WebProNews

Tag: high speed internet

  • T-Mobile Delivers Record-Breaking Results in 2023

    T-Mobile Delivers Record-Breaking Results in 2023

    T-Mobile has given a glimpse into its full-year performance, handily beating both Verizon and AT&T while delivering record results.

    T-Mobile says it added 1.4 million postpaid net accounts and 6.4 million postpaid net customers over the course of 2023, both of which were a record high and best in industry results. The company also added 3.1 million postpaid phone net customers, its best performance since its merger with Sprint.

    Even more impressive, the company added 2 million net High Speed Internet customers, more than Charter, Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon combined.

    “2022 was definitely the year of the Un-carrier as T-Mobile just posted amazing results — our highest ever postpaid account net adds (the best measure of our industry-leading growth in customer relationships), both postpaid customer net adds and broadband customer growth that are expected to lead the industry, and our lowest-ever churn numbers,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “It’s clear that T-Mobile’s ability to offer both the best network and value is bringing new customers to the Un-carrier and enticing those who join us to stay. And our momentum won’t stop as we continue to translate our long-established 5G lead into overall network leadership and execute on our unique growth strategy. We are perfectly positioned to profitably take further market share in 2023 and beyond!”

  • Biden Promotes High-Speed Internet Provision of Infrastructure Bill

    Biden Promotes High-Speed Internet Provision of Infrastructure Bill

    President Joe Biden is talking up the high-speed internet provision of his signature infrastructure bill.

    Rejuvenating America’s infrastructure was a major point of Biden’s campaign, and he has been working to pass comprehensive infrastructure legislation. His plans received a big boost when a bipartisan group of senators announced a deal to push the bill forward.

    An important part of the infrastructure bill is a provision aimed at improving broadband for American households. The US has long suffered from a “digital divide” — the disparity between the quality of internet in cities, versus what is available in rural communities. The infrastructure bill includes funds designed to help close that divide and provide high-speed access to more households than ever before.

    “This bipartisan deal is the most important investment in public transit in American history and the most important investment in rail since the creation of Amtrak 50 years ago,” Biden said in a statement. “It will deliver high speed internet to every American.” (italics ours)

    That statement is good news for individuals and households that have dealt with subpar internet speeds for far too long.

  • Senators Want High-Speed Internet Threshold Quadrupled

    Senators Want High-Speed Internet Threshold Quadrupled

    In a letter to several government agencies, a bipartisan group of senators is calling for the definition of “high-speed” internet to be quadrupled.

    Under former Chairman Ajit Pai, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) established 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload as the definition of high-speed internet. To matters worse, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines high-speed access as 10 Mbps download and 1 Mbps uploading.

    In comparison, the top five countries in the world, in terms of internet speed, range from an average of 226.6 to 175.22 Mbps. The FCC and USDA’s definition seems glacial when placed against that backdrop.

    Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Angus King (I-ME) and Rob Portman (R-OH) are calling on the FCC, USDA, Department of Commerce and National Economic Council to take action. As the senators point out in their letter, the global pandemic has exacerbated the situation, forcing record numbers of individuals to work and learn from home. The abysmal upload speeds, in particular, are a major bottleneck for videoconferencing and other necessary services.

    Ask any senior who connects with their physician via telemedicine, any farmer hoping to unlock the benefits of precision agriculture, any student who receives livestreamed instruction, or any family where both parents telework and multiple children are remote learning, and they will tell you that many networks fail to come close to “high-speed” in the year 2021. For any of these functions, upload speeds far greater than 3 Mbps are particularly critical.

    The senators make the case that government agencies should agreed to a common definition and — since federal funding is being used to improve the nation’s broadband — to significantly increase that definition to a usable threshold.

    Going forward, we should make every effort to spend limited federal dollars on broadband networks capable of providing sufficient download and upload speeds and quality, including low latency, high reliability, and low network jitter, for modern and emerging uses, like two-way videoconferencing, telehealth, remote learning, health IoT, and smart grid applications. Our goal for new deployment should be symmetrical speeds of 100 megabits per second (Mbps), allowing for limited variation when dictated by geography, topography, or unreasonable cost.

  • High-Speed Internet: Should Google Bother?

    High-Speed Internet: Should Google Bother?

    It seems these days that Google is trying to have a finger in everything and anything. Therefore it was only a matter of time before the company decided it should seriously consider providing its own high-speed internet service.

    Google is currently working on this new venture and one of its early targets for the service was Kansas City, Kan.

    While the word is already out, potential customers should not expect to receive service right away. In fact, it will likely be a couple of years before Google is truly ready to make the highly anticipated service completely available to selected service locations.

    Kansas City mayor Joe Reardon described the move by Google to set up shop in his town as a “very physical” process.

    In truth it’s not just physical; it’s time-consuming and tedious.

    “Fiber has to be laid on the ground in the city on rights of way or on poles,” said Reardon. “and you have to get it into the neighborhoods and into the house. It takes time.”

    So much time and money that Google does not seem interested in providing a truly national experience. After all, the most populated US cities managed to be completely ignored by Google. The project may be ambitious, but the location selection seems to scream, “not ready for prime time”.

    About 34 US cities were added to the list of potential service, but even if you find yourself ideally situated, prepare to wait a good while for service to be available. That was the major complaint of citizens in Kansas City. Despite being “kings of the internet” Google seems to be struggling with how internet service works. People do not like waiting.

    While Google’s $70 per month service internet and $120 per month internet/HD television service is being hailed as widely affordable, many are already talking about sticking to internet services that may be slower, but are 1/3 or even 1/2 Google’s proposed costs. Affordability is highly subjective.

    Let’s just hope Google has all the kinks worked out by the time service reaches every planned city. Perhaps if things go well enough, Google will really get ambitious regarding their range of service and pricing plans

    They’ll have to if they intend to be a true force in terms of high-speed internet service. 1 GB per second internet is amazing, but what difference does it make if the service isn’t even realistically available to the average web user?

    Speaking of which, Google should not expect competitors to sit quietly on the sidelines while they build an empire. Google has already revealed its weakness in terms of inexperience and an inability to meet the demands of consumers.

    Expect other internet service providers to make adjustments of their own in every location Google has deemed fit for its fledgling high-speed internet service and sling more dirt at the new kid than found in your average political campaign.

    Good luck, Google. Mind your throat.

    Image via YouTube

  • Google Fiber May Be Coming to These 9 Metros

    Take a look, people. If your city is on this map, Google is at least actively considering bringing Google Fiber your way.

    The company just announced that they will be looking at the feasibility of installing its 1 gigabit (soon to be 10?) high-speed internet service in 9 different metro areas–34 communities altogether.

    Here’s a full list:

    • Portland, Oregon–Beaverton, Lake Oswego, Hillsboro, Tigard, and Gresham
    • Atlanta, Georgia–Avondale Estates, East Point, Brookhaven, Hapeville, College Park, Sandy Springs, Decatur, and Smyrna
    • Charlotte, North Carolina
    • Nashville, Tennessee
    • Salt Lake City, Utah
    • San Antonio, Texas
    • Phoenix, Arizona–Scottsdale, Tempe
    • Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina–Carrborro, Cary, Garner, Morrisville, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Durham
    • San Jose, California–Santa Clara, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto

    Not on the list? Yeah, me neither. Let’s all just slink back into our giant, Comcast/Time Warner-sized holes and cry.

    Google is not saying that all of these cities will be getting Fiber. They say that they want that to be the case, but it “might not work out for everyone.”

    Basically, Google has to see which cities can handle it (and how much it can handle itself in the process).

    “We aim to provide updates by the end of the year about which cities will be getting Google Fiber. Between now and then, we’ll work closely with each city’s leaders on a joint planning process that will not only map out a Google Fiber network in detail, but also assess what unique local challenges we might face. These are such big jobs that advance planning goes a long way toward helping us stick to schedules and minimize disruption for residents,” says Milo Medin, VP, Google Access Services.

    “We’re going to work on a detailed study of local factors that could affect construction, like topography (e.g., hills, flood zones), housing density and the condition of local infrastructure. Meanwhile, cities will complete a checklist of items that will help them get ready for a project of this scale and speed.”

    So, why these areas? According to Google, they all “made high-speed broadband a pillar of their economic development plans.” If you’re not on this map, blame your local government.

    Image via Google Fiber Blog

  • Google Shoots for 10 Gigabit Fiber in Three Years

    The U.S. has slow internet. It sucks. The giant iron fists of a handful of monopolistic ISPs continue to pound the weak, helpless masses. One bright spot in the dark, depressing wasteland has been Google Fiber, Google’s one gigabit high-speed internet service. Of course, Google Fiber is only in a few select areas–so looking to it as some sort of high-speed savior is ill-advised. But hey, they’re trying.

    Now, it looks like the company wants to make their offering even faster. A lot faster. And they want to do so in a shorter time frame than you might expect. Sadly, you’ll probably never see it anywhere near your house.

    Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet conference, Google CFO Patrick Pichette said that the company is currently working on bringing fiber of up to 10 gigabits per second–10 times the already blazing speed (at least in an American context) they currently offer.

    He also referenced Google’s “obsession with speed.”

    And in terms of when we might see this, Pichette threw out three years as a possibility.

    “That’s where the world is going. It’s going to happen…why wouldn’t we make it available in three years? That’s what we’re working on. There’s no need to wait,” said Pichette (via USA Today)

    Google Fiber is currently up and running in Kansas City and a handful of surrounding areas–as well as Provo, Utah. It’s also moving into Austin, Texas soon. Google charges $70 a month for their gigabit internet, and $120 a month if you add on a TV package.

    Like I said before – all of this is great for Provo, Kansas City, Austin, and the additional cities that Google will no doubt bring the service to in the coming years. But for the rest of us? Well, the sad truth is that most of us are unlikely to see 10 gigabit fiber–or anything like it. Some analysts have calculated that the cost of bringing Google Fiber to most of the U.S. would be about $11 billion, or about 4% of Google’s current net worth.

    While 10 gigabits per second isn’t even close to the fastest network in the world, it’s pretty damn fast. And compared to what most of us in America are used to, well, it’s downright blazing.

    Image via Google Fiber, Facebook

  • Google Fiber Expands to Kansas City, MO

    Google Fiber Expands to Kansas City, MO

    In 2010, Google kicked off a contest to find a city to test its experimental, ultra-high-speed fiber network.  The ambitious network will boast 1 gigabit per second fiber-to-the-home connectivity, a speed nearly 100 times faster than most Americans have currently.

    After many applications to be the first city to host Google’s venture, in March of this year they selected Kansas City, Kansas as their first stop.

    Today, Google announced on their new “Google Fiber Blog” that the second city that will be receiving the ultra-high-speed network is Kansas City. Wait – what? Oh, I meant Kansas City, Missouri.

    That’s right, Google has decided to provide its services for all the residents of all Kansas Cities in the United States before moving on to other cities. I actually made that part up. This announcement makes sense considering the two cities are just a hop, skip and a jump across a river from each other.

    From the fiber blog:

    Google took on this project because we’re committed to moving the web forward. Just as the move from dial-up to broadband led to new and unpredictable innovations, we believe ultra high-speed bandwidth will push the web to even greater heights – and we couldn’t imagine a better place to start than the Kansas City region. With or without Google Fiber, this area is a hub for technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship, with a diverse population that represents the rest of the country.

    Going forward, we’ll continue to talk to other cities about the possibility of us bringing Google Fiber to their communities. For now, we can’t wait to see how the Kansas City region comes together to benefit from this kind of connectivity.

    Speaking of the fiber blog, Google just introduced it yesterday, and today’s announcement is it’s first post (besides some back posts aggregated from other Google blogs). Maybe the creation of the fiber blog is a sign that more fiber announcements will be coming in the near future? Who knows? Depending on how their experiment goes in the Kansas City region, we might see Google developing super-high-speed networks in many American cities.

    The networks are supposed to be up and running sometime in 2012.