Half of U.S. states saw an increase in the percentage of their population with Internet connectivity above 5 Mb/s between fourth quarter 2008 and fourth quarter 2009, according to data released in late April from Akamai Technologies. Nationwide, however, the percentage of Americans that connect to the Internet at speeds above 5 Mb/s was unchanged at about 25%. Meanwhile the number of Americans connecting at speeds above 2 Mb/s (which Akamai estimated at 56% as of fourth quarter 2009) was down 11% from the previous year.
Broadband Connections Show Gains in 25 States
Posted by: Steve Senne | April 30th, 2010 | No Comments »
First Round of Broadband Stimulus Program Officially Closed
Posted by: Mike Boehne | April 30th, 2010 | No Comments »
When NTIA announced its latest broadband stimulus awards on April 26th, it signaled the end of funding for round one of the stimulus program. RUS announced its last round one funding awards at the end of March.
So here are the final numbers for round one:
- 150 total awards announced
- $1.767B in grant funding
- $512M in loan funding
- $388M in matching private investment
- $2.67B in total actual dollars
Round Two is in full swing with all the applications already submitted. Announcements of Round Two winners are expected to begin this summer.
Alcatel-Lucent Demonstrates 300 Mbps DSL
Posted by: Steve Senne | April 22nd, 2010 | No Comments »
A new DSL transmission technology that has been demonstrated by Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs research arm could help service providers deliver bandwidth as great as 300 Mbps over existing copper phone wiring.
RUS Outlines Broadband Stimulus Round Two
Posted by: Mike Boehne | April 21st, 2010 | No Comments »
The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) said late last week that it received applications requesting $11.2 billion in funding for round two of the broadband stimulus program. About 776 applications were received, compared with 1,230 from the first round. The RUS was authorized to distribute $2.5 billion in total from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Verizon to trial ‘green’ set top boxes for FiOS
Posted by: Steve Senne | April 16th, 2010 | No Comments »
Verizon plans to begin trials of two new set-top boxes from Motorola, which the companies say are as much as 30% more energy efficient than current models. In addition, one of the models offers double the amount of storage capacity for digital video recordings. The boxes will be available in certain FiOS markets later this year.
Study finds 16% of North American homes can get FTTH
Posted by: Mike Boehne | April 16th, 2010 | No Comments »
All-fiber network connectivity is now available to 16% of North American homes, according to a study conducted by RVA Market Research on behalf of the Fiber-to-the-Home Council. Nearly 6 million homes now receive television, high-speed Internet or phone service or a combination of these offerings over these networks.
FCC Partners With SamKnows for Broadband Speed Testing
Posted by: Mike Boehne | April 12th, 2010 | No Comments »
The FCC announced they have contracted with U.K. firm SamKnows Limited to measure actual broadband speeds experienced by end users. As a part of the national broadband plan, the FCC is putting emphasis on broadband speeds, and even launched a couple broadband speed tools of their own.
Verizon tests IPv6 with FTTH customers
Posted by: Steve Senne | April 8th, 2010 | No Comments »
Verizon has begun testing version 6 of the Internet protocol (IPv6) with customers of its FiOS service. IPv6 expands the number of IP addresses that a network can support from approximately 4 billion to 340 trillion trillion trillion, according to the carrier.
Cisco Simplifies Wireless Home Networking With Valet
Posted by: Steve Senne | April 2nd, 2010 | No Comments »
A new home wireless networking product from Cisco, announced March 31, aims to simplify the traditionally cumbersome home or small business wireless network installation process. The simplified setup may help accelerate the growth of wireless networking by customers and perhaps, lessen the need for customers to call on telcos for help in set-up of those networks. That’s both positive and potentially negative news for service providers. While the simplified process may reduce customer/tech support calls, it may also lessen the need for the growing business opportunity of installing these wireless networks.
RUS Closes the Books on Round One of the Broadband Stimulus Program
Posted by: Mike Boehne | April 1st, 2010 | No Comments »
With its latest funding award announcement, the RUS says it’s closing round one funding for the broadband stimulus program. The last award was a $10.95 million loan and a $10.95 million grant for Reservation Telephone Cooperative to provide service in remote areas in and around the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in parts of Montana and North Dakota.
