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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

Democrats tout broadband support

PC World teases out the little bit of tech in the Democratic Party's convention platform. It includes a brief mention of support for universal access to broadband .

Both Bush and Kerry have said more on the issue. Bush is betting on streamlining regulations and continued tax-free access to reach universal access by 2007. Kerry goes a little farther, advocating 20 percent tax credits for companies that invest in next generation networks.

My phone also does dishes

Hewlett-Packard and T-Mobile will distribute a new version of the iPaq handheld that can bounce back and forth between cellular and Wi-Fi networks. It's a phone, it's a camera, it's an MP3 player, and it can leap tall buildings in a single bound.

I have mixed feelings about all-in-one devices . None of them are going to make me throw away my digital camera or my MP3 player, at least not yet. But the network-switching function is a step forward. I use my cell phone at least half the time at home (since I don't use a … Read more

Broadband for sports nuts

I'm a fantasy sports addict. There, I said it.

I'm not sure why it's so addictive because, from an objective point of view, it's really geeky. You get a bunch of friends, sit around for three hours and draft real-life players onto your fantasy team. Then you compete against your friends to see whose team can compile the best scores based on the real-life statistics. Add in doses of trash-talking, taunting, elevated pride and burnt egos, and you get the idea of why there are 7 million fantasy sports players in the United States.

Broadband exacerbates … Read more

Do we have any idea what we're doing?

You tell us. This blog, as much as this package, is an experiment. Throughout much of this year, News.com is highlighting critical technology issues that are playing into electoral politics. Broadband is one of those, and you can see the results here over the next few days. We've spent a lot of time looking at the issues, talking to experts and policymakers, and we're taking an unusual step for us, backing a few policies we think would help broadband expand. More about that Tuesday, when that story goes live.

But this blog is an experiment too. We … Read more