Government mulls broadband help
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The government may take steps to ensure the UK has the infrastructure necessary for super-fast broadband.
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BT 'keenly welcomes' more money shocker The schools minister, Jim Knight, has decided that every child in the country absolutely must have broadband at home, and has called on technology vendors to help him make it happen.â¦
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A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate this week would require the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to reconsider what bandwidth rates qualify as broadband, a move that won praise from some groups that call current broadband penetration statistics misleading.
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Internet service providers have to walk a fine line between fairness and profitability. Users want maximum service, and are entitled to honest contracts. Maybe there's a way to help everyone at once.
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Internet access may be cut for people who illegally download music and videos  under government proposals.
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Backers of a Philadelphia Wi-Fi project are worried that a bill going through the state legislature would spike a plan to blanket the city with free or inexpensive wireless access. [Broadband Blog]
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UK homes in certain towns will  benefit from 100Mbps broadband, delivered via the sewers.
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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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Competition alone can't fix problems with broadband speed and cost in the U.S
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A cash-flow problem in a federal program is hindering the ability of many schools and libraries to pay for Internet service.
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By Simon Fluendy, Financial Mail on Sunday, London  Dec. 10--A crackdown on broadband internet providers after a torrent of  consumer complaints about poor service will be announced this week.
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WASHINGTON - A cash-flow problem in a federal program is hindering the ability of many schools and libraries to pay for Internet service.
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Minister threatens legislation deadline The government turned up the heat on internet providers today, warning that laws to force disconnection of illegal filesharers are already being drafted for a parliamentary debut in November.â¦
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Broadband will be as widely available as analogue TV by the middle of next year, according to BT. BT has struggled to extend the reach of broadband to certain areas of the country because until now 512Kbps ADSL connections would not work ...
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WASHINGTON-Despite the interference concerns of government-spectrum users, public-safety entities and amateur-radio operators, the Federal Communications Commission Thursday adopted rules to allow broadband over power lines.
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By Hu Yinan  The government is calling on more schools and community centers to provide free Internet services for young people.
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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's no plan now in place focused on providing affordable access for all residents. The Open Internet Coalition, in a letter to Congress sent Thursday, said the U.S. government needs to adopt new measures to ensure universal affordable access to broadband, net neutrality and increased competition in the broadband market. The letter is the first step in a concerted effort coalition members will make to push broadband legislation in Congress, members said. The U.S. has fallen to 15th in per capita broadband adoption among the 30 nations that are members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, noted Ben Scott, policy director for Free Press, a media reform advocacy group. "Most alarmingly, we're not doing anything about it," he said. The U.S. lacks "any stated policy" to bring affordable broadband to more residents, added Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a digital rights advocacy group and member of the coalition. "The government doesn't have an overarching vision on how to address these problems," she added. In March 2004, U.S. President George Bush called for universal, affordable broadband for all U.S. residents by this year, but he did not propose major changes to make that happen. It's a major hurdle that providers of cable and DSL control 96 percent of U.S. broadband subscriptions, Scott said. "We've got to face the fact that [U.S. residents] pay more for less bandwidth than our global competitors," he said. Increased access to the Internet is vital to U.S. economic growth, said the letter to Congress. "Now is the time to give this goal the urgency it deserves," the letter said. "As broadband networks become more and more integral to our economic and social life, we are reaching a tipping point where legislation is no longer simply welcome -- it is imperative." Not everyone agrees with the coalition's goals, particularly its call for net neutrality or open access on broadband networks. Large broadband providers like Verizon and AT&T have opposed efforts to pass a net neutrality law that would prohibit providers from blocking or slowing Web content from competitors. Such a law would limit providers' business plans and would discourage them from building fast new networks, the providers have said. Last month, some of the coalition's members called for open access requirements in upcoming spectrum auctions at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Scott Wallsten, a senior fellow at free-market think tank the Progress and Freedom Foundation, called the term "open access" a brilliant branding strategy. "How could anyone oppose proposals with names like net neutrality, Internet freedom, and open access?" Wallsten wrote in a newsletter. "But ... these proposals, if implemented, would create a regulatory hell of complicated rules and endless lobbying while undermining incentives to invest in critical wireless and wired broadband infrastructure." Other members of the Open Internet Coalition include eBay, online dating site Match.com, the Consumer Federation of America, CollegeHumor.com, and RealEstate.com.