It’s been a long time since I posted here. I’m using an app on my Android phone. It’s cool.
I’m working at Everything Everywhere, specifically focused on selling Broadband online. Funny world.
Archive for the 'Broadband' Category
Via David Isenburgisen.blog
Doug Mohoney writes:
Verso Technologies (www.verso.com) announced the rollout of a “carrier-grade applications filter” that can block so-called bandwidth drains such as Skype, P2P messaging, streaming media, and instant messaging.
So I pay for the service but I can’t use what I want over it? Good call Verso. I know of at least one other provider who was considering this; they may well still be. I hope they don’t go down this route…
As David suggests:
Clearly the best network is one that has no users and supports no apps
BBC NEWS | Technology | US broadband take-up slows down
A little surprisingly US broadband penetration slowed in the last year:
broadband take-up has grown by just 3% in the last year.
Of the 67% of Americans online, 53% of them are now online via a broadband connection.
The remaining half are going to be harder to convert thinks report author John Horrigan.
“There are fewer people hankering for high speed now and that means less pent-up demand for broadband,” he said.
Reading the article I can see why it would slow down, but it doesn’t augur well for the UK market which seems to follow the US by about year to 18 months.
The digital divide mentioned in the article can only get worse, as more organisations seek to put things online and not offer via other means. Personally I haven’t been convinced by government backed programmes to increase penetration or support less well off.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Stakes raised in fast net race
Well my old company look to take the lead in the Broadband race by implementing ADSL2+. Don’t know the ins and outs of it but I guess that the aim is certainly to offer customers much faster speeds than currently. What I am confused over is the ability to offer the service through ntl’s own existing cable network as I understood that to not be possible… Be interesting to see and I wait with baited breath :0
Looks like my old team at ntl have plenty of work on and I’m glad of that - I hope it gives them a chance to use their capabilities to the full.
I’ll have to try and find out more details…
PlusNet to trial BT’s 8Mb broadband | The Register
More for you speed junkies - PlusNet are also going to offer a 8MB ADSL service - sometimes competition works but then as this other story at the register shows sometimes it doesn’t and Co-operation (co-operatives even) are the key.
BBC NEWS | Technology | Britons fed up with net service
A survey conducted by PC Pro Magazine has revealed that many Britons are unhappy with their internet service.
They are fed up with slow speeds, high prices and the level of customer service they receive.17% of readers have switched suppliers and a further 16% are considering changing in the near future.
It is particularly bad news for BT, the UK’s biggest internet supplier, with almost three times as many people trying to leave as joining.
More and more people want to switch supplier - broadband is moving slowly to be a commodity. Although ISPs are increasingly desparate to increase customer loyalty many are seeking to compete only on price.
Note the phrase ‘customer service’ - its not unexpected that people want to be treated with a little respect. And the usual ‘retention’ trick of offering a better deal when you request to disconnect, well proven business practice it may be but I find it distinctly disingenuous.
Service providers need to be looking in the first instance to improve the customer service (and quality of service) and then start to improve value added services, rather than focus on the latter before the former.
Getting it right isn’t that difficult, unfortunately getting it wrong and compensating seems to be the easiest way out.
Of course I am available to assist if you need some help 
BBC NEWS | Technology | Full speed ahead for broadband
Simple outline from the Beeb on the higher speeds of broadband coming your way in 2005. Obviously very interested in the claim by ntl that 100mb service - although I have to point out that the quote from
Andrew Ferguson, a broadband expert and editor of the ADSL Guide, believes some of the talk could be marketing speak on NTL’s behalf
Indeed! There is no way that broadband speeds can go in excess of 3.2mb without upgrading the cable modems and the platform of the network DOCSIS will not support these speeds. A number of customers of ntl will know that the physical infrastructure is also not up to it. A great deal of outlay would be needed is an understatement. A merged cable co though may have a better time of convincing the money markets but not ntl on its own.
Personally, if you want the high speeds then Bulldog or UKonline look the best bets however there isn’t much to do with these speeds today so why switch to any higher than 2-3MB?
My acid test is how long it will take me to switch. We will see…
BBC NEWS | Technology | Web photo storage market hots up
I have been thinking about this aspect of the web for some time - although admitedly on a broader outlook, at, as Marc Canter puts it ‘Digital Lifestyle aggregations’. Photos are an essential place in a lot of people’s lives - they convey meaning, emotion for time and place and can evoke powerful responses. As the article suggests they are also an important form of social history artifacts that offer incredible insight into people.
From a technology perspective it doesn’t appear at first glance to be too much of an issue after all, storing phots isn’t a problem - you just need more memory - and that’s not expensive. The big ‘but’ though is format of the photo and its ongoing compatibility with future formats - something that has caused problems with such projects as the BBC’s Doomsday Book project which was originally stored on VideoDiscs in BBC Micro format.
It also causes problems for people now too. Whilst digital formats are extremely easy to use, in terms of taking and storing personally, sharing digitally and physically can be an issue. My family have hundreds of stored photos but we rarely look at them unless they are stored physically because we don’t have an obviously easily accessable digital viewer to hand (i.e. we have to switch on the PC and look at them there - not convenient - an my father in law leaves the photos on the memory card in the camera).
Ideally then a service that could provide a means of sharing, a device capable of showing pictures to their full effect which is portable, a means of showing pictures anywhere within the household and a means of printing high quality physical prints. And of course a format that is compatible cross devices and future proof.
Not asking for much am I?
Whilst there are a number of firms in and around this area, none of them have really caught the imagination or developed the ‘killer app’.
I wonder whether a service that allows storage and view over TV, mobile, Internet with third party printing and perhaps rental or discounted pricing on a suitable mobile viewing device could be a business model that would work?
Anybody needs someone to help work up a business model?
BBC NEWS | Technology | All of the net, all of the time
Bill Thompson’s BBC technology column is always worth a view. His take this week is on pervasive nature of the net given wireless access methods. I think this will invade our lives more and more - the idea of computing and particularly network (internet) access everywhere. As Bill mentions he could use a PDA or Smart Mobile phone and most places now have some sort of wireless connection for a laptop to connect to.
I suspect in the not to distant future Head up displays may well come into being but probably further than I think (well I am a Cyberpunk fan at heart).
For an interesting take on pervasive and ubiquitous computing have a look at Anne Galloway’s blog Purse Lip Square Jaw
CURRY.COM: Adam Curry’s Weblog
Another satisfied customer…or rather could have been but isn’t.
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