political

Bushies say broadband is doing great

Presidential advisors convened a reporter's round table in Washington today to point out that the administration is doing just peachy in its goal of getting broadband to the masses. Broadband subscriber numbers are growing faster than color TVs or VCRs at a similar point after their introductions, said Phil Bond, undersecretary of commerce for technology.

That??s campaign talk. It's a stretch to say that Bush has anything to do with this, and ?? to be fair ?? he'd probably agree. His strategy is to get out of the way of the market, and so essentially he's saying … Read more

Or maybe DSL is doing just fine, thanks?

Slice the numbers how you like, folks. TheStreet.com says DSL gains are slowing. The IHT today says DSL subscriptions are speeding up compared to cable. Maybe this is one of those expectations things. After a long time lagging miserably, DSL started booming, and now is falling back slightly to where it should have been all along, if the big phone companies hadn't been slow off the mark.

But stay tuned for when all the quarterly numbers come in. And keep your eyes on advanced projects, like Comcast's 6mbps and Verizon's Fios fiber optics. I want 30mbps … Read more

Korea also the top source for phishers

Jim R. points out that South Korea's broadband boom comes with a price ?? it's also the world capital for phishing, or emails that pretend to be legitimate while trying to steal personal information. According to a new study reported by MSNBC, 20 percent of these con-mails are hosted by sites in Korea.

Getting the Latino vote

An interesting study came out today. Latinos in the U.S. prefer DSL over cable by a 3-to-1 margin, according to market research firm Horowitz Associates.

Why Latinos prefer DSL wasn't answered in this study. But this is the first study on broadband and ethnicity that I've stumbled upon since I started covering the industry more than a year ago.

This study interested me because big media companies have steadily changed their entertainment investments towards ethnic groups. Who would've thought a movie about a Korean and an Indian stoner looking for a munchie fix in the badlands … Read more

Where's this roller coaster going?

Here's my issue with Time Warner: How the heck to you judge whether it's broadband businesses are on the right track?

First there's Time Warner Cable, which runs a broadband ISP called Road Runner. The service added 127,000 new customers last quarter for a total of 3.5 million. That still makes Road Runner the second largest cable broadband ISP after Comcast. But take a closer look. Last quarter's gains were less than the 170,00 added during Q2 last year and the 193,000 added during the previous quarter.

Then there's AOL. The … Read more

Broadband utopia in Korea

It's always dangerous to look at a snapshot of history and draw conclusions, but it sure looks today like South Korea is doing something right on broadband. With a mix of government spending, pro-competition regulatory policies, and an intense public focus on why broadband is important to the country, Korea has left the U.S. in the dust. More than seventy percent of Internet households there have broadband, making dial-up a relative rarity, and when they say broadband they're more likely to mean 8 mpbs to 20 mbps than our paltry DSL or cable speeds.

Of course, there … Read more

DSL gains slowing down?

TheStreet.com reports that DSL subscriber growth from the big phone companies has been slower than expected over the last quarter . That softness is room for optimism for cable investors (or executives), analysts say. Cable companies' numbers will come soon, with Comcast reporting on Wednesday.

Freedom Broadband, or the French way

French regulators have approved a cut in broadband prices to 20 euros (about $26) for 2 mpbs, in order to "accelerate the development of high-speed infrastructures and improve coverage in rural areas." Many Americans would call this heavy-handed, and indeed, France has been well behind the US?? and even the rest of the EU -- in broadband penetration. They were late to the Internet, since they got a little stuck on the proprietary Minitel system for too long.

Faster than a speeding gamer?

Time Warner and Road Runner say they'll be rolling out a 6 mbps cable modem service in most of the company's 31 operating areas. That's a pittance next to the 15 mpbs or even 30 mpbs "Fios" service that Verizon will be offering over its new fiber optic cables, but I'm not gonna sneeze at it either.

Road Runner says it's aiming the service at gamers and other power users, and will be charging between $65 and $85 month, depending on whether you also subscribe to voice and cable TV services. That makes … Read more

Broadband hits the mainstream

You know broadband has hit the mainstream when you can get service in my hometown of Lewes, Delaware.

With a population of 3,000, Lewes (pronounced with two syllables like Lew-is) is a small beach community at the mouth of the Delaware River. It's a sleepy town for nine months of the year, and bursts to life in the summer. With super low property taxes and no sales tax, Delaware and Lewes in particular have become a haven for retirees.

Two years ago, most people in the community had no clue there was any other way to connect to … Read more