Downing Street dodges 'unlimited' broadband debate
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The latest victory for people's paralysis The government has responded to more than 9,000 people who signed a petition against misleading "unlimited" broadband advertising by bouncing them back to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which has already repeatedly refused to act.â¦
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Broadband gets faster in the UK but some customers are not reaching speeds that firms advertised.
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New rules should make it easier for UK net users to switch broadband suppliers.
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A broadband provider prevented customers from using its service, company says.
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Â· PM rules out censorship, but wants new controls Â· New look at pre-watershed TV advertising urged
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Will a new set of FCC rules for broadband over power lines bring the Internet to millions more homes? On Friday, proponents of broadband Internet service over power lines hailed a recent decision by the US
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The key points from prime minister's questions in the House of Commons, from 1200 BST
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Â· Prime minister says MPs can protect British vetoÂ· Britain to call for more liberalisation of markets
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Users don't care about speed, telco claims BT is aiming to push access speed down the broadband agenda as the copper wires which carry data into homes swiftly approach their technological limits.â¦
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InfoWorld - Fifty-four organizations, including Amazon, Google, and TiVO, have called on the U.S. government to create a national broadband policy, saying there&#39;s no plan now in place focused on providing affordable access for all residents.
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Blog: The same pair of politicos who pushed last year for strict nondiscrimination requirements for broadband operators are looking to federal regulators to help revive their cause.
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And UWB licences to be axed Ofcom has allowed fixed broadband internet providers to double the power of their signals in a move the UK telecoms regulator says will help bridge the digital divide.â¦
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Competition may not fix problems with broadband speed and cost in the United States, because of the high cost of entry into the market, the leader of a technology think tank said Friday.Many policymakers in Washington, D.C., call for competition to cure issues with broadband value and build-out, but they don&#39;t recognize that the cost of building out competing networks may make broadband a natural monopoly or duopoly, said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF).&quot;It&#39;s a mistake for policymakers to assume that if they simply &#39;push the competition lever,&#39; all the problems with broadband policy will be solved,&quot; wrote Atkinson, in an ITIF paper. &quot;The bottom line is that if policymakers want to maximize not only societal welfare but also consumer welfare, they must balance the push for more competition with the need to maintain and create an efficient broadband industry structure.&quot;Atkinson and some other speakers at an ITIF broadband policy forum argued that the United States may need more broadband regulations to achieve higher speeds and lower prices. Atkinson suggested a balance between competition and regulations that would mandate open pipes and create stronger enforcement of consumer protection and antitrust laws.Not everyone agreed that more regulation was appropriate. The suggestion that broadband is a natural monopoly or duopoly &quot;as an economist gives me the willies,&quot; said John Mayo, professor of economics, business and public policy at Georgetown University.A government-supported monopoly in the traditional telephone market didn&#39;t work, Mayo said. He recalled an old Bell Atlantic billboard saying something to the effect of, &quot;We don&#39;t sell you what you think you want; we sell you what we know you need.&quot;Broadband is still a relatively new technology and the broadband business model is still evolving, Mayo said. The industry doesn&#39;t need government regulation while it&#39;s still developing.Other speakers complained that U.S. residents get&#160;lower speeds&#160;for&#160;higher prices&#160;than many residents of Europe and the Far East. But Mayo noted that prices have been falling. &quot;No matter how you measure it ... it&#39;s more affordable today than it&#39;s ever been,&quot; he said.Speakers at the forum noted that broadband policy is becoming an issue in the U.S. presidential campaign. This month, Sen. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner, outlined a broadband policy that would include tax incentives for broadband carriers to move into rural and other underserved areas. Clinton also called for public and private partnerships to help roll out broadband and for the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to develop better data about where broadband is available.Several other candidates have talked about broadband as well, including Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani, noted Jonathan Sallet, a partner in the Washington communications firm, the Glover Park Group.But many policymakers in Washington have recently taken a hands-off approach to broadband, thinking &quot;let&#39;s create a neutral platform and just let stuff happen,&quot; added Steven Weber, a professor of political science at the University of California Berkeley. But just letting stuff happen isn&#39;t working to push broadband in many sectors, including health care, he said.&quot;I don&#39;t think that argument is completely adequate to most people,&quot; he said.
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Senators debate whether to extend or limit a ban on access and other Internet-only taxes.
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Converged communications watchdog Ofcom is proposing BT more than halve its prices for making its last-mile copper telephone network available to competing broadband providers.
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The UK's ad watchdog rules over which net connections can be described as full speed broadband.
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'How do I send an email?' Virgin Media will slap a 25 pence per minute charge on calls to its broadband technical support line from 1 July because it says it gets too many off-topic questions.â¦