Bargaining for broadband saves money, even more in a competitive market

31 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Sharp consumers can sometimes save hundreds of dollars a year by negotiating with cable and telephone companies, according to a recent study by Consumer Reports. But few people are even giving it a try.

Only a third of the triple/quad play subscribers surveyed said they tried to bargain for a better deal for Internet, television and telephone service. And the people responding were subscribers to Consumer Reports, who aren’t exactly passive shoppers.… More

FDA might tax and regulate mobile apps, but that's not the worst part

30 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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We’ll just do it the old fashioned way.

Medical applications are approved and regulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). An agency representative [recently told a congressional committee](https://searchhealthit.techtarget.com/news/2240180401/Congress-explores-potential-regulation-of-mobile-health-apps) that rules regarding mobile medical apps are coming later this year.
Over the course of a week, three separate committees heard a wide range of helpful advice on how best to regulate, or not, mobile medical applications and devices. Taxes were also an issue. The Affordable Care Act – Obamacare – puts a 2.3% tax on medical devices.… More

Blackberry skids through a quarterly profit

29 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Cash cows confront the fiscal cliff.

Blackberry surprised the financial community by reporting a profit of 22 cents a share for its fiscal quarter that ended earlier this month. Expectations were for a loss of about that size, not a gain.

It certainly is good news for Blackberry. It looks more like the result of tighter management than anything else, but there’s nothing wrong with that. So long as market success follows.

The big problem is in the subscriber numbers, which fell by about 3 million.… More

Unlimited means unlimited, at least in the Queen's English

28 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Immoderate Virgin.

British Internet service providers can’t claim to offer “unlimited” downloads or streaming with “no caps” if it comes with more than incidental throttling for heavy users. That was the ruling yesterday from the Advertising Standards Authority, an independent U.K. watchdog agency with real teeth.

The ASA investigated complaints against Virgin Media, a major national ISP, made by a member of the public and two of its competitors, BSkyB and BT (aka British Telecommunications).… More

Real world planning brings real free WiFi to Santa Clara


Free WiFi coverage in most of Santa Clara.

It’s a beautiful thing when the pieces fall into place and a city can maximize the value of past investments and decisions. Particularly when it means better and cheaper broadband service.

Santa Clara is rolling out an elegant solution for universal Internet access. The city owns and operates its own electric utility, and put in a fiber optic network to support it. The fiber’s reach is limited – it’s definitely not FTTH scale – but it’s enough to make broadband connectivity relatively easy throughout the city and keep the cost of Internet bandwidth down.… More

AT&T upgrades coming, if you live on the "high-potential" side of the divide

26 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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You either have or you have not, Slim.

AT&T is getting ready to roll out 45 Mbps service in Dallas shortly and expand over its entire wireline footprint during the coming year, according to Broadband DSL Reports. The technology being deployed – VDSL2 and pair bonding – has the potential to eventually make good on an earlier promise to deliver 75 to 100 Mbps service.

To maybe half of AT&T’s wireline customers. The other half will have to make do with slower copper-based speeds or, in some cases, with 4G mobile service.… More

Satellite first, FTTH (much) later

25 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Not all crazy ideas are crazy.

Netflix is talking about delivering ultra high definition content to its subscribers, using the 4K video format currently under development. Real time streaming of 4K content will require something like a 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps connection. Or it could be downloaded, over time, to in-home hard drives at slower speeds.

Either way, it would strain existing networks. A gigabit is only possible with fiber. In theory, cable modem service can support 100 Mbps speeds, but only for a very limited number of homes in a given area and only intermittently over long periods of time.… More

CPUC commissioner possible pick as new FCC chair

24 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Catherine Sandoval, California Public Utilities Commission.

One person mentioned as a replacement for outgoing Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Julius Genachowski is Catherine Sandoval, a member of the California Public Utilities Commission and a law professor, currently teaching at U.C. Berkeley. A Silicon Valley resident, she’s taken up the telecoms portfolio on the CPUC and understands the industry from a West Coast perspective.

Sandoval would be a great choice. The FCC needs someone who’s been shaped by Californian culture, high tech and otherwise.… More

HBO legend sees a long road to 4K television

23 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Zitter didn’t just look into the future, he made it.

Bob Zitter, HBO’s revered chief technology officer, retires this month, ending more than thirty years at the cutting edge of television technology. In a valedictory keynote at the TV Connect conference in London, Zitter expressed near-term skepticism about the future of 3D and 4K television technology, but held out long term hope.

HBO tried offering 3D content, but Zitter said they never believed in it.… More

Genachowski leaving the FCC changed for the better

22 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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FCC chairman Julius Genachowski in San Leandro last month.

Julius Genachowski made it official this morning, stepping down as chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). He’s leaving behind an agency that is arguably keeping pace with the industry it’s regulating, something few agencies or politicians in Washington can do. With the telecommunications industry increasingly shunning copper-based telephone service as it shifts to delivering broadband via wireless and fiber optic technologies, it is no small achievement.… More