Comcast Show Off 1GB and 100Mbps Services! Not that you can buy them ...: [16th Jun 2011]

Despite caps being put on data usage by providers, the companies involved are still showing that they can offer faster services. Comcast is due to demonstrate a 1Gb service this week at the Cable Trade Show. In addition they will show a service which has upload and download speeds of 100Mbps. This symmetrical service could be useful for businesses. However it has been pointed out that these services may not reach customers for some time.

The Broadband Affordability Act has been introduced this week. It is aimed to ensure that low income households in the US will always have access to the Internet. Congresswoman Doris Matsui introduced the bill. It was found recently that 28 millions Americans do not have access to the Internet because they cannot afford to do so. This legislation will create a Broadband Lifeline Assistance program which will make the service more affordable. Each low income household will be eligible for one grant under this legislation. The FCC will also be required to monitor the service and the speed which is offered.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that LightSquared has won approval to award Sprint another part of its spectrum. Sprint will be paid a cash contribution plus access to LightSquared spectrum in return for the smaller carrier having the right to use the Sprint network. It has been suggested that around $2 billion will be paid to Sprint each year to lease their 40,000 base stations. However LightSquared still need to fix their problems related to their services interfering with GPS signals. In fact it has been found that their signals interfere with GPS from as far as 22 miles away. After recent tests LightSquared has submitted a report to the FCC which shows that serious problems still remain. The GPS industry has said that the proposed filters and blockers which LightSquared hope to use to fix the problem are unlikely to work. It has been suggested that simply moving the transmissions to a different frequency would be enough to cure the problems, but it looks as though the 2012 launch of the services may be delayed.

A Canadian BitTorrent user has been fined $60,000 by a US District Court judge. He was asked to pay damages for sharing two films on a BitTorrent tracker. Several lawsuits have taken place over the past year against those who use this site. In this case the BitTorrent tracker gave out the details of the user allowing them to be charged. This is despite the fact that it is not required by law for a tracker such as this to hand over such details. The defendant was charged with copyright infringement and his fine was higher than any other which has been given out so far. The Canadian authorities have pointed out that the country is a signatory to international copyright treaties and that the border between the US and Canada does not protect them from litigation.

AT&T announced this week that they will be the exclusive provider for the new Playstation Vita and the news was not received well by the crowd at the showcase in Los Angeles. The event helped to launch E3 which highlights the new games and consoles which are due to be released. However the video games professional who attended the meeting were not happy about the exclusive deal. It has been pointed out that currently Verizon are the largest carrier in the US and should have gotten the deal. Also the track record of AT&T in terms of their customer satisfaction rate does not bode well for Playstation gamers.