BT unsuccessful in ASA complaint against Virgin - cable IS faster than VDSL

BT unsuccessful in ASA complaint against Virgin Media: "Virgin Media’s response pointed out that at least 10% of customers on their 'up to 30 Mbit/s' broadband service achieved the headline speed and that the average speed across a 24-hour period for customers on their 'up to 30 Mbit/s' service was 30.1 Mbit/s, according to an Ofcom report. In terms of exaggerating the difference between competitor services, Virgin highlighted that, according to the Ofcom report, the average speed achieved on Virgin's 'up to 30 Mbit/s' service was over 100% of the headline speed, whereas the average achieved on BT's 'up to 38 Mbit/s' service was less than 30 Mbit/s and only 79% of the headline speed.
The ASA stated that "the data submitted by Virgin was suitably robust to demonstrate that they consistently delivered a superfast service to their customers"." 'via Blog this'

Evidence-Based Policy Too Hard? "FCC's Net Neutrality report is a bust"

The Daily Dot - The FCC's Net Neutrality report is a bust: "As the report makes abundantly clear, today we are no closer to real answers on data caps today than we were in 2010, when the FCC released its Net Neutrality order; in 2011, when we asked the FCC to take a closer look at data caps; or 2012, when the FCC finally organized the Open Internet Advisory Committee. Over and over, the report’s findings indicate a lack of data, standards, evidence, and information."
The OIAC has virtually no travel money even for its leaders, and no research budget, so it's hardly a surprise that all it can do is re-tread the existing arguments. Regulators don't want answers 'via Blog this'

"103 years ago, he would have been a visionary" - Australian debate on NBN

Australians continue to debate wholesale monopoly local loop - copper or fibre? The elction is two weeks away, and this is a key policy difference between the social democrat and neocon parties. It still puts the British debate in the shade - as opposition shadow minister Turnbull supports our 'superfast' (sic) broadband...

No European net neutrality legislation after all?

No European net neutrality legislation after all | Internet Policy Review: "In Germany, where there had been some movement towards legislating net neutrality – at least if it still could make it after the Federal election (September 22, 2013) – liberal party member Jimmy Schulz called Kroes' move “irritating“ as it was contrary to statements from the Digital Agenda Commissioner. “According to that leaked draft, it would not be possible to ban network providers from offering special deals with selected service providers. That would be contrary to the net neutrality principle,” Schulz wrote.Such rules would harm innovation and create barriers for start-ups and newcomers in the market, Schulz argued. Yet, he was confident that there would be changes in the draft regulation, given that governments would intervene." 'via Blog this'

Crypto experts blast German e-mail providers’ “secure data storage” claim

Crypto experts blast German e-mail providers’ “secure data storage” claim | Ars Technica: "“No one of the ‘E-Mail made in Germany’ initiative would say if they encrypt the data on their servers so they don't have access to it, which they probably don't and thus the government could force them to let them access it.” The Chaos Computer Club practically laughed at this new announcement: “What competitors [have had] for years as standard—a forced encryption when accessing a personal e-mail account—is now sold promotionally as a new, effective technological advancement,” the group wrote. “The NSA scandal has shown that centralized services are to be regarded as not trustworthy when it comes to access by secret [agencies]." 'via Blog this'

Net Index by Ookla - current SpeedTest broadband speeds

Net Index by Ookla: "Based on millions of recent test results from Speedtest.net, this index compares and ranks consumer download speeds around the globe. The value is the rolling mean throughput in Mbps over the past 30 days where the mean distance between the client and the server is less than 300 miles." EU 19.36Mbps G8 average 18.17 Mbps OECD average 17.82 Mbps APEC 14.17 Mbps (US 18Mbps, slower than UK, France, Germany, Japan (and industrialised Asia), smaller Netherlands, Baltics, Scandies + Nordics)

'via Blog this'

Turnbull defends Murdoch on Labor's NBN

Turnbull defends Murdoch on Labor's NBN | ZDNet: "Labor claims that Murdoch's media interests are hostile toward its NBN, because it could pose a commercial threat to News Corp's half-owned pay TV business, Foxtel. The argument is that consumers could opt to use fast NBN speeds to download their own visual entertainment, rather than paying for a Foxtel subscription.
Kevin Rudd said Murdoch has a "democratic right" to rail against Labor's policies through his publications, but wondered what was behind it. He's also said that there is a "strange coincidence of interests" between News Corp and the Coalition, after The Daily Telegraph newspaper printed an editorial under the headline "Kick this mob out" on day one of the election campaign."
Murdoch seek to influence electoral politics for his personal financial gain? What is he, a vulture capitalist? Oh, right...'via Blog this'