Uncategorized

WiFi is worth more to the economy than congress thinks, FCC commission says

25 June 2016 by Steve Blum
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What’s the value of free? That’s the question that FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel is asking as she pushes for more WiFi – i.e. unlicensed and available to everyone at no cost – spectrum to be allocated. The core problem, as she sees it, is that congressional analysts don’t understand what freely available spectrum is worth to the U.S. economy…

Traditionally, the legislative process has overlooked the value of the unlicensed spectrum and favored licensed spectrum.

… More

Net neutrality decision boosts FCC muni preemption case, but not enough

21 June 2016 by Steve Blum
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Still not going anywhere.

The federal appeals court ruling that upheld the Federal Communications Commission’s common carrier and network neutrality rules for broadband did collateral damage to the State of Tennessee’s attempt to overturn the FCC’s preemption of state restrictions on local municipal broadband initiatives. But it doesn’t appear fatal, or even particularly serious.

At the same 2015 meeting where it voted to regulate broadband as a common carrier service, the FCC also decided to toss out state laws in Tennessee and North Carolina that prevented two muni fiber systems from expanding into neighboring jurisdictions.… More

The FCC didn't forbear from broadband rate regulation

19 June 2016 by Steve Blum
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Not everybody gets through at the same time.

Republicans in the U.S. house of representatives want to write a ban on FCC broadband rate regulations into law. But that simple step would have far reaching implications for the net neutrality restrictions the FCC placed on ISPs. As the dissenting judge in the latest appellate court case wrote, it’s not just about how much an ISP can charge subscribers…

The [FCC] (at least for the moment) allows ISPs to provide consumers differing levels of service at differing prices.

… More

Broadband gets lowest satisfaction rating of any industry in latest survey

18 June 2016 by Steve Blum
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Click to download the study

Consumers are a wee bit happier, on the average, with Internet service providers, but that’s not to say happy, according to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) telecommunications company rankings. Overall, Internet service providers get an average score of 64 (out of 100), up one point from 2016. It is the lowest industry average of all those ranked by ACSI. Subscription TV companies – there’s quite a bit of overlap, of course – are nearly as bad on the average, getting 65 out of 100.… More

Dissenting judge calls FCC net neutrality decision watery thin

17 June 2016 by Steve Blum
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And hanging by the barest of threads

Tuesday’s decision by a federal appeals court to uphold the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to regulate broadband as a common carrier service was not unanimous. The dissenting judge made three points in his counter-opinion. Two are spot on and the third is a judgement call, one that the other two judges who heard the appeal fairly didn’t buy.

Stephen Williams agreed with his two colleagues – Sri Srinivasan and David Tatel – that the FCC can reclassify Internet access and make it a telecommunications service which is potentially subject to detailed regulatory oversight.… More

Renters and condo owners willing to pay more for fiber, trade group study says

14 June 2016 by Steve Blum


Click for more.

Fast, fiber-based broadband raises the perceived value of a condominium by $8,600 and renters would be willing to pay an extra $80 per month for it, according to research just released by the Fiber to the Home Council, an industry trade group. On the other hand, most renters and owners don’t take broadband availability into consideration when choosing a place to live: the study says only about a third of apartment and condo dwellers who moved in 2015 or 2016 thought to ask about it.… More

Niche computer maker Purism turns lack of trust into a selling proposition

12 June 2016 by Steve Blum
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Simple security comes at a cost.

If you want to know what every bit on your computer is doing, I mean really know, then you’re the kind of customer that Purism has in mind. The South San Francisco company makes a range of Linux-based laptops and tablets with 100% open source software not-quite-preinstalled. That includes applications of course, but also device drivers, the boot system and everything else.

Not-quite-preinstalled means that the device comes with all the software and a totally naked hard drive.… More

Wireless charging is still a contact sport

11 June 2016 by Steve Blum
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Closer to reality.

Energous Corporation is walking back claims of wirelessly charging batteries from across the room, but is moving ahead with products that charge on simple contact, without having to plug anything in. That kind of technology is reasonably well established – it’s a common enough demo to see at CES, for example – but the solutions on offer are still fiddly in nature and there’s no generally accepted standard yet.

Last year, at Pepcom’s Mobile Focus event in San Francisco, Energous had a gizmo generally the size and shape of a high end audio speaker on its exhibit table, that a spokesman said could deliver 4 watts of electrical to a suitably equipped device 15 feet away, and 16 watts at five feet.… More

California cable lobby pushes "the bounds of acceptable behavior"

10 June 2016 by Steve Blum
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Not the way it’s done.

A last minute, behind-the-scenes attempt by the California Cable and Telecommunications Association (CCTA) – the lobbying front for the cable industry in Sacramento – to derail affordable broadband service in public housing failed yesterday. The California Public Utilities Commission voted 4 to 1 to approve grants for low cost or free broadband facilities in a dozen public housing communities where cable companies offer far more expensive service. Comcast and Charter Communications had earlier protested the grant applications.… More

Google and Apple lag behind in self-driving car development, Musk says

9 June 2016 by Steve Blum
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A head start matters.

Google won’t be making self-driving cars, but Apple probably will, although it’s coming late to the game. That’s how Elon Musk handicaps the autonomous vehicle sweepstakes. He’s in a better position to judge than most people. His company, Tesla, already has a semi-autonomous car on the market and is trying to break out of its Silicon Valley-centric niche and into the mainstream of mass market manufacturers.

Musk talked about the steep competitive slope new entrants into the automotive business have to climb at a recent conference.… More