UPD AAISP UK Slap Fluidata and O2 Wholesale for Network Congestion

UPD AAISP UK Slap Fluidata and O2 Wholesale for Network Congestion - ISPreview UK: "O2 have joined BE in warning super-heavy users about their usage and threatening disconnection if they refuse to change. It’s perhaps preferable for them to remove a few consumers than to lose whole ISPs as clients from their wholesale division." 'via Blog this'

Broadband Stakeholder Group crystal ball gazing for 2015

This is the policy lead that we have to accept as state-of-the-art bland whitewashing: "UK is unlikely to lead the league tables in FTTH provision.   For wireless services, other countries have had a head-start on the UK for 4G...  Rural availability of LTE is more difficult still to predict... Assessing speeds on mobile services is more difficult to measure.  Ofcom’s initial work in 2010 suggested that users using datacards and dongles achieved  an average speed of 2.1Mbps... In terms of what this means comparatively, this is incredibly difficult to benchmark given the lack of robust data that allows one to compare like for like across Europe...provision to a level of 30Mbps within the last 10% does provoke some operational challenges. UK will feature less strongly on the issues of: Coverage of FTTH infrastructure; Speed (depending on how this is benchmarked); Achieving 50% take-up of 100Mbps services (though the UK is unlikely to be
alone in Europe in this respect)." So they basically think broadband is slow in the UK on both fixed and mobile comparisons and it will remain slow...but cheap. They also have this choice morsel: "BSG will continue to house the UK debate on net neutrality further to its work in 2011 and 2012 on codes of practice for traffic management transparency." I think they mean Ed Vaizey's Sunday phone call to Tim Berners-Lee established that the telecoms industry has no interest in net neutrality at all?

Corporate tie binds US to a slow internet (not via MSNBC...)

Corporate tie binds US to a slow internet - FT.com (subscription): "The average US cost for 1Mb/s is $1.10 compared with $0.42 in the UK, $0.34 in France and $0.21 in South Korea. It is not only places such as Hong Kong that put the US into the shade. Countries such as Estonia, Portugal and Hungary offer a significantly better internet service. South Koreans joke that when they visit the US they are taking an internet vacation. Yet bringing the US up to speed appears to be low on Mr Obama’s list of priorities (it did not even get a mention in his State of the Union address last month). The story of Comcast’s ascent helps explain why. So too does its relationships with politicians across the spectrum." 'via Blog this'

UK ISP Virgin Media Shifts its Window for Broadband Traffic Management

UK ISP Virgin Media Shifts its Window for Broadband Traffic Management - ISPreview UK: "“This is mainly due to people watching TV and streaming content over the internet instead of shutting down their PC and watching TV before they head off to bed. So because of this we need to move our evening traffic management window to when people are now using the internet. Ensuring that your peak time experience is protected from the impact of people who max out their connection 24/7. So we’re changing the evening window for downstream traffic from 16:00-21:00 to 17:00-22:00.”" 'via Blog this'

Neelie Kroes: Your EU rights as a telecoms user - but no mention of net neutrality...

Neelie Kroes blog - Your EU rights as a telecoms user - European Commission: "A few years ago the EU agreed a package of measures for the EU telecoms market. Those delivered important new rules and rights for people who use landlines, mobiles and the Internet – and that means you! As is usual for such measures, those needed to be put into national law by governments before taking effect. And now, the remaining few national governments have confirmed to the Commission that they have done this – meaning these new laws would now apply throughout the EU." Of course it was the old E.Parliament, Council and Commissioner Kroes' predecessor who actually decided this, but it's finally ground into national law....'via Blog this'

'Net neutrality' hardcover half-price ONE DAY ONLY

I don't usually plug books on the site, but as this is the blog of that book, this is an exception. You can buy the hardcover for £30 today only - and a handsome book it is too. We hope the next edition (slated for 2015) will be paperback (not free PDF!) and e-book friendly...

What Does Netflix’s Decision to Block Internet Content Tell Us About Internet Policy?

What Does Netflix’s Decision to Block Internet Content Tell Us About Internet Policy?: "The initial principles and the FCC’s assertions have led many to believe its net neutrality rules are intended to promote consumer choice. Prominent net neutrality proponents “believe consumers, not corporations, should be in the driver’s seat to pick the content they view . . . over the Internet.” I expect they would be surprised to learn that the FCC’s net neutrality rules eliminated the consumer focus of the net neutrality principles as well as the stated right to competition among application, service, and content providers. The FCC decided that, “insofar as these rules translate existing [FCC] principles into codified rules, it is appropriate to limit the application of the rules to broadband Internet access service.”" Not exactly the European position, but provocative analysis of Googlisation of US policy in the field...'via Blog this'