Broadband Speeds Averaging About 1/3 Of The Speed On The Box

from the up-to dept

By this point, everyone should know that broadband providers always provide "up to" speeds with the connections they sell. By "up to" they usually mean under perfect conditions that you will never, ever see. But just what kinds of speeds should you actually expect? A new study in the UK found that broadband speeds tend to be about a third of the "up to" speed. The worst speeds were about one-eighth of the promoted speed. As the article linked here notes, is it really any surprise that only 30% of people claim they're satisfied with their broadband? While it still seems like this should be false advertising, so far various regulatory bodies have said that the "up to" language is perfectly legal, no matter how misleading it may be. How hard would it be for an ISP to advertise expected speeds? I would imagine it would have happier, more loyal customers who know that the ISP is actually being honest, rather than hyping up speeds that will never be delivered.

Filed Under: broadband, cable, dsl, isps

FCC Says White-Space Spectrum Device Doesn't Work

from the proto-failure dept

A gaggle of tech companies, led by Google and Microsoft, have been pushing the FCC to open up the "white space" spectrum -- open airwaves in between those used by TV broadcasts -- for use by electronic devices and broadband services. This has been talked about for quite some time, and represents one way to more efficiently use spectrum, which is a finite and very valuable resource. The group delivered a prototype to the FCC earlier this year, as a way to show that the technology to allow devices to automatically detect what spectrum's in use and what's available, and route communications accordingly, is viable. The FCC's been testing it for several months, and it's all good, except for one little problem: it doesn't actually work. The Commission says the prototype couldn't detect TV broadcasts, and it also sometimes interfered with them. While this current iteration of the technology sounds like a failure, the FCC is still open to the idea of allowing use of the white spaces; now Google, Microsoft and their friends just need to get the technology right before things can move forward.

Filed Under: fcc, spectrum, white spaces
Companies: fcc, google, microsoft

President Bush Not Interested In Getting Involved In Qualcomm/Broadcom Patent Fight

from the leave-me-out-of-this dept

Back in June, Broadcom used a bit of a loophole to get Qualcomm in trouble over patents. Rather than just going the traditional court route, Broadcom had the International Trade Commission simply decide that Qualcomm infringed on Broadcom patents, and bar the import of certain next generation Qualcomm chips. While Qualcomm will still appeal the decision in court, it also appealed directly to President Bush. It would appear the President has more important things to do with his time than get involved in a pointless patent battle, as he's decided to allow the ban to stand. Once again, expect many more companies to start going to the International Trade Commission as a way of getting around court rulings that have been a lot less kind to bogus patents lately. In the meantime, Qualcomm claims it has a workaround to avoid infringing on the patent, but somehow we expect Broadcom won't be satisfied.

Filed Under: patents, president bush
Companies: broadcom, qualcomm