Tag: fiber internet

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House GOP Attack FCC and Local Tax Payer Funded Internet Access

GOP rep marsha blackburnIf a community of people vote to approve tax payer funded internet access, should they be allowed to build their own network?

House Conservatives say “no”, that people at the state and local level should not be allowed the right to decide for themselves how to improve their internet access. Why? Because free market, competition, taxes, reasons.

In a frustrating example of political double-speak, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced an amendment to the 2015 Financial Services Appropriations Bill which would “prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from trampling on the rights of states when it comes to municipal broadband“. How does it protect states rights? By making it illegal for states and municipalities to petition the FCC for permission to build tax payer funded data networks. This amendment was of course approved by a vote of 223-200.

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AT&T Looking to Bring 1Gbps Fiber to 21 Major Metro Areas

How fast is 1 GBPS?Competition is good.

AT&T is looking to bring 1Gbps fiber internet connections to over 100 cities and municipalities. On the list are 21 major metropolitan areas including my current home city Los Angeles.

“Californians are inventing and adopting new technologies every day. With today’s announcement, we stand ready to work with local leaders to bring AT&T U-verse with GigaPower to our state.  This incredible technology will enable California entrepreneurs to innovate like never before and will give consumers the choice of an ultra-fast fiber network connection,” AT&T’s California President, Ken McNeely said.

Comcast has been upgrading connections to 100Mbps (one tenth the speed of gigabit fiber), Verizon has been stagnant with its FiOS offerings, but apparently the slow pressure building from Google Fiber was enough to move Big Blue to start offering up “GigaPower” to more consumers and businesses.

Whoever can run a line to my house first wins my business and some fresh baked brownies. You can read the full press release below.

Continue reading “AT&T Looking to Bring 1Gbps Fiber to 21 Major Metro Areas”

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AT&T invests more than $1.95 billion into LA improvements

ATT logoConsumers are getting hungrier for better service and data access. In Los Angeles, AT&T is pushing forward on wired and wireless improvements for consumers and businesses.

Over the last three years, Big Blue has poured almost $2 Billion into opening up new pockets of LTE for thousands of LA residents, and offering up fiber lines to over 40,000 business locations.

“Continued investment in fast and reliable Internet connectivity is critical for both quality of life and economic growth in Los Angeles said Gary Toebben, President & CEO, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.  “Enhanced wireless and wired connectivity is an important benefit for residents, and the expansion of fiber-optic connections helps to level the playing field for small and mid-sized businesses across the metro area.”

Hopefully we’ll soon see more of that competitive spirit for residential wired services. LA is looking into providing free basic data service to all residents over the next several years, and we know Google is investigating a Fiber roll out in Northern California. AT&T has shown that it’s game to compete, matching Google’s offerings in Austin, so fingers crossed that we Los Angelenos start seeing some better opportunities than what we currently have with cable.

Full PR below.

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Google and IBM want to make the internet a LOT faster, but will consumers ever get the upgrades?

server rack rear cablingWithin a day of each other, complimentary stories about Google and IBM hit the net.

Google is working on plans to improve their fiber offerings from 1Gbps to 10Gbps, meaning their uploads and downloads would be 200 and 2000 times faster than what I currently have access to in Los Angeles. We can also easily estimate that the service would be cheaper than the top tier broadband in So-Cal. Originally their plan was to roll out 10Gbps connections over the next decade, but in light of 4K video services popping up to supply people native resolution content for their new TV’s, they’ve shortened that window to three years. The internet is going to need bigger pipes to handle future services.

And if you think Google’s data sounds audacious, IBM has even bigger goals in their sites.  Continue reading “Google and IBM want to make the internet a LOT faster, but will consumers ever get the upgrades?”

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Kansas Legislature Trying to Stall Fiber Internet Outside of Kansas City?

Google-Fiber1Hey Google. If the rest of Kansas doesn’t want Fiber, might I suggest breaking up some of the monopolies here in Southern California? Maybe? Think about it OK?

I try not to soapbox politically too often on this site, but network infrastructure is one of my trigger topics, especially when business and politics meet preventing a level playing field and stifling competition.

The “municipal communications network and private telecommunications investment safeguards act” would seek to prevent other municipalities in Kansas from offering the same kinds of incentives Kansas City provided Google. Of course, the boilerplate goals of the bill all triumph protecting consumer interests, and providing services through “fair competition”, and letting the established ISP market decide what fair rates are for that service.  Continue reading “Kansas Legislature Trying to Stall Fiber Internet Outside of Kansas City?”

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AT&T lighting up “Giga-Power” U-Verse in Austin

att u-verse gigapower austin txIt’s happening!

See, a little outside competition IS a good thing for us lowly consumers. AT&T is flipping the switch on a 300Mbps consumer plan for $70 a month. While currently that is about a third the potential maximum speed of Google Fiber, AT&T will automatically upgrade customers on that plan to full Gigabit broadband when it’s made available early next year.

Ordering a Double or Triple Play package with TV and Home Phone will net you HBO GO free for 36 months and a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Customers opting for this package who are AT&T wireless subscribers will also receive 50GB of free cloud storage.

att uverse bundles austin gigapower double play triple play

Unlike Google Fiber, which remains focused on home internet packages, AT&T will be rolling out plans supporting businesses in the Austin area as well. For more info: www.att.com/gigapower

Full PR after the jump.

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Google Fiber now explicitly allows home and home-based business servers

Google-Fiber1A nice little clarification for those folks lucky bastards  who get to use Google Fiber. There was a touch of confusion recently as Google has pushed the talking points surrounding the improvement of residential internet offerings, and there aren’t any publicly discussed plans to offer up business grade solutions.

This caused a bit of a ruffle as many indie and start up folks headed out to Kansas City to utilize these incredibly affordable (and stupid fast) internet plans. After making a transition like that, it would be understandably frustrating to find out that utilizing Google Fiber in a commercial building would be a violation of the TOS.

Of course many of us utilize home solutions for doing business on the internet, and now Google has clarified that running servers out of a home office is A-OK, so those looking to incorporate fiber can do so without fear of Goog pulling the plug.

Still no word on business solutions for commercial spaces. Who knows, maybe traditional ISP’s might be motivated to improve their corporate offerings. It could happen.

More info on the Google Fiber Blog.

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