New Wifi Reading Systems Allow Theives to Know When You Are Out - 01.11.12: A researcher from the University of South Carolina in Columbia has suggested that wi-fi meters which measure the amount of gas, water and electricity used in the home may be causing security issues for homeowners. Ishtaq Rouf says that the devices broadcast a reading every thirty secon...


45% of US Wireless Firms Foreign Owned - 25.10.12: It has emerged that almost half (45%) of the US wireless market in now owned by companies with a foreign interest. This news follows the acquisition of Sprint by Japanese company Softbank who now own 70% of the provider, the 45% stake in Verizon Wireless by Vodafone and the ownership o...


China-Based Broadband and Technology Company Huawei Already Banned in Canada and Australia - 19.10.12: Chinese broadband and technology company Huawei is likely to face restrictions on trading in the US because it is deemed to be a security threat. It has been suggested that technology coming from the company could be used to spy on the US because of links between Huawei and the Chinese...


Broadband Caps on the Increase but FCC's Oversight is Lacking - 07.10.12: Despite the increased use of broadband caps by Internet providers, the FCC has been accused of failing to oversee how they are implemented and who they are affecting. 64% of US broadband users have some sort of broadband cap on their data usage, however the FCC have only been looking i...


Lack of Competition Between Telecoms Providers Being Addressed in Las Vegas - 30.09.12: A conference held in Las Vegas this week has seen more than 100 small rural telecoms companies join together with T-mobile, Clearwire and Sprint to make it clear that they want regulators in the US to improve competition in the telecoms market. The Competitive Carrier Association has j...


Apple FaceTime Restrictions from AT&T Cause Net Neutrality Accusations - 19.09.12: It has emerged that AT&T could be facing a formal complaint for violating net neutrality rules. Three public interest groups, Public Knowledge, Foundations Open Technology and Free Press have argued that AT&T's decision to offer Apple FaceTime at no extra charge only to Mobile Share pa...


Verizon's Adverts Criticised over Misleading Claims About Shared Connections - 12.09.12: The Council of Better Business Bureaus' National Advertising Division has recommended that Verizon should alter the content of some of their TV ads after complaints from Comcast. The ads claimed that FiOS is faster than cable Internet because cable is a shared connection. The Bureau al...


Is It Time to Move to a Better Television? - 06.09.12: It is no secret that the quality of television sets has increased dramatically in recent years. In fact, the range of brilliant models which now cost reasonable prices means that choosing the right one now takes a bit more time and effort than ever before. However, it is well worth ta...


Lightsquared Say Executives Need $6million to Stay with the Bankrupt Company - 05.09.12: Despite serious money problems, LightSquared has announced that in order to keep four of their top executives with the company they would like to give them nearly $6 million in bonuses. In recent months, LightSquared has filed for bankruptcy which cost in excess of $134 million so far....


Google's Entry in to Broadband Services Could Spur Better Speed from older Providers - 29.08.12: Time Warner Cable seem to be hitting back at Google by announcing that they will be boosting the Internet speeds of New York subscribers' fiber optic lines. This will result in speeds which are 20 times faster than they are currently. TWC is the second largest cable company in the US a...


The Financials of Google's Fiber Optic Broadband Service in Kansas Raises Questions - 22.08.12: Fiber broadband experts are suggesting that Google may be overspending on building their 1GB network and that they could ultimately lose money. They point out that users can get similar speeds via wi-fi or DSL and will not need to spend as much to get it. So far, Google has limited its...


Verizon Launches LTE Broadband Service for Underserved Areas - 15.08.12: Verizon has launched a new LTE based broadband service called HomeFusion Broadband designed for those homes which have not had access to reliable high speed Internet. Those who subscribe will be able to expect an average of between 5Mb and 12Mb which is a similar speed to those availab...


Kansas Finally Receives Google's Promised Fiber Optic Internet Service - 01.08.12: After a long wait Google has finally officially launched their Google Fiber service in Kansas City. The 1GB service is the fastest available in the US and outstrips by some margin the average US speed of around 5Mb. At a press conference where they announced the launch, Google demonstr...


Kindle from Amazon No Longer Unlimited Usage - 25.07.12: Users of the Kindle from Amazon are about to have their Internet usage limited. The Kindle with a 3G connection usually offers free and unlimited mobile broadband and customers have access to the Internet via a browser when they are out of wi-fi reach. However Amazon have now said that...


Geotel Communications Lets the Public See Part of Their Work - 18.07.12: Telecoms data company Geotel Communications has released a map of the Internet showing where the worldwide fiber optic cables and geographic informations systems run. It shows that for the most part, fiber optics run under the largest oceans in the world and the map gives a visual repr...


1.3million Data Requests Made by Government to Sprint & Other Mobile Networks - 11.07.12: The congressman Ed Markey has been running a campaign of letter writing to mobile carriers asking them if and how many times they have handed over user information to the government. This week he received details which showed that there were 1.3 million requests made by the government ...


4GB a Month the Minimum Needed for Video Streaming on your Phone - 04.07.12: Verizon has warned smartphone users that if they want to use their phones for watching streamed video content, they should purchase at least 4GB of data per month. The Verizon Wireless national manager Brian Malina said that watching video is where the data use grows and if watching vi...


Comcast Stops Being So Helpful to Lawsuit-Happy Media Industry - 27.06.12: A District Court judge has agreed that Comcast does not have to reveal the names of their subscribers who used their network to download porn illegally. Four subpoenas had been filed by an adult film company to get the names and details of 88 subscribers who had used BitTorrent to rece...


Microsoft's Surface Tablet Wi-Fi Only Option - 20.06.12: The new Surface Tablet which is due to be released by Microsoft soon will not run on wireless broadband connections, but only on wi-fi. It seems that recent research has indicated that tablet buyers are not concerned with having a wireless broadband connection and are happy to use wi-f...


Verizon Complains About Comcast Potentially Misleading Claims - 13.06.12: A complaint filed by Verizon has led to a ruling by the Council of Better Business Bureaus' National Advertising Division that Comcast will need to pull their ad which claims their Xfinity service is the "fastest in the nation". However it was agreed that Comcast can claim to be one of...


The New Internet Protocol IPv6 Roll Out Underway. But Keep it Quiet ... - 06.06.12: Many Internet providers and others have proclaimed the June 6 to be "World Ipv6 Day" in celebration of the introduction of the new Internet protocol. Comcast and AT&T are among other companies which have said they want to encourage other providers and web companies to prepare for and e...


Like to Fast Forward Adverts? The Providers Are On To You! - 30.05.12: As a response to the technology which allows television watchers to automatically skip over ads, Comcast is working on new technology which will place another advertisement in the middle of the screen while the ads are fast-forwarded. A patent has been issued by Comcast for the device ...


Google's Fibre Optic Network Availability Date Uncertain - 23.05.12: It seems that Google is once again delaying the schedule for its high speed broadband service. Kansas City was chosen to be the one US city which would get the ultra fast broadband service from Google. However this was more than one year ago and since then residents have been able to s...


Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Customer Satisfaction Scores - 16.05.12: A study released this week has revealed that the big four wireless providers are all very similar when it comes to customer satisfaction. The American Customer Satisfaction Index showed that Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon were within two points of each other in the ratings. This is...


Easier Hotpost Access & Connection a Draw for Customers - 09.05.12: A survey from the Wi-Fi Alliance released this week has shown that smartphone and tablet users want a seamless wi-fi connection when they are out and about. 90% of those questioned said that they would stay with their service provider if they could co...


Apple ISP on the way? - 02.05.12: It has been suggested that Apple may be the next company to provide broadband services in addition to their other core business. It has been predicted that the company will be providing mobile phone services to its customer base by industry analyst Whitey Bluestein. It is thought that ...


Google Doesn't Like Websites That Try to Rank Well - 25.04.12: Google has announced this week that they are making some changes to their search engine to penalize over optimization and favor websites with high quality content. They have said that websites which do not keep to their current quality guidelines will be punished. This new system will ...


20% of US Adults Feel the Internet is Irrelevant - 18.04.12: A new Pew report has shown that one in five US adults does not use the Internet and half of these say the reason is because they don't think it is very relevant to them. These people say that they do not need to go online to find out the information they need or to communicate with oth...


Verizon and AT&T Want Out of 99-Year Deal - 11.04.12: Despite the fact that having access to a landline in all US homes is a legal right, it is possible that this right may be taken away if AT&T and Verizon have their way. The two phone providers are wanting to end their 99 year contract to be "the provider of last resort" as they say tha...


USA Ranked 16th for Broadband Speed & Price - 04.04.12: The US has been ranked 16th in the world in terms of broadband penetration, speed and price. This poor performance puts the US behind countries like Portugal, Belgium and Denmark who enjoy cheaper and more reliable broadband at faster speeds. Experts are blaming the lack of proper comp...


Broadband Adoption Rates Still Flat-lining - 28.03.12: A study by TechNet has discovered that smartphone use in the US has risen dramatically in the past 3 years while broadband adoption rates have flattened. TechNet has called on the government to encourage broadband adoption by improving the number of programs available especially for th...


(Previously-wrong) Analyst Warns of Sprint Bankruptcy - 21.03.12: It has been announced by the analyst Craig Moffett from Sanford Bernstein that Sprint may be facing the real threat of bankruptcy. It is thought that the reasons behind this extraordinary announcement may be the high cost the company had to pay to offer the iPhone and the cost of their...


"Homeless Hotspots" in Austin Using Mi-Fi - 14.03.12: An ad agency has been criticized for using homeless people to be human wi-fi hotspots at a festival in Austin. The initiative called "Homeless Hotspots" is being described as a charitable experiment by the marketing firm, Bartle Bogle Hegarty. They have joined together with Front Steps...


Verizon Claims They Don't Have Enough Room to Grow - 07.03.12: Verizon is once again claiming that they do not have enough spectrum in a bid to get acceptance for their deal with the cable industry. In a letter to the FCC, Verizon has said that they expect to run out of spectrum in 2015, but they have not included any data in the public submission...


AT&T Terms & Conditions Don't Stop Small Claims Action - 29.02.12: An unemployed truck driver and student has taken AT&T to court over the throttling of his data services and he has won. Matt Spaccarelli was awarded $850 by the small claims court judge who said that it was unfair for the company to slow down his iPhone when he was sold an unlimited da...


Mobile Broadband Usage up again over Hardline Usage - 22.02.12: A report from mobile service optimization company Allot Communications has shown that mobile broadband traffic grew by 83% during the second half of 2011, while video streaming traffic increased by 88%. This type of broadband usage is taking up 42% of all global bandwidth with YouTube ...


AT&T Throttling Data for "Unlimited" Users - 15.02.12: AT&T have responded to claims (reported last week) that they are throttling their customers despite them being on "unlimited" plans. Customers had complained that they are being throttled when their usage hits 2GB each month and it is believed that this has been done to "encourage" the...


AT&T Technicians Recieve CPR Training - 08.02.12: A technician who works for AT&T has recently saved the life of a baby during an installation visit. Andrel Reid was in a customers home when the baby of the owner started to choke. He had been taught during his training how to save the baby and was able to stop the choking using back t...


Majority of the Country's Telecoms Owned by One Man - 01.02.12: It has been revealed that Mexicans are routinely being overcharged for their broadband services because of a lack of competition in the local market. It has been estimated that around $13 billion each year is spent on phone and Internet services over and above what should be spent. The...


Having Won the Competition for New Speed, Kansas City Slow Things Down - 25.01.12: It has emerged that Google has run run into problems as it tries to install its 1GB fiber network in Kansas City. According to sources there has been some debate over the position of lines and the pole fiber connection rates. While these red tape issues are often faced by ISPs, it was ...

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