Tag Archives: InternetAccess

Provo council approves fiber network sale to Google, but city must front $1.7 million

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Provo, Utah's plan to sell its cost-plagued fiber network to Google has been approved by the municipal council, meaning it'll soon become the third Google Fiber city. However, while still not receiving any money upfront as earlier reported, it'll now have to advance $1.7 million in equipment and engineering costs not part of the deal before, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. In exchange, each Provo resident will get a free 5-megabit internet connection for seven years and Google will have to upgrade the network to connect all the city's homes. It's not quite free, however, as the city's 120,000 residents must still pay a $39 million bond for building the network -- meaning they'll shell out $3.3 million for each of the next 12 years.

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Source: Salt Lake Tribune

Phone companies see loss of broadband subscribers for first time in Q2, cable continues to gain

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It wasn't all that long ago that the phone company was the source for internet access, first with traditional dial-up and later with DSL. That quickly began to change as cable companies started offering their own alternative, though, and the AP is now reporting that the second quarter of this year saw something of a milestone. According to its tally, the eight largest phone companies in the US lost a collective 70,000 broadband subscribers in Q2 (DSL or otherwise), while the four biggest cable companies continued to grow with 290,000 new subscribers. As it notes, AT&T is the main culprit for that overall decline, with it losing 96,000 broadband subscribers while the other phone companies all saw modest growth. It also notes that second quarter is a generally weak one for all broadband providers, what with college students cancelling their subscriptions before heading home -- but, then again, this is the first time that the phone companies haven't seen at least some growth during the period. Of course, this is also just home broadband we're talking about -- mobile broadband is another matter altogether.

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Phone companies see loss of broadband subscribers for first time in Q2, cable continues to gain originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 19:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAP / Time  | Email this | Comments

Avanti launches prepaid, Ka-band satellite internet access, wants us Yelping from the Alps

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Avanti launches prepaid, Kaband satellite internet access, wants us Skyping from the Alps

Avanti has been beaming satellite broadband to Europe for awhile, but it's been tied to a subscription through carrier deals. That's a tough sell to customers who, by definition, don't want to be tied to anything -- which is why the company just launched prepaid satellite internet access for the continent. Although the Ka-band service's 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream speeds won't have anyone dropping their 330Mbps fiber anytime soon, the pay-as-you-go strategy will let travelers and rural dwellers get broadband in a pinch, no matter how spotty terrestrial access might get. Imagine Skype calls during Swiss ski vacations and you've got the gist of it. Carriers will resell the data in healthy doses of 1GB or larger, and Avanti is adamant that there won't be any nasty throttling surprises waiting in store. While exact prices will depend on partners, the provider isn't waiting for those details before it covers much of the Old World: its upcoming HYLAS 2 satellite (what you see above) will share the speed with Africa, the Caucasus region and the Middle East as of August 2nd, making it almost too easy for us to update Google+ in Georgia.

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Avanti launches prepaid, Ka-band satellite internet access, wants us Yelping from the Alps originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jul 2012 12:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceTechWeek Europe  | Email this | Comments

Myanmar plans to open doors to foreign telcos for affordable cellular, internet service

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Myanmar plans to open doors to foreign telcos for affordable cellular, internet service

Hefty price tags haven't exactly made cellphones ubiquitous in cash-strapped Myanmar. According to AFP, an estimated 96 percent of the nation's 60 million inhabitants don't own a mobile handset, but that might soon be changing. A new reform plan announced by Myanmar's Post and Telecommunication Minister, Thein Tun, lays out a strategy that could finally give said folks a crack at affordable cellular and internet services. If successful, the initiative will start a bidding process for international telcos to set up shop in the country, allowing the companies to partner with the state-owned telephone provider and the ISP Yatanarpon Teleport. There's no word on when the partnerships may coalesce, but here's to hoping that $200 SIM card registration fees in Myanmar soon become a thing of the past. Full details at the source link below.

[Image credit: Shutterstock]

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Myanmar plans to open doors to foreign telcos for affordable cellular, internet service originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jul 2012 23:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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‘Facebook tax’ could make web companies pay for usage outside the US

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ITU ponders Facebook tax for developing nations

Leaked documents purportedly from the ITU reveal that the body is considering a levy on content-heavy services like Facebook and Netflix to pay for the bandwidth they use outside of the US. Tabled by lobbyists representing Europe's biggest cellphone networks, the proposal suggests that Google and others should shoulder some of the cost of bringing their services to customers in the rest of the world. In response, Cisco VP Robert Pepper has argued that any such charge could cause web services to block queries from developing nations, "effectively cutting them off from the internet." The motion will be discussed at a December meeting of the ITU council, where all 193 member countries will be allowed to vote.

[Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons]

'Facebook tax' could make web companies pay for usage outside the US originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jun 2012 06:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CNET  |  sourceWCTILEAKS.org (PDF), (2)  | Email this | Comments