In Corporate Tie Binds US to Slow Internet (Financial Times), Edward Luce makes the connection between Comcast’s near monopoly in American cities and its active lobbying efforts (not to mention its large campaign contributions to Obama), with the terrible state of broadband service in America: If Dwight Eisenhower had General Motors and George W. Bush had [...]
Anti-municipal broadband laws are like bubonic plague
February 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The bubonic plague (or Black Death) kept popping up in various European cities for hundreds of years. As soon as one city’s population would be decimated, the plague would die out only to reappear after a long hiatus. In the case of anti-municipal broadband bills, as soon as one would get defeated in a state [...]
Free Press launches interactive tool to expose astroturf groups
August 19, 2009 by 3 Comments
Free Press has launched an online interactive tool to expose fake grassroots groups supported by big telco and cable companies to advance their political agenda. These “astroturf” organizations — many of which also work for the health insurance, energy and tobacco industries — are mobilizing to spread misinformation about Network Neutrality and Internet policies. Check [...]
Comcast ready to resell Clearwire’s WiMAX
June 29, 2009 by Leave a Comment
In news announcements today cable giant Comcast announced that it would start reselling Clearwire’s WiMax services, a business move they promised earlier this year. From the press release, the main pricing plan for the service (which they are calling Comcast High-Speed 2go™) is a combo of wired cable broadband and local Clearwire WiMax for $49.99, [...]
Comcast Wi-Fi hotzones go live
February 4, 2009 by 4 Comments
Comcast is now offering free Wi-Fi service in several New Jersey train stations to people who already subscribe to its cable service. If you are not a subscriber, too bad for you. Comcast has plans to work with Cablevision, which already has several Wi-Fi hotzones, to expand Comcast’s reach. Related news: Cablevision doubles size of [...]
Clearwire’s 100-day agenda: Devices, VoIP and roaming
November 30, 2008 by 1 Comment
Just like a hungry uncle devouring Thanksgiving leftovers, the new Clearwire wasted no time tying up the loose ends of its WiMax assets merger deal with Sprint Nextel, finishing the deal Friday while everyone else in the country was busy digesting the previous night’s feasts. With a conference call scheduled for early Monday morning, some [...]
Taking a deeper look at the Clearwire deal — again
November 21, 2008 by 1 Comment
With the shareholder approval finally taken care of, the massive deal to build a new nationwide WiMax network under the Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR) name can (finally!) now begin in earnest. While those of us who have been following the events over the past year know pretty much what is on Clearwire’s immediate to-do list, for [...]
Comcast discloses, then hits the comments trail
September 19, 2008 by Leave a Comment
Hitting the deadline with the precision that only a journalist could love, Comcast filed its paperwork with the FCC at about the latest hour imaginable Friday, disclosing both its previous/current “network management” techniques as well as its “protocol agnostic” techniques it would use going forward, all of this made necessary by the FCC’s punitive order [...]
Lawsuits of the week: Comcast appeals FCC ruling, telco sues town for installing fiber
September 12, 2008 by 4 Comments
You didn’t really think Comcast would roll over and obey the FCC’s ruling forbidding them from blocking P2P applications, did you? Comcast rallied its legal troops and filed an appeal, which landed in the D.C. Circuit (whose reputation is pro-industry, anti-regulation). The Media Access Project has filed a petition asking the federal court to get [...]
What’s really behind the Comcast 250 GB bandwidth cap
September 5, 2008 by 1 Comment
So you think it’s the FCC’s order telling Comcast not to block P2P applications? Not so, according to Harold Feld of the Media Access Project. It’s actually Comcast’s settlement with the Florida Attorney General. Apparently, Comcast had kicked off the highest 1000 users regardless of bandwidth use or geographical location because they were violating Comcast’s [...]
