Bundled Service, Unbundled Customer Service

Memo to telecom service providers: "We never thanked you, but you did a great job offering us consolidated billing. It is hard to remember now, as for the last few years yo have been so aggressive in promoting bundled services, but five years ago, this was a major pain point. Three bills for ISP, cable and telephone, and usually three different due dates a well

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Comcast’s Blast service - Doubling its Broadband Speed

Comcast has achieved its competitive edge by offering Blast, a new tier of broadband Internet service which allows for the 16 Mbps downloads. That’s nearly twice the speed of its own Performance Plus service which averages 10 megabits per second. Speeds for uploads are also increasing from 768 kilobits per second to 2 Mbps. AT&T plans to counter Comcast’s new service by offering its own service upgrade later this year.
Speeds up to 100 Mbps Planned in the Future

Comcast intends to further upgrade its broadband speed through a new standard called Docsis 3.0 which may deliver download speeds up to 100 Mbps by the end of the year. The technology may eventually allow for download speeds as high as 160 Mbps.

Time Warner to test Internet billing based on usage

Time Warner Cable Inc said on Wednesday it is planning a trial to bill high-speed Internet subscribers based on their amount of usage rather than a flat fee, the standard industry practice.

The second largest U.S. cable operator said it will test consumption-based billing with subscribers in Beaumont, Texas later this year as a part of a strategy to help reduce congestion of its network by a minority of consumers who pay the same monthly fee as light users.

The company believes the billing system will impact only heavy users, who account for around 5 percent of all customers but typically use more than half of the total network bandwidth, according to a company spokesman.

Slowing network congestion due to downloading of large media files such as video is a growing problem for Time Warner Cable. The company said the problem will worsen as video downloading becomes more popular.

FCC: Cable Must Carry Local Analog Signal for Three Years—and HD Forever

Late Tuesday the FCC ordered cable operators to provide HD signals of local broadcasters after the end of analog broadcasts in February 2009.

The unanimous commission also ordered that for three years after the analog shutoff, cable operators with analog subscribers would have to continue to provide analog signals by downconverting broadcasters’ DTV signals.

The commission did not go as far as requiring cablers to pass through every digital bit broadcasters provide.

Both NAB and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association praised the ruling, with NCTA calling the ruling the cable industry’s plan.

But not all NCTA members share that upbeat outlook. Comcast, for example, had told the FCC that forcing cable to carry both digital and analog channels would be “indefensible” and unconstitutional.

But NCTA President and CEO Kyle McSlarrow downplayed the dissent, saying that Comcast was a leader in aggressively asserting legal principles shared by the entire industry. Comcast Senior Director spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice declined to comment on the decision or whether Comcast would take it to court, saying only that the NCTA comments spoke for the company.

Small cable operators—those with less than 552 MHz capacity—got sympathy from some commissioners, but all they got in the order was a chance to apply for waivers to the new requirements. Democrat commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said the requirements could inhibit the rollout of other services, such as broadband Internet access, in smaller and rural communities. He also said the smaller systems should have received a blanket waiver instead of having to enlist Washington lawyers and apply for individual exemptions.

The American Cable Association said some of its members could shell out more then $150,000 in equipment to carry the multiple formats. The ruling will slow rural broadband rollout and, and some very small operators could be forced out of business, ACA said in a statement.

The order also calls for more comment on some carriage issues, including the specifics of how cable should handle or convert between 16:9 and 4:3 pictures, and how to further address the concerns of small cable operators.

Also late Tuesday, the commission ruled to extend, for another five years, the ban on exclusive programming contracts between cable operators and programmers with whom they are vertically integrated. The ban is designed to ensure that cable operators have access to programming owned by other cable companies or their owners. The commission gave a five-year extension to the ban in 2002 and will decide again in 2012 whether to let it sunset.

How Much Net Speed Do You Need?

It's easy to get confused with all the broadband lingo being thrown around these days. DSL, ADSL, IDSL, Cable, Satellite, wireless, T1's, upload speeds, download speeds, VoIP, digital voice, it's enough to make your head explode. So here is a pretty good article in the San Jose Mercury News. It's short and sweet and to the point. Click here for the full story.

Expert Calls For An America Without A "Digital Divide"

Everyone in the U.S. should have access to broadband high speed Internet, according to one expert.

Arguing that there should not be a "digital divide", Nolan Bowie, an adjunct lecturer in public policy and senior fellow at the John F Kennedy School of Government, has outlined his vision of America. Writing for the Boston Globe, Mr. Bowie said the U.S. could be better equipped to compete within the global knowledge economy if everyone could access the Internet, make use of online services and had the skills to do so "effectively".

"Wouldn't this empower our work force to be more productive, flexible, responsive, creative and better trained?" Mr. Bowie asked. Businesses could be more successful and consumers would be "more satisfied" if there were a fully integrated national broadband network, he added. A recent report by Edison Media research found that Americans consider the internet to be their second most essential item after TV.

"The U.S. has lagged the Europeans in adopting broadband technology," states Mark Weibel, EVP of Marketing for Broadband National Inc. "Internet providers have recently made great strides in expanding their networks and making broadband both accessible and inexpensive. We're looking forward to a year of fast paced growth."