broadband

Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization has started testing its wireless broadband technology, which uses existing TV antennas, at the first National Broadband Network roll-out site of Smithton in Tasmania.

The system, named Ngara, works by installing antennas on existing TV broadcasting towers that transmit wireless broadband to households through their existing TV antennas, although slightly modified as some components in existing antennas don't allow them to be used as transmitters.

While the uplink test was a success, getting data downloaded was still a work in progress. "The team is only able to beam form to … Read more

The Internet finally seems to be as popular as TV, according to a study released yesterday by Forrester.

Based on a survey, the research firm's report found that people in the U.S. on average spend around 13 hours a week online, the same amount of time they spend watching TV.

As usual, the results vary by age. People ages 18 to 30 have been spending more time on the Internet than watching TV for awhile. But this marks the first Forrester study in which folks in the 32 to 44 group also are online more than they are … Read more

Editors' note: This is a guest column. See Jorge Bauermeister's bio below.

For those heavily engaged in the Internet regulation battle that has been raging over the past year, the next two weeks will be a nail-biting period. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski recently announced what seems to be a sensible compromise on the issue of Net neutrality, which will work to govern how the Internet pipes are managed.

Genachowski's proposal appears to meet all interested parties in the middle by ensuring the continuation of an open Internet and also providing an environment that enables the growth of the Internet and communications sector to continue at a rapid pace. Continued growth, naturally, is essential to enabling new technologies and services to meet consumer demand and needs.

But instead of plaudits, the chairman is stuck in a tug-of-war between the long-standing proponents of Net neutrality and those skeptical of new regulations and any unintended consequences they may cause. Splits in the commission, which will vote yea or nay this month, mirror the outside fight.

I have been a supporter of light-touch approaches to any sort of Internet regulation, often citing the negative fallout that could result from heavier rules--particularly the approach of reclassifying Internet services under the Title II framework that has governed telephone services since the 1934 Telecommunications Act. Luckily, the Title II approach appears to have been taken off the table, given the recent announcement of the chairman's framework, which maintains rules under the current Title I approach.

Why compromise is good--and where extreme policy goes wrong As for those who want tough neutrality rules on wireless broadband, I'd advise one to be careful what you wish for. The smartphone revolution has created dramatic new demand for wireless capacity, which is already bumping up against the limits of current technology.

Wireless networks simply can't handle as much data as wired networks and, therefore, the wireless infrastructure and management of mobile networks require a different approach than wired and fixed broadband. We are just at the beginning of a high-growth wireless revolution. Overregulation will stunt its growth, and Genachowski's plan takes into account that reality, leaving room for continued growth while also doing enough to ensure consumer protections on mobile networks. … Read more

If you hadn't noticed from all the advertisements on TV, the age of 4G wireless is here.

Verizon Wireless will be the latest company to launch its shiny, new 4G network. Starting Sunday, roughly 110 million people in 38 cities will have the opportunity to subscribe to this new generation of wireless service from the nation's largest cell phone operator.

But Verizon isn't the only wireless carrier with a next-generation wireless network. T-Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel also have new networks they are aggressively marketing. And AT&T, which has upgraded 80 percent of its network … Read more

AirRadar is a utility that can help you scan for, track information on, and join wireless networks. Like similar apps (some of which are free), AirRadar provides much more information than you'd otherwise get through the Mac OS AirPort status menu. Whether you're testing your signal strength at home or trying to find free Wi-Fi on the road, AirRadar will list all open and closed networks in range, along with information such as signal strength (current, average, and max), type of encryption, MAC address, and channel--and you can also sort networks into smart groups, such as all open … Read more

Income can dictate how often a person accesses the Internet, a new study has found.

According to Pew Research, 95 percent of Americans living in households with $75,000 or more in annual income are "at least occasionally" likely to access the Web. That figure drops to 70 percent of people in homes with less than $75,000 of annual income. About 57 percent of those with less than $30,000 in annual income use the Internet. Pew also found that 99 percent of people in higher income households access the Internet from home, while 93 percent of … Read more

Verizon Communications is now offering its Fios customers a new service that delivers 150Mbps download speeds and uploads of 35 Mbps.

The company announced today that consumers in its Fios fiber-to-the-home territory are now eligible for the new service. Small-business customers will be eligible for the service by the end of the year.

Verizon has been pushing the envelope in terms of broadband speeds since it began offering the fiber-to-the-home Fios service. The faster broadband is overkill for most people, but Verizon said that speeds such as these will be necessary as Americans adopt more bandwidth-intensive activities such as 3D … Read more

Editors' note: This is a guest column. See Larry Downes' bio below.

As lawmakers gear up for the post-election Congress that convenes in January, the multiyear debate over new laws to keep ISPs from blocking Web sites or managing traffic in anticompetitive ways--the so-called Net neutrality rules--is heating up again.

The result can be safely predicted: more wasted energy and a continued failure by policymakers to focus on the real challenges of our increasingly important broadband infrastructure.

The latest round of fighting follows this month's midterm elections. Those who oppose additional regulations point to the strong Republican victory as … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Most of the big-ticket speakers at the Web 2.0 Summit this week gave talks that were carefully guarded, offering little deep insight into the tumultuous state of the fast-evolving tech industry out of necessary trade-secrecy. Not FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, who wasn't too subtle about implying that he's got a lot on his plate and it's tough to digest.

Part of this is good, of course. The flurry of extreme innovation in Silicon Valley and necessary shaking-up of decades-old telecom-industry norms has led to a road map that's difficult for regulators to augur. The … Read more