Broadband Over Powerline last mile - more hype than hope fiercetelecom.com
Cablevision, Verizon Still Bickering Over Broadband Claims; Telco Says MSO's Latest Ad Citing FCC Speed Data Is Misleading multichannel.com
The 4 biggest reecird companes sue the Irish government over music piracy siliconrepublic.com
Why Best Buy is Dying, or Retail Reinvented... Again huffingtonpost.com
BrightHouse lights up Florida WiFi lightreading.com
Renewed calls by lawmakers for investigation into Carrier IQ and similar software's privacy issues networkworld.com
Google pleads for more unlicensed spectrum instead of auctions networkworld.com
Telcos Ask FCC to Reconsider USF Reform Proposal; Reform Order Already Faces Court Challenges from AT&T, NTCA multichannel.com
MPAA attacks popular tech site Ars Technica for 'challenging efforts to curb content theft' arstechnica.com
All future Verizon smartphones will have 4G LTE bgr.com
Lightower lights up 40G and 100G commercial fiber services fiercetelecom.com
Charge your phone with new gizmo and about a tablespoon of water physorg.com
Target confirms bringing dedicated Apple Stores to 25 of its locations macrumors.com
Company combines MoCA and WiFi in new adapters fiercebroadbandwireless.com
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Thursday Evening Links -
Posted: January 12th, 2012, 4:03pm MST
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Falcone Meets With FCC About LightSquared - Hoping to Expedite Government Approval Process
Posted: January 12th, 2012, 1:19pm MST
LightSquared's primary backer, hedge fund billionaire Philip Falcone, last week met with FCC officials in the hopes of expediting government approval of the LightSquared network in the face of continued political opposition and concerns about GPS interference. "We discussed various alternative technical solutions that will effectively and economically allow GPS devices to work as intended, and still allow the deployment of the LightSquared network," the company said in a filing. Recently things have started looking more troubled for LightSquared, with the company running out of money and primary financial backer Phillip Falcone facing a potential SEC investigation for securities fraud.
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Cable Could Get FTTH-Esque Leg Room With EPoC - Could Offer Symmetrical 10 Gbps Over Coax
Posted: January 12th, 2012, 11:31am MST
The debate for cable operators has long centered about when and if they'll ultimately have to deploy fiber to the home as coaxial cable starts to run out of leg room. For most carriers this has yet to be a problem (particularly as upstream bonding gets established), and a new standard may help them delay that move a little longer, if not indefinitely.
A new Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard dubbed EPON-over-Coax (EPoC) is just getting developed, and could offer symmetrical 10 Gbps speeds over hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) networks. The standard however has numerous architectural hurdles to leap before creation, including to OFDM or not to OFDM:EPoC could begin to steer cable away from its traditional QAM modulation schemes, and this part of the discussion is expected to be among the most hotly debated as engineers mull ways to modulate Ethernet on coax efficiently. One idea that will get much attention is orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), a scheme popular in the wireless world that could help cable pump out more bits per hertz than they do today with QAM, says Shane Eleniak, vice president of advanced broadband solutions at CommScope.
If all goes well, the standard could take about three years to complete, which in IEEE's world likely means 2020 or so.
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T-Mobile: HSPA+ 42 Now in 175 Markets - HSPA+ 21 Now in 217 Markets, Covering 200 Million
Posted: January 12th, 2012, 9:59am MST
While T-Mobile may be in no rush to make the jump to LTE, the company continues to push out their HSPA+ 42 upgrades to numerous additional markets. According to a T-Mobile announcement, the company is now offering faster 4G (HSPA+ 42) service to twelve additional markets, bringing their total to 184 million Americans in 175 markets. T-Mobile says their slightly-slower (HSPA+ 21) network now reaches nine additional markets, covering a total of 217 markets and more than 200 million potential customers. While HSPA+ 42 is theoretically capable of 42 Mbps in perfect lab conditions, real world downstream speeds post-upgrade tend to be closer to the 10-12 Mbps mark.
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Did Comcast Just Admit They Can't Comply With SOPA? - DNSSEC Upgrades Likely Wouldn't Work With DNS Filters
Posted: January 12th, 2012, 7:05am MST
Yesterday we pointed out how Comcast had finished DNSSEC upgrades -- a very good thing in that it adds a layer of protection for users against DNS cache poisoning and phishing scams. We also noted that an added perk of the upgrades was that Comcast could no longer engage in DNS redirection, a practice whereby ISPs generate additional revenue by sending users who mistype URLs to ad-laden search portals -- instead of delivering a page-not-found result. The practice for years has annoyed some of our resident 'net purists, who argue it breaks key Internet functionality and some networking tools.
Mike Masnick at Techdirt raises an interesting point, noting that by acknowledging that DNSSEC and DNS redirection aren't compatible, they're effectively admitting that they cannot effectively use DNS filters to block websites as will be directed should the controversial SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) pass:Just as NBC Universal and other SOPA supporters continue to insist that DNS redirect is completely compatible with DNSSEC... Comcast (and official SOPA/PIPA supporter) has rolled out DNSSEC, urged others to roll out DNSSEC and turned off its own DNS redirect system, stating clearly that DNS redirect is incompatible with DNSSEC, if you want to keep people secure. In the end, this certainly appears to suggest that Comcast is admitting that it cannot comply with SOPA/PIPA, even as the very same company is advocating for those laws.
Granted the debate continues as to whether ISPs could find some other way to filter content deemed unacceptable by our entertainment industry overlords, and some of the discussion on whether ISPs can effectively filter DNS results has even some lifetime DNS experts arguing among themselves. That's in contrast to the folks in Congress writing and editing SOPA at the entertainment industry's behest, who have shown repeatedly they don't have the foggiest idea about the technology they're trying to regulate.
Comcast engineers are just doing their jobs and likely wouldn't want to wade into this particular firestorm, though we'd still love to hear their thoughts below (anonymously, if necessary).
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Google Embeds OnLive Game Service in GoogleTV - Vizio Will be First to Market With Embedded Products
Posted: January 12th, 2012, 6:37am MST
Despite a fairly luke-warm initial response, Google isn't giving up on their Google TV platform, today unveiling a new effort that will involve pre-loading the OnLive streaming game service on all Google TV devices. OnLive delivers access to a growing catalog of games, streamed to your home while the heavy graphical lifting is done on the server end. According to the Google TV blog, right now users can only download the OnLive Viewer app -- allowing them to watch other people enjoying themselves playing games. But OnLive will soon be embedded in all Google TV devices allowing full game play, with Vizio being the first out of the gate with new products.
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Dish CEO Denies Sale Rumors - Insists Focus is on Building LTE Network
Posted: January 12th, 2012, 6:15am MST
Speaking at CES this week Dish Network CEO Joe Clayton said the company is open to all options when it comes to finding partners for their nationwide LTE network ambitions, but that the company has no plans to sell the company or its assets. Dish found itself at the center of rumors that the company could be sold to AT&T, as part of a press and Wall Street narrative insisting that AT&T need to buy somebody on the heels of the failed T-Mobile deal -- just because. Dish says they can have their new LTE network (supposedly branded "Ollo") three years after getting FCC regulatory approval.
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Verizon's Nonsensical LG TV FiOS Offer - 26 Lower-Quality Streams Users Already Get
Posted: January 12th, 2012, 5:46am MST
Last year Verizon began offering around 26 live FiOS channels to the Xbox 360 console, but the deal came with a few restrictions and didn't make a whole lot of sense. To access the content users not only needed to pay for an Xbox Live Gold account, but they also needed to subscribe to both broadband and television services from Verizon. Why would a user who already pays for Verizon FiOS TV and a set top really bother with using the 360 to access lower-quality versions of channels they already have access to?
The only clear answer is that Verizon's simply testing streaming out of curiosity with no real intent on entering the water quite yet. That, and evolution-terrified broadcasters are refusing to allow adequate licensing for fear of cannibalizing traditional TV revenues. Combined, you get a product that we're told is supposed to replace an extra, already-inexpensive set top, but really doesn't.
Along that vein Verizon and LG have announced a similar offer wherein users can get those same 26 channels streamed directly to their LG television:LG Electronics and Verizon today announced an alliance that will offer a new entertainment experience for the LG Smart TV* platform, when LG introduces the Verizon FiOS TV app to current LG Smart TVs and Blu-ray players in 2012. The new app will allow Verizon FiOS TV subscribers to access 26 live HD channels directly through their connected LG Smart TV or Blu-ray Player without any additional hardware required.
In the process of trying to build hype LG's CES press release doesn't bother to tell you that to access this content you'll need to subscribe to both FiOS Internet and FiOS TV services. So again, why exactly would a customer who already has a FiOS set top use the integrated content being offered via their television? Verizon should either get into over the top streaming and offer a product that seriously offers a traditional TV alternative, or stop screwing around.
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Thursday Morning Links -
Posted: January 12th, 2012, 3:59am MST
Dish CEO says company open to acquisition once it's done building out network, T-Mobile is #1 contender denverpost.com
Congress tests how dropping the DNS blocking provisions from SOPA would affect its 'acceptance' by tech companies techdirt.com
TomTom to better inform customers about data use; firm hit trouble after revealing local (Dutch) police used its data to position speed cameras totaltele.com
Internet companies ratchet up competition totaltele.com
FCC calls for free hand in spectrum auction eetimes.com
Europe calls for serious broadband bandwidth to boost ecommerce ispreview.com
UK Regulator Ofcom Officially Proposes to Extend 4G Mobile Broadband Coverage to 98% ispreview.com
Chinese vendor ZTE will try to enter US market in 2012 with smartphones and tablets fiercewireless.com
Next-Gen routers to hit 800Mbps soon itpro.co.uk
Barcelona becomes site of first large-scale tap & go deployment in Europe ft.com
Apple's HDTV and the challenge of subscription programming networkworld.com
TiVo CEO says AT&T could end up paying $300M+ to his company if U-verse TV service continues adding DVR subs multichannel.com
FCC chairman calls Verizon's Network Neutrality lawsuit a distraction multichannel.com
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