12/11, 4:02pm
Cheaper fiber plan requires monitoring of high-speed Internet connection
AT&T has started accepting registrations for its fiber-based Internet offering in Austin, as the company continues to fight against Google Fiber. U-Verse with GigaPower offers residents in the city TV services and Internet access at speeds of up to 300Mbps, which will be upgraded to gigabit speeds at no extra charge when it becomes available in 2014, though an option for a cheaper plan requires AT&T to monitor the connection's usage.
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12/10, 12:09pm
Issues in securing funding by Gigabit Squared puts fiber network at risk
Seattle's plans to have its own gigabit Internet service may be delayed longer than expected, according to the outgoing city mayor. Mike McGinn, the current Seattle mayor being replaced at the end of the year, revealed that current attempts to get the Gigabit Squared fiber network going have allegedly been hampered by issues in securing funding for the project.
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11/21, 6:14am
Austin to go through same Fiberhood system as Kansas City
Google will be giving residents of Kansas City another chance to sign up for Google Fiber. The second chance to both the Kansas and Montana versions of Kansas City is accompanied by more details about the company's rollout to surrounding areas, as well as its fiber network construction project due to start in Austin, Texas.
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11/06, 7:53am
City drafts proposal requests for widespread fiber network rollout
Citizens of Los Angeles could receive broadband or even a gigabit connection in the future, according to new plans. The Los Angeles City Council is drafting a request for proposals from companies to develop the network, which will require "fiber to be run to every residence, every business, and every government entity within the city limits of Los Angeles."
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10/30, 2:28pm
Plan to cap speeds on fixed broadband connections stopped by German court
A court in Germany has ruled that Deutsche Telekom cannot throttle its home broadband service to a lower speed when a customer exceeds data allocations on a flat-rate package. Plans due to come into force in 2016 that would force customers down to a significantly slower connection than one they had originally paid for once they reach a data limit can no longer take place.
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10/28, 2:08pm
Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi adopted by Japan Airlines, rolls out mid-2014
Gogo's in-flight Wi-Fi is heading to Japan, with the entire Japan Airlines (JAL) fleet of domestic planes set to offer the service. The move, following Delta Airline's adoption of Gogo on its international fleet, will see all 77 JAL domestic aircraft start offering the Ku-band satellite Internet service to customers beginning in the summer of 2014, writes Engadget.
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10/20, 11:30am
Cloud-based DVR accesses free over-the-air TV channels via supported devices
Aereo, a cloud-based DVR company, has announced the upcoming availability of its television services in the Detroit metropolitan area, beginning October 28, 2013. Using web browsers, iOS devices, Android devices, and more, Aereo allows users to access 'over-the-air' television channels via an internet connection, that could once be attained with 'bunny ear' antenna over top of one's TV. Aereo's antenna are located in data centres for serviceable areas, which also include a remote DVR. Users control both with an Internet-connected device, and can view, record, pause, fast-forward and rewind as one would with a cable or satellite DVR.
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10/07, 12:50pm
Search giant teams with industry players
Google has announced that it has teamed with other tech companies, government agencies and nonprofit organizations to advocate for cheaper Internet across the globe. The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) believes policy change is necessary to encourage innovation and reach the UN Broadband Commission's goal of entry-level broadband access priced at less than five percent of monthly income worldwide.
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10/01, 7:34am
Offering free upgrades to gigabit speeds for 300Mbps subscribers
AT&T is following through with its plans to spoil Google Fiber in Austin, as it starts to deploy its own fiber network in the city and surrounding area. The 100-percent fiber Internet from the carrier will be preceded by a deployment of its U-verse with GigaPower service, complete with "more advanced TV services and features," starting this December.
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09/25, 12:32pm
Riots associated with fuel subsidies
The government of Sudan has reportedly cut off access to Internet service, as protesters continue to riot in the capital city Khartoum. Internet intelligence firm Renesys confirms that the country has been essentially disconnected from the Internet, observing a partial interruption around 10:00am UTC and a near total disconnection before 1pm UTC, according to a Washington Post report.
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09/11, 4:48pm
New system combines air-to-ground connection with satellites
Inflight Wi-Fi provider Gogo will be upping the speed of connections offered to its customers in the future, once it begins using satellites. The current Air-to-Ground system will be supplemented by satellite connections in the Gogo GTO or Ground-to-Orbit service, which could lead to passengers being able to share connections as large as 60Mbps per plane.
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08/21, 12:14pm
Technology companies working on cheaper Internet access plans
A group of technology companies have grouped together to launch a new initiative to bring Internet access to parts of the global population that do not have it. The collective, consisting of Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm, Samsung and led by Facebook, launched Internet.org and will work together on projects to provide access to those without an Internet connection.
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08/17, 8:41pm
Resolution prevents Google from using 'search' as a URL
Google has been prevented from potentially using the URL http://search in the future, thanks to a new ruling by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). A resolution from the organization prohibits the use of "dotless domain names" for web addresses, something that could considerably affect the future plans of generic top level domain (gTLD) applicants.
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08/13, 12:20pm
Box for Android introduces updates feed, offline support, multiple accounts
Cloud storage service Box has updated its Android app with a number of changes. The new updates feed in version 2.2 includes a document preview area for recently-uploaded items as well as recent activity, something viewable in the new resizable home screen widget, while offline file support has been enhanced. Multiple accounts can now be accessed in the same app, and a new navigation drawer and viewing options are also included.
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08/06, 11:16am
Plan will provide downloaders with legal content links, claims report
Comcast is said to be working on its own alternative to the Copyright Alert System (CAS) anti-piracy system, also known as "six strikes," operated by the Center for Copyright Infromation (CCI). The rumored system would see Comcast providing users identified as downloading infringing content links to buy or rent the content legally.
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08/06, 4:44am
Redbox Instant app downloadable on Roku in United States
Redbox Instant by Verizon is now available to use on the Roku set-top box. Downloadable through the Roku Channel Store and usable on Roku 3, 2, HD, and LT models as well as the Roku Streaming Stick, the Redbox service provides access to over 5,500 streaming movies and more than 1,500 movies at 43,000 Redbox kiosks. Redbox Instant with four DVD credits costs $8 per month.
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07/31, 2:53pm
Google defends Fiber server complaint with 'industry standard' response
Google has seemingly changed its mind over net neutrality, based on a response to a complaint made to the FCC. The search giant believes that it can ban servers from its Google Fiber service as it is something practiced by other Internet Service Providers, and does not go against the net neutrality rules that it has championed in the past.
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07/31, 11:16am
Change in Starbucks Wi-Fi provider to take place over next 18 months
Google has made an agreement with Starbucks to provide the coffee house chain free Wi-Fi throughout the United States. The deal, which will apply to all 7,000 branches, will allow customers to access the Internet through their tablet, notebook, or smartphone through the new connection, which is claimed to be up to ten times faster than previously available in-store.
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07/30, 5:07pm
Provides calls via home phone, acts as Wi-Fi hotspot for 10 devices
AT&T has updated its Wireless Home Phone service to include data access to the carrier's LTE network. The new service, building upon the prepaid options introduced in May, will provide a home phone service over the AT&T cellular network, similar to versions offered by Verizon, US Cellular, and Rogers, except that it will also provide its users Internet access.
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07/26, 7:44am
Chinese firm under more espionage-related scrutiny in UK government proposal
One of the adult content filtering systems being used at a large Internet service provider (ISP) in the UK has come under fire in reports, due to close ties with the Chinese government. Homesafe, the filtering system used by TalkTalk and praised by Prime Minister David Cameron in his online child protection proposal speech earlier this week, is being managed by Huawei, a company that has been accused of being a security risk by authorities in both the United Kingdom and the United states.
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07/23, 2:46pm
Adds 500Mbps download, 100Mbps upload speed tier with $310 monthly cost
Verizon is updating its FiOS broadband service with a new high-speed package for customers to buy. The new package will provide Internet users on the FiOS Quantum Internet Service a top download speed of 500 megabits per second, accompanied by an upload speed of 100 megabits per second, an increase from the previous top tier's 300Mbps download speed.
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07/22, 5:19pm
Content filters in UK to be set on by default, search engines given filtering orders
New Internet connections in the United Kingdom will have adult content filters applied to them before the end of the year, unless account holders opt out, according to Prime Minister David Cameron. The move is accompanied by a number of other similar measures, including requests for search engines to take more responsibility for filtering content, and proposed changes to existing laws.
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07/12, 10:19am
Raids of corporate offices follow complaints about Internet capacities
The offices of three major carriers in Europe have been raided by European Union officials as part of an investigation into the practice of bandwidth throttling. The headquarters of Orange, Deutsche Telekom, and Telefonica all received visits from the government officials, trying to find evidence that the three are restricting the bandwidth for companies specifically requiring such high levels.
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06/06, 3:22pm
Executive believes United States is 'a world leader' in broadband
The average American consumer does not need gigabit Internet access at this moment in time, according to the Vice President of Comcast. David Cohen claims the issue of gigabit speeds to end users is "really more about demand than supply," suggesting that high-speed Internet services such as Google Fiber are not required.
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05/08, 5:28pm
Google transparency report among first to report disconnection
Following yesterday's unexpected disappearance of Syria from the Internet, service to the war-torn country seems to be completely restored with no feared large-scale attack by the Syrian government against the rebels. Both the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency and Google's real-time reporting have demonstrated that traffic is increasing in the country.
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05/07, 11:57pm
Aldermen voted, approved proposal to bring Gigabit Fiber to area
Google has officially announced that Grandview, Missouri is next in line for the search engine-provided Gigabit Fiber Internet service. No timetable for deployment has been announced, with the company saying that "it will still be a while" before the fiber deployment begins and customers can subscribe to the services.
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05/03, 10:22am
Shawnee joins Olathe, Kansas City for Fiber rollout in state
Google is expanding the coverage of its existing gigabit Internet offering from Kansas City into another area of Kansas. The city of Shawnee, just outside of Kansas City, will gain Google Fiber in the future, and joins the high-speed connection construction waiting list alongside Olathe in the same state, Austin in Texas and Provo, Utah.
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04/29, 1:12pm
VTel charges $35 per month for gigabit Fiber connections
An Internet service provider has announced the launch of its fiber-based Internet service in the Vermont area, but this time it isn't Google. Vermont Telephone Company (VTel) has started to offer its customers gigabit Internet speeds over its new fiber optic network, and is managing to do so at half the price of Google Fiber.
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04/19, 2:59pm
Hopes to connect rural locations with unused TV spectrum
An Internet service provider based in California is offering residents connections using white spaces. Cal.net is using unallocated spectrum, left over after the transition from analog to digital television in 2009, to allow rural customers in areas without 4G LTE and land-based connections a wireless Internet connection.
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04/09, 1:22pm
Austin Gigabit Internet likely to cost same as Kansas City project
Google has officially announced it will be building its fiber Internet service in Austin, Texas. The expansion, leaked over the last few days, will see Austin become the second city after Kansas City to get the Gigabit Internet and TV service through Google Fiber, with the company hoping to "start connecting homes" to the network by mid-2014.
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03/31, 8:33pm
Messaging tools could be in violation of Saudi laws
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has issued orders to its regulatory bodies to ensure that communication tools like Skype and Whatsapp comply with the government's stringent requirements governing Internet communications. The kingdom's Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) announced last week that it had "become evident that some communication applications through (the) Internet don't meet regulatory requirements." The regulatory body did not, though, specify which laws certain apps might be violating.
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03/27, 1:33pm
Denial of service attack over spam blacklist inclusion
The Internet is reportedly slowing down due to a large-scale online attack against an anti-spam organization, with the attack itself being declared the largest public denial of service attack in history. Non-profit Spamhaus is believed to be under attack from criminal gangs based in Russia and Eastern Europe, in a dispute that has escalated to a level that other services, such as Netflix, are feeling the impact.
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03/27, 6:07am
Tourists denied Internet access, permitted long-distance calls
North Korea is stopping tourists visiting the country from accessing the Internet over 3G wireless connections, reversing what some believed was a major step forward for the secretive region. The change comes just one month after the regime opened up its digital borders, with carrier Koryolink launching its mobile Internet service for visitors, as well as international calling, texts, and MMS messaging.
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02/28, 11:28am
Fiber-to-the-home to reach 35M more households by Q4 2013
The Chinese government hopes to cover more than 70-percent of Internet users in the country with a 4M broadband service by the end of 2013. The announcement from Miao Wei, a minister working for China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is part of an initiative to increase the number of households with fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) options by over 35 million.
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02/06, 5:59am
Acquisition to give Virgin Media stronger position against Sky
British cable service provider Virgin Media has been acquired by Liberty Global. The deal, worth $23.3 billion in cash and stock, gives Liberty a bigger stake in European businesses, as well as providing both companies the chance to save around $180 million per year after regulatory and shareholder approval and the acquisition closes.
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02/04, 2:24pm
Proposal faces stiff resistance from telecommunications lobby
The Federal Communications Commission has proposed the creation of "super Wi-Fi" networks across the US. The networks, in theory would be powerful enough to allow people to access the Internet through them without needing separate coverage via a carrier, has seen a number of parties within the wireless industry lobbying against such a proposal.
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01/15, 9:42am
Increase in accessing Internet over mobile devices, tablets
Internet use in China has gone up in China, with mobile user numbers increasing in tandem. New figures in a governmental report from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) estimates that 51 million people joined the Internet in 2012, a 10-percent increase to 564 million users, a figure larger than the populations of the United States, Canada, and Mexico combined.
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12/25, 7:11pm
China policy aimed at curbing rumors, vulgarity
The Chinese Communist Party could begin requiring Chinese citizens to register their real names in order to sign up with Internet service providers. This according to a recent statement from the Party, which says that the new requirement would be aimed at cutting down on the incidence of "rumors and vulgarity." Currently, China requires that Internet service customers present providers with identity papers when signing up for service, but the new law under discussion would presumably solidify that requirement, even though how exactly it would differ from the current policy is not quite clear.
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12/24, 7:55am
Customers to receive 15Mbps connection, up from 10Mbps
Time Warner Cable has boosted connection speeds for its Standard Internet customers for no charge. The free upgrade sees connections offered going from a downstream speed of 10Mbps to 15Mbps, an increase of 50 percent, with many customers already able to use the higher speed, though some neighborhoods will still have to wait for it to be rolled out.
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12/17, 2:52pm
Residents have new deadlines to choose Fiber plans
Google has announced the next areas to get gigabit Internet access in Kansas City. Five more "fiberhoods" will see the high-speed connection rolled out in early 2013, with the search giant setting deadlines for residents requesting installation in those areas to choose their package before construction work begins.
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12/14, 7:48am
Internet governance pressure point forced withdrawl from talks
Representatives of the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom are refusing to sign a treaty relating to Internet governance. The three countries all objected to the International Telecommunications Union treaty, refusing to sign anything that would allow "all states to have equal rights to the governance of the Internet."
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12/06, 6:06am
Unanimous vote to protect current Internet regulations
The US House or Representatives has voted unanimously to keep the Internet "free from government control." The passing of a Senate resolution to oppose United Nation control of the Internet comes while the International Telecommunications Union conference, to decide the Internet's future regulation, is in progress in Dubai.
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11/30, 10:01am
Voicemail-based Twitter access re-opens amid mass disconnection
As Syria enters its second day of being cut off from the Internet, Google has reintroduced its voice-based Twitter update service, in an effort to allow Syrian users to contact the rest of the world. In collaboration with the microblogging service, Speak2Tweet lets users make a phone call to an international number, with the resulting voice recording posted on a dedicated Twitter feed.
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11/29, 11:50am
Internet, telecommunications disrupted as fighting escalates
Syria is cut off from the Internet, according to an access monitoring firm, in what is being seen as a bid for censorship by the local government. All 84 of Syria's IP address blocks are currently unreachable, "effectively removing the country from the Internet," and appears to be linked to the current battle between the country's armed forces and Syrian rebels.
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11/25, 5:47pm
Failed registrations face 20-percent loss of application fee
Objections have been made to a number of generic top-level domain (gTLD) applications. The ICANN Government Advisory Committee, consisting of 50 countries, has posted an initial list of 250 objections where member countries claim there to be an issue with the gTLDs being registered. Rejected applications will receive 80-percent of their $185,000 application fee.
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10/03, 9:36am
Wi-Fi cost passed from customer to retail store
Skype is offering free Wi-Fi access across the UK and Ireland through its app. A deal signed with hotspot provider Wicoms will let customers connect at no charge at various “high street venues and businesses” across the country, in a move that sees the service offer free Internet connectivity for far longer than previous short-term special events, such as in New York City during New Year's Eve.
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09/27, 2:33pm
Survey results suggest reversal of user numbers
Televisions are the primary screen for viewing free and paid video streamed from the Internet, according to the NPD. A recent survey suggests that 45-percent of Americans primarily use their TVs for online streaming, while 31-percent used personal computers instead. This is the first time that the TV has overtaken computers for web-based video.
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09/16, 6:53pm
Low bandwidth caps, high excess charges hurting users
Broadband caps in Canada are too low and too costly, according to a Netflix executive. Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos called out the Canadian Internet service providers at the Merrill Lynch Media, Communications and Entertainment conference earlier this week, echoing other bandwidth-related comments against the country's ISPs earlier this year.
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09/10, 9:15am
Quarter of targets hit in last 36 hours
Most neighborhoods in the initial Google Fiber cities have met their pre-registration targets. At least 180 of the 202 "fiberhoods" defined by Google in both Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri, have signed up enough households for the high-speed Gigabit Internet service to be switched on, with only one fiberhood showing no interest whatsoever.
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08/22, 3:52pm
Internet connection between countries seen as politically significant
Data has been sent over a pair of undersea fiber optic cables between China and Taiwan. Traffic between the two countries flowed through the cables for four minutes as part of a completion ceremony, with some commentators suggesting the first data connection between the two countries as having some political significance.
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