Category Archives: News

News articles about UTOPIA from around the country and around the world.

FTC Excuses Itself from the Net Neutrality Debate

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In a move that sounded a lot like a collective "not my job, not my problem," the FTC decided to downplay network neutrality concerns and get itself onto solid, er, neutral ground. In a recently released report, the FTC chose to take no position on network neutrality and downplayed it as not really being all that important. In the process, they urged legislators to move with caution on the issue. Even though this doesn't outright cave in to the wants of the telcos, they'd all prefer the status quo of ambiguity so they can quietly start enacting their own two-tier Internet and deny they're up to anything.

Users of UTOPIA and iProvo, however, have little to fear. Both systems have built-in network neutrality requirements for all providers, so you're not going to face the possibility of having to pay for some kind of "premium" tier to get your BitTorrent on.

(See full articles here, here, here, here, here and here.)

Illinois Joins the Ranks of the Crazy, Allows Statewide Franchising

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Despite a few concessions calling for compensation for missed/late appointments, limiting service contracts to one year and requiring some deployment to poorer neighborhoods, Illinois pretty much handed the telecom industry a license to cherry-pick service areas with little in return. This bill, more-or-less purchased outright by AT&T, is the latest in a dose of crazy talk that gives a lying and monopolistic industry free reign to bypass cities it doesn't feel like serving and bring benefits only to wealthy and upper-middle class neighborhoods while bypassing "less desirable" areas. Aside from the minor concessions, the silver lining is that municipalities are allowed to build their own networks, potentially filling the gap left in AT&T's wake.

Utah recently made a narrow escape from the lunacy of state-wide franchising when SB 209 stalled in the last hours of the 2007 legislative session. It did pass the Senate, however, so it's important you make sure that your representatives in the Senate and House know that you don't want state-wide franchising in Utah. Not only would poorer areas like Rose Park be completely bypassed, but rural towns would also receive little to no benefit.

(See full articles here and here.)

FCC Warm to "Dumb Networks", Universal Access

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In comments at a recent telecom conference, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin emphasized the importance of universal access to broadband connections as well as the role of "dumb networks" in ensuring network neutrality. "Dumb networks" are a lot like the wholesale fiber networks offered by UTOPIA or iProvo where retail and wholesale operations are not operated by the same entity. Even amidst these glimmers of hope, Martin made sure he was playing to the audience of big telcos by taking a wishy-washy stance on local franchising and the upcoming 700MHz spectrum auction.

Not everyone in the FCC is content to sit out the spectrum fight. FCC Commissioner Adelstein has openly voiced support for using the 700MHz spectrum to form an open wireless network that anyone can build on top of. With such a heavyweight behind the idea of divorcing wholesale and retail broadband, television and telephone operations, it's entirely possible that the next six months could yield a major win for real competition in these spaces and provide much better service than what we've been stuck with.

Blogger Susan Crawford isn't so optimistic. She's rightfully ticked off at the abuses heaped on us by incumbents and contends that it will take nothing short of a change of leadership in both the FCC and Congress to facilitate change. Here's to hoping she's wrong. 

(See full articles here, here and here.)

Cablevision, Verizon Promise Lots of HD

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In the mounting war of who can provide the most HD, Cablevision says it'll be rolling out capacity for up to 500 channels of high-def programming by the end of the year. Not to be outdone, Verizon is poised to offer it on-demand through its FIOS network. Verizon, however, actually has the capacity to deliver on its claims. The advanced fiber network offers a peak of 14400Gbps of bandwidth compared to just 4Gbps for coaxial cable, the kind that Cablevision is employing on the last mile. There's also a lack of HD programming that will be available to cable and satellite operators as broadcasters continue to drag their feet on switching away from old analog signals.

This isn't the only major payoff Verizon is seeing from sinking tons of money into next-generation infrastructure. The company also plans to drop fat sacks full of cash money on upgraded EVDO gear to provide the fastest wireless speeds possible, a move Sprint has already started. The new network that Verizon is building is going to make markets they serve competitive with offerings in Korea and Japan while crushing competitors that refuse to pony up to play the next-gen network game. (Hey AT&T? I'm talking about you.)

Of course, this brings up a disturbing picture. While Verizon is competing better than anyone else and delivering the kinds of products we were supposed to have had by last year, the pricing commands a hefty premium with the top-grade FIOS service running a whopping $180/mo while failing to deliver symmetrical speeds. With the massive consolidation in the telecommunications sector and the increasing cost of mounting competitive challenges, we might end up getting right back to where we were 25 years ago with the Bell monopoly. New competitors like OEN are offering speeds and prices about comparable with what Verizon offers (though largely in different markets), so I'm not optimistic that new entrants are going to bring prices in check.

(See full articles here, here, here, here and here.)

AT&T Using Piracy as an Excuse to Bypass Net Neutrality

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In a move filled with more spin than a merry-go-round testing facility, AT&T has claimed that it has the right to restrict or block certain kinds of traffic in an effort to curb online piracy. This has a huge potential effect since AT&T controls most major markets in over 30 states after gobbling up SBC and BellSouth. Not only is network neutrality up in the air, but they also risk losing common carrier status and safe harbor protections, opening them up to lawsuits and liability the likes of which a telecom provider has never seen.

If AT&T gets sued into bankruptcy, we risk putting half of the nation's phone lines at risk of financial ruin. Indeed, it appears to be willing to bet the whole farm on being able to charge all kinds of extra fees for using their "tubes" in any way you wish. Apparently Ed left a lot of crazy behind when he was replaced as CEO.

(See full article here.) 

Spanish Fork's SFCN Rolling in Dough

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Spanish Fork reported that their municipal network is going to turn a $275,000 profit for fiscal year 2008, a stark contrast to the red ink bled by iProvo. What's Spanish Fork's secret? For starters, they decided on a less expensive HFC network as opposed to FTTP, a choice that saved money now but sacrifices some expandability in the future. SFCN also has a very high participation rate with over 70% of households subscribing to Internet, television or both. Because there were no other broadband choices when SFCN was built, they got the "first to market" advantage. The city operates both the wholesale and retail portions of the network because they built it before the law prohibited cities from being retailers. With the money they're putting in the bank on this one, it's only a matter of time before they'll expand the fiber all the way to the home.

(See full article here.)

Comcast Pulling Bait-and-Switch on HDTV, Phone Users

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Comcast is pulling fast ones with customer again, this time by making them subscribe to more service than they need. Users in the Bay Area are being told that they will be forced to migrate from $16.50/mo plans to a new $44.95/mo plan starting in just a few months. This is contrary to what they had been told up until this point.

Another Bay Area Comcast subscriber is enraged because her HD channels were taken away from her unless she subscribed to a significantly more costly tier of programming. This came without any warning whatsoever and took several phone calls to get sorted out. The end result? They wanted to grab an extra $50/mo for her to retain the level of service she'd had for two years. Of course you can't do anything when they've got you over a barrel like that. What're you gonna do? Switch to Dish?

(See full articles here and here.) 

AT&T Offers $10 DSL

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That's no misprint: as part of the conditions for buying out BellSouth, AT&T is offering up DSL for the price of dial-up. The service weighs in at a featherweight 768K down, 128K up and will be $5/mo more expensive in states not formerly served by BellSouth. AT&T will be chipping in a modem and will require a one-year commitment for service.

Naturally, AT&T hasn't exactly been shouting from the rooftops about this fire sale on broadband. Consumers have complained that they've had a hard time finding a link on their website to the plan which is limiting subscriptions. Not exactly complying in good faith, is it?

(See full articles here, here, here, here and here.) 

Palo Alto Mulls Fiber

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Palo Alto is reconsidering plans to build a FTTH network in its city after stalling for several years. Several years after the initial pilot project to a handful of homes, the council voted to continue negotiations with the winning bidder for the project. It's unclear if the network would be retail or wholesale, but my discussion with some residents seems to indicate they're in favor of a wholesale network. That said, some basic city services seem to be lacking adequate funding and there are numerous cost concerns, leading me to think this is not likely to happen for a few more years.

(See full article here.) 

Aussies to Get Universal Broadband Coverage

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Australia announced that they're sick and tired of lacking decent broadband and they aren't going to take it anymore. Prime Minister John Howard unveiled a $1.68B US plan to deploy fiber and wireless connections to 99% of Australians with a minimum speed of 12Mbps. The wireless portion, which would serve rural areas, is expected to be able to ramp up to 70Mbps while urban areas will be connected via fiber optics with an initial speed of 50Mbps. Some members of the opposing Labour Party want to do a full-on fiber network to everyone… at a cost nearly triple the current proposition on the table. Sounds like Australia gets it when it comes to broadband policy.

(See full articles here and here.)