Google looking to test fiber Internet at gigabit speeds for up to 500,000 people

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Broadband, Google, Internet

Oh, hello there, crazy drool-worthy and inexpensive ultra high-speed Internet from Google! Yeah, that’s right, Google is looking to launch an experimental, ultra high-speed broadband network in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We are talking about Gigiabit fiber to the home speeds here. The only thing that currently comes close is Verizon FiOS, and their current download speed tops out at 50 megabits per second. Gigabit would be 1000 megabits (or, 128 MB) per second, which is just insultingly fast. Even better? They want to launch it at inexpensive prices in the launch/test cities. So, why would they do this, and what would be the benefit?

First, competition. Google wants to bring the price down while bringing the service level up, and they are putting their money where their mouth is and challenging other ISPs right on their home turf. If you had a choice between crazy-fast Google Internet and sucky Comcast, you’d likely end up going with Google in a heartbeat, since it’s like 200x faster, and less expensive. Second, Google is getting into the web apps business hard. It would be ideal for them for web applications and native desktop applications to have no difference in speed, and you can bet that they’d be deploying these tests to optimize the hell out of their web app products. Make no mistake, they want Google Docs to run just as fast in your browser as Microsoft Word runs when you launch it on your local machine.

We love this, and despite having a 50/20 FiOS connection, we want it badly. Google, bring this to Seattle, k?

Read More | Google Fiber for Communities

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Comments (1)
• Digg This
• Share on Facebook
• Email this story

Follow Up: Verizon makes good on our FiOS privacy woes

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Broadband, Editorial, Features, Internet

A little under two weeks ago, we made a long-standing issue that we had with Verizon public. The fact that they had ignored our request to fix a huge oversight that resulted in our private FiOS account info to fall into the wrong hands for over 8 months was starting to upset us just a tad. We knew that if we shared it with you, our readers, that Verizon would have no choice but to respond quickly. At least, that was the hope.

Well, sure enough, after the story was picked up on The Consumerist as well as made it to the front page of Digg, we received a phone call. Then an email. Then another phone call. Then a couple more emails. Verizon Damage Control had stepped in.

Click to continue reading Follow Up: Verizon makes good on our FiOS privacy woes

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Comments (24)
• Digg This
• Share on Facebook
• Email this story

Our Verizon FiOS customer service nightmare: Why won’t they protect my private customer information?

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Broadband, Editorial, Features, Internet

Seeing as we’ve been experiencing a ton of customer service issues with our Verizon FiOS service for the past 8 months, we figured it was time to put out a warning to you guys. After all, we typically hear that the FiOS Internet service is remarkably amazing, and people have been dumping cable in droves when FiOS becomes available in their area. Hey, there is good reason to. Where we are at, right outside Seattle, our choices are slow DSL, Comcast at 8.0 down and 768k up, or FiOS with a max speed of 30.0 down and 15.0 up (which is the plan we are on.)

Now let’s be clear here, we love the FiOS service. It works fantastically, it has never gone down in the 8 months we’ve been using it, and it’s, well, fast.

So what is the problem? To put it bluntly, Verizon has shown that they don’t care - at all - about protecting their users private, confidential information. Now, why would we make a statement like that? Check it.

Click to continue reading Our Verizon FiOS customer service nightmare: Why won’t they protect my private customer information?

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Comments (92)
• Digg This
• Share on Facebook
• Forum Discussion
• Email this story

Samsung Shows Off 4G Wireless Internet

Posted by Brian Viele Categories: Broadband, Cell Phones, Internet, PC / Laptop, Wireless / WiFi

Today in South Korea, Samsung Electronics demonstrated new 4G wireless technology to the press.  Samsung showed 4G technology could carry speeds of 100Mbps over the air.  That’s more bandwidth than most current broadband providers can even harness. The demo took place on a bus while traveling across the city.  Samsung reps demonstrated high speed access through HDTV streaming as well as data access. According to Samsung, this type of performance should be attainable whether standing still or traveling at over 70mph on the highway. 

The speeds demonstrated by Samsung best the WiMAX standard that is currently being used to supply wireless network access city-wide to customers at speeds of up to only 20Mbps.  Samsung also did some demonstration showing that the 4G technology could potentially even hit speeds of up to 1Gbps! 1Gbps wireless…the best I can get is Comcast’s ultimate connection at a rockin 6Mbps. Go figure.

Read More | EE Times

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Comments (0)
• Digg This
• Share on Facebook
• Email this story