Posts Tagged ‘Broadband’

All You Can Eat Isn’t Sustainable

June 3rd, 2010 No Comments

Yesterday, AT&T announced that it was dropping its $30 per month unlimited data plan for new mobile phone customers, including the iPhone and iPad.  Instead, AT&T will offer metered plans for users.

This is awful news for consumers, especially for new iPad users who were looking forward to getting unlimited Internet. After all, the real power of the iPad comes from its always-on Internet connection.

All You Can Eat (Not)

This move by AT&T will no doubt begin a round of similar activity by other mobile and broadband operators. Unlimited data plans aren’t a sustainable business, and it never has been. Although some people don’t use data much, it’s becoming clear that data use is becoming more popular than phone calls.

Of course, Comcast has already been testing a metering plan for broadband Internet. It has even put out a metering application that lets consumers see how much data they’ve been using in the month.  Comcast says that very few people actually go over these unwritten data limits so it won’t apply to everyone.

But clearly, this move away from an all you can eat model is the way of the future. Mobile  and broadband operators understand that unlimited data plans can only lead to trouble down the road. It’s better to make consumers understand what they are using, and charge them for it. That way, they won’t be just another dumb pipe provider. Plus, they can earn more revenues via a tiered offering than an all-you-can-eat model.

Aside from this tiered broadband, I think other models will emerge including something that I call “Premium Broadband”. This essentially means that broadband operators will offer tiered pricing for Internet access, but will also offer premium plans for users that want to watch video and TV online.

So, broadband providers can offer a $20 to $30 plan that gives consumers access to unlimited Netflix, Amazon or Blockbuster streaming, for example. And this premium plan can come with certain quality of service guarantees, so that there’s very little buffering.

It seems like the age of unlimited data plans are soon to be history.

(Flickr photo by Jeremy Brooks)

Posted in Broadband Tags: , , , , , ,

Broadband Definition in U.S. is Too Slow

February 18th, 2010 No Comments

I just read an article about the FCC’s new broadband competition map on GigaOm, where they say that it’s pretty much useless. I agree that the U.S. defines broadband as way too slow. According to old FCC rules, broadband is defined as under 200Kbps.

New rules say broadband is 768Kbps. Still pretty slow, and not enough to handle IPTV or even some HD Internet video sites.

Recently, Google announced that it was looking to supply 1Gbps broadband connections to communities that apply for assistance. This has spurred many to say that a) it’s too expensive and b) Google is trying to be a last mile provider.

I think if Google is trying to increase the bandwidth speeds in the U.S., it’s not a bad thing. Sure, current broadband providers might howl, but I think competition drives lower costs and faster speeds.

As I wrote last month, the U.S. has one of the slowest broadband speeds in the world.

The Broadband Stimulus program is trying to change this, but many programs have been focusing on under-served areas. Yes, there are some communities that will get higher speeds, but I think Fiber is the key to moving forward. Fiber really resonates with consumers, and provides Service Providers higher ARPUs and ROI.

Currently, only Verizon has gone full steam ahead on its Fiber strategy. AT&T is still using DSL, and doesn’t plan on switching to FTTX in the near-term.

The U.S. government needs to step up its commitment to providing super-fast last mile connections into the home, or be left behind by other countries.

Posted in Broadband, Google Tags: , , ,

Broadband Speeds Very Slow in U.S.

January 22nd, 2010 1 Comment

One of the biggest arguments that people have about watching TV over the Internet is bandwidth. Especially last mile connections. Everyone seems to think that there’s no way that we can watch HD programming over the Internet. “There’s too much buffering!” people say. Or they claim they can barely watch a YouTube video without pausing.

Well, these are arguments that worked about 10 years ago when I was working with streaming media. Today, AT&T and Verizon are delivering HD programming over a managed connection. AT&T is delivered over regular DSL lines. Verizon, of course, uses fiber, but they also are a hybrid service that still uses cable technology (QAM) to deliver live TV to subscribers. (Verizon’s VOD is IPTV based, however.)

Anyway, the reality is that last mile connections have improved dramatically since the early days. When I wrote my book on streaming media in 1998, there wasn’t much broadband at all. Dial-up was the norm. Think about it. 1998. That was pretty early. I understood the concerns then.

Today, consumers have a lot more bandwidth coming into the home. However, the U.S. is still very far behind other countries. An article from TeleCompetitor shows that the average broadband in the U.S. is 3.9 Mbps. The fastest average speed is from South Korea with 14.6 Mbps. (These numbers come from Akamai.)

Of course, Akamai only measures traffic over the open Internet. IPTV providers use closed, managed networks, so it’s hard to compare the two. Still, South Korea has a very high penetration of fiber broadband connections, which means they are ready for IPTV.

One live HD stream can be delivered in about 8 Mbps, while SD streams can be delivered in about 2 Mbps. I think MPEG-4 encoding can take it even lower, depending on encoding streams, so the last mile is critical.

The U.S. needs to catch up to the rest of the world when it comes to broadband speed. This news story from Ars Technica says that the U.S. ranks number 15 in the world for broadband speeds, and that was written in 2008. That’s too slow. Telcos and Cable providers need to work on improving this. Verizon is banking on its fiber deployments to carry it into the future. And cable companies are looking to DOCSIS 3.0 to carry broadband speeds faster.

However, fiber is still a long way off here in the U.S. Most consumers here get broadband via cable. But fiber really resonates with consumers. They understand what it means and what it can give them. But most consumers don’t even know how slow their broadband really is.

Posted in Administration Tags: , , ,
Buy VerizonCell Phones and Save. | Thanks to Bank Rates & Reviews, CD Rates and UK Loan