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Internet video won't flourish in a walled garden

1 June 2013 by Steve Blum
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Source: Cisco VNI 2012-2017

By 2017 Internet protocol video traffic will triple worldwide, according to Cisco’s latest Visual Networking Index (VNI). It’s an annual estimate of how Internet and Internet protocol traffic will grow over the coming five years.

IP video traffic totalled 24,000 petabytes a month during 2012 and is projected to grow to 76,000 petabytes a month in 2017.

The share of Internet protocol video delivered inside a walled garden will gradually decline, although like everything else it will continue to increase in absolute terms.… More

The ABCs of Google Fiber is anywhere but California

31 May 2013 by Steve Blum
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This isn’t Kansas.

California is not on the Google Fiber roadmap right now, says Milo Medin, the man running the project. He was speaking at a Fiber to the Home Council meeting in Kansas City this week. According to a CNET story reported by Marguerite Reardon…

[Medin] said that Google would love to bring fiber and 1Gbps broadband speeds to its employees and other Californians. But he said that in general California has many challenges that would make it too costly to build a fiber network there.

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California legislature votes more perks for cable and telephone companies

30 May 2013 by Steve Blum
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It’s on the house. Both houses, actually.

The California Assembly approved using broadband construction subsidy funds to pay for marketing programs and infrastructure in public housing yesterday. The votes was 58 yes and 17 no for assembly bill 1299, which means it heads over to the Senate for further consideration later this summer.

AB1299 earmarks $20 million from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) for building out broadband infrastructure in public housing projects and another $5 million for programs designed to encourage residents to buy service.… More

Sharp limits on broadband subsidies approved by California Senate

29 May 2013 by Steve Blum
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I think I’ll send you over the Assembly for a little trim.

No more money for the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) and tight restrictions on how any remaining funds can be spent. That was the decision yesterday of a large, bipartisan majority of California state senators, as they approved a broadband infrastructure bill largely written by cable and telco lobbyists.

In a 36 to 1 vote, they sent senate bill 740 to the assembly for consideration later this summer.… More

Better connectivity undermines PC sales

28 May 2013 by Steve Blum
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Tablet sales will soar past stagnating personal computer results, according to forecasts released today by International Data Corporation. With mobile networks powering handheld productivity and growing commercial and industrial grade fiber networks enabling more and more work to be shifted onto servers, PCs are caught in a squeeze.

IDC expects 59% growth in tablet sales in 2013, reaching 229 million units, up from 145 million in 2012. That means more tablets will be sold this year than laptops (including netbooks, ultrabooks and the like).… More

Votes on California broadband subsidy changes set for Tuesday

27 May 2013 by Steve Blum
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Providing meaningful input to the process.

Two proposals to change the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) are on the table in Sacramento, and both are scheduled for major votes on Tuesday. Assembly bill 1299 and senate bill 740 will be put before the full California Assembly and Senate, respectively, after legislative leaders – primarily super-majority Democrats – released both for a vote. The alternative would have been to kill them outright, which was the fate of many other bills in progress.… More

No Google deed goes unpunished

26 May 2013 by Steve Blum
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When you’re hot, you’re hot.

Google is under pressure to upgrade the free WiFi system it installed in its hometown of Mountain View, California in 2006. Complaints in online forums have been accumulating, and The Mountain View Voice reports improvements are in the pipeline.

At least part of the problem is online video streaming. The Tropos mesh WiFi network equipment was state-of-the-art seven years ago, but bandwidth needs were quite a bit lower then. There’s a certain amount of irony in the fact that one of the Internet’s biggest bandwidth hogs is Google’s YouTube service, but it’s not like anyone is being ripped off.… More

Verizon FiOS doesn't have an edge over cable in Netflix rankings

25 May 2013 by Steve Blum
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Netflix accounts for a third of the Internet traffic in North America, so it’s not surprising it has something to say about how well Internet service providers perform. Whether or not the ISPs appreciate the input. Netflix just updated its speed index of U.S. wireline and fixed wireless companies and, not surprisingly, Google Fiber tops the chart. On the average, Netflix viewers connecting via Google Fiber do so at 3.4 Mbps.

Of course there wouldn’t be many of those, since Google Fiber’s reach is very limited.… More

Based on Linux and orphaned by Nokia, Sailfish OS debuting on Jolla handset

24 May 2013 by Steve Blum
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The first mobile phone based on the Sailfish operating system has been unveiled by Jolla, a company that splintered off of Nokia when it gave up on the MeeGo OS. It’s feature packed and is trying to differentiate itself by offering customizable backs for the fashion conscious.

So far, it fails to impress. I don’t see a killer sales proposition for the Jolla phone. Swappable backs are fine, but I doubt many people will cough up $500 because a phone is easy to accessorize.… More

Big ISPs hit rock bottom in customer satisfaction survey

23 May 2013 by Steve Blum
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U.S. consumers are more dissatisfied with their Internet service providers than with any other product or service on the American Consumer Satisfaction Index.

ACSI scores overall consumer satisfaction with ISPs at 65 on its benchmark scale, just below airlines (67) and subscription TV (68). TVs/VCRs (86), cars (84) and soft drinks (84) top the list. Municipal utilities (76), wireline phones (74) and mobile services (72) fall into the middle of the pack.

Subscribers consider their service to be too expensive and unreliable, problems ACSI chalks up to a lack of competition…

High monthly costs and problems with both reliability and speed are the main culprits.

… More