telephone and cable companies are crafting an alarming set of strategies that would transform the free, open and nondiscriminatory Internet of today to a privately run and branded service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online."
posted by allkindsoftime
on Feb 4, 2006 -
32 comments
Looking for a broadband connection in the UK? Dont believe all you
read from all providers (even well known ones, like
Pipex).
A geek fights
back; annoyed by his download rates being cut down from 200kb/sec, to 1kb/sec (with a geeky video of wow, gta and him downloading stuff). A bit more
info (some annoying pop ups - and the videos a bit slow paced - but Pipex users beware!)
posted by 13twelve
on Dec 15, 2005 -
23 comments
What do you pay for dsl/broadband? (salon.com article) Next time you sit down to pay your cable-modem or DSL bill, consider this: Most Japanese consumers can get an Internet connection that’s 16 times faster than the typical American DSL line for a mere $22 per month.
Across the globe, it’s the same story. In France, DSL service that is 10 times faster than the typical United States connection; 100 TV channels and unlimited telephone service cost only $38 per month. In South Korea, super-fast connections are common for less than $30 per month. Nations as diverse as Finland, Canada, and Hong Kong all have much faster Internet connections at a lower cost than what is available here. In fact, since 2001, the U.S. has slipped from fourth to 16th in the world in broadband use per capita. While other countries are taking advantage of the technological, business and education opportunities of the broadband era, America remains lost in transition.
How did this happen? Why has the U.S. fallen so far behind the rest of its economic peers?
posted by halekon
on Oct 18, 2005 -
115 comments
Robot planes may make phone towers obsolete "...it's a "Stratellite", and its makers believe it will revolutionise the broadband and wireless industry; if it ever gets off the ground.
Wisconsin communications company Sanswire on Tuesday unveiled its almost-finished prototype of a hard-framed, unmanned airship designed to fly in the stratosphere 21km above the earth and send broadband and cellphone signals to an area the size of Texas."
This in my opinion is an example of truly innovative technology.
posted by jaydedx
on Apr 13, 2005 -
25 comments
There are now more home internet users
using broadband than dialup in the U.S. - Does this mean that web designers will continue down the same path as some programmers and create bloated code? Are the days of trying to be efficient and keeping pages less than 70k a thing of the past?
posted by tomplus2
on Aug 23, 2004 -
29 comments
Proposal to have companies rewire their networks to support easy wiretapping by police "A far-reaching proposal from the FBI, made public Friday, would require all broadband Internet providers, including cable modem and DSL companies, to rewire their networks to support easy wiretapping by police. The FBI's request to the Federal Communications Commission aims to give police ready access to any form of Internet-based communications. If approved as drafted, the proposal could dramatically expand the scope of the agency's wiretap powers, raise costs for cable broadband companies and complicate Internet product development." Read more about the FBI's proposal at Cnet.com.
or
MSNBC. But where is the actual proposal?
posted by fluffycreature
on Mar 15, 2004 -
8 comments
HeavyTV screens different full-length movies every week for broadband users. Showing this week:
Airheads,
Live From Baghdad,
Pacific Heights and
Extreme Ops.
posted by crunchland
on Sep 10, 2003 -
10 comments
Got Dog Food Cans? Get Broadband. David Taylor, an IT manager in Britain, has built a 802.11 receiver out of dog food cans, in order to have his access reachable at a Travelodge hotel across town. A fascinating arrangement, and quite the entreprenuerial showing.
posted by djspicerack
on Mar 11, 2003 -
3 comments
Congress is now calling for
public comments on the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act (CBDTPA).
EFF has a new
action alert about it and a sample letter. Everyone should write, even if you have already.
posted by rhyax
on Mar 29, 2002 -
3 comments
Announcing CivicNet, a Metropolitan Area Network (or MAN). In short, it is broadband for the masses in the Chicago area to be developed over a span of 10 years (if you're lucky). To be clear: I am not the man.
posted by moz
on Jan 7, 2002 -
9 comments
eek! at+t broadband cable units to be bought by comcast. this means chicago cable service will shift to its third owner in two years (at+t broadband having purchased prime cable just last year, and having just gotten cable modems back online from the excite@home failure two weeks ago). anyone have any clues about the ramifications of this purchase?
posted by patricking
on Dec 20, 2001 -
21 comments
Dump broadband? *gasp* Well, according to this ZDNet article, it's a movement. With price hikes and a souring economy, some people can't justify the cost. Could you let it go?
posted by hotdoughnutsnow
on Nov 7, 2001 -
50 comments
AOL may buy AT&T broadband in a deal that could allow them to own the browser, net access, data pipes, and content for a vast majority of internet usage and users. How far will AOL/TW go to control any and all forms of media? Are hearings to break the company up far off?
posted by mathowie
on Sep 10, 2001 -
14 comments
Cringely's insight deepens with this new article on
Excite@Home's troubles. Is broadband here to stay? If so, is it going to go anywhere? Three years from now, what will the options be and what kind of performance can be expected?
posted by bloggboy
on Aug 31, 2001 -
6 comments
Alternative broadband delivery systems So now that all the DSL providers are going bankrupt, and the cable modem providers can't meet the demand, scheming entrepeneurs are looking for other ways to bring broadband to you. The guy with the plan for the hi-altitude airplanes sounds like he escaped from some lame-brained dot-com.
posted by briank
on Mar 19, 2001 -
5 comments
beam me up! the ultimatetv thread made me wonder which satellite TV system would be best for me (and why is directTV evil?) -- anyway with this gadget you can watch
DISH channels plus upload AND download via satellite IP. too good to be true?
posted by subpixel
on Jan 8, 2001 -
12 comments
AOL's walled garden. Anyone who doesnt think that AOL will only link to AOL/Time Warner properties in the broadband future is fooling themselves.
posted by owillis
on Oct 27, 2000 -
3 comments
Holy Schnikies! Broadband video that doesn't look too bad. I don't know what they're using for the tech behind this (besides some shockwave 7 and a plugin of their own design), but the video is compression-free and clear (well, if you ignore the stupid scanlines). If you're on a fast line, by all means check it out, pretty amazing stuff (now they just need to stream some good content, like the simpsons :).
posted by mathowie
on Mar 3, 2000 -
3 comments
