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Whether it is just curiosity (we had DSL at the last place, let’s try cable broadband) or America is bandwidth hungry, cable ISPs are gobbling up customers much faster than DSL, according to Q2 records announced by Pew.  In fact, Comcast says 2/3rds of its new customers are coming from DSL.

So what is it?  Bigger bundling discounts from cable operators?  Are the DSL defectors finding faster speeds and more than happy to pay extra to get it?  Alley Insider suggests it is all about speed.  But is the layperson that hip to know how fast downloads should be?

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It seems like its been forever since we have posted anything Vonage related aside from patent disputes and personal changes that we almost forgot they were still around.

This latest news however seems to be positive, Vonage and Covad Communications have announced a partnership that will allow Vonage to offer a DSL service. The new offering from Vonage will be a re-branded version of Covad’s DSL service and it will simply be called Vonage Broadband. The service is expected to be available by the end of this year and will offer download speeds of up to either 3.0 or 6.0 Mbps for home or small business customers, no mention of just how much this will set you back.

Read [PR Newswire]

Plug your PC into a wall electrical outlet, and that’s all your need to surf the web at high speeds. Tell the cable and DSL service providers where they can stuff their plugs, while you ride the wave of yet another next-generation technology at cheaper prices.

Well...not yet.

It’s been a bad couple of weeks for the concept of broadband over power line (BPL), which the Federal Communications Commission has been touting since 2003 as possible pricing competition for cable and DSL providers. It’s only a pilot program in a handful of cities, but the FCC commissioned studies on the technology and wanted an accelerated rollout of the program. Now you can scratch one of those cities off the list, while the FCC studies themselves are being attacked by amateur radio operators.

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Comcast has introduced a faster internet service, dubbed the “Extreme High-Speed Internet” and boasting of a 50mbps download speed. This is more than six times faster that the current consumer speed and 10 times faster that Qwest’s DSL Internet Service. Comcast is initially testing the new internet service in the Twin Cities of Minnesota but also aims to roll out the service in other cities across the nation later this year and to have it rolled out to all its network by 2010.

So, what do users get from 50mbps download speed? Tons of good stuff that any online video fanatic would love. For one, users can download 4GB of movie in less than 10 minutes. An hour of continuous connection to the Internet would enable users to download 6 full movies to their machines. Game players would also have a heyday with this internet service. Of course, good stuff like this always comes for a price and in the case of the “Extreme High-Speed Internet”, it’s a whooping $150 per month. This cost is more than double the price of Comcast’s current fastest service. But good news for those who are not willing to spend that much money for a faster connection, Comcast also plans to upgrade both the upload and download speeds of its current plans.

Via [Crunch Gear] Read [Star Tribune]

AT&T has announced they will be raising the rates of their DSL service by $5 a month. Customers both new and old that are located in AT&T’s original 13 state area who have either the Basic, Express or Pro service level will see the increase. Any current Elite customer, U-verse customer or those who are located in an older Bell South region will not be affected by the increase.

According to AT&T the increase was needed in order to “better reflect the value of the broadband service and market conditions,” they further went on to mention that they were “confident that customers will see the value in the service and that we’ll continue to grow our customer base.” While I am sure the two have nothing in common, it still almost makes me feel like the extra $5 is to pay for the free Wayport Wi-Fi access we were recently given.

Read [CNET]

AT&T has proposed a new stunning new concept in user monitoring. Essentially, the telecom giant is planning to set up huge filters to look for illegal copywrited material.

“Ultimately, our customers and their online experience come first. This is not about the vast majority of customers who consume content online legally. This is about combating illegal activity.”
--Michael Balmoris, spokesman, AT&T

This is a huge error on AT&T’s part. Certainly, there will be some legitimate material that is going to significantly slowed or blocked by such a filtering plan. I can only imagine the massive amounts of customer complaints that AT&T call centers will receive after such a plan is implemented. The poor call center employees should be issued bulletproof vests and get purple hearts for the kind of abuse they’ll likely receive at the hands of users who are unable to send relatives their own home movies through the net.

This also raises a legal question. Many years ago the telecom industry struck a deal with the federal government. The carriers have never wanted to culpable for any illegal activity that passes over it’s lines, which is understandable. Thus, the bargain of Common Carriage was enacted. The idea is a simple one. The telecoms would treat all calls equally, and in return, they would have no liability for illegal activity that occurred over the lines. The new strategy reverses this. This could be catastrophic for both the consumers and AT&T. If I was a shareholder in AT&T, I’d have to seriously consider dumping AT&T.

Read [CNET]