Clearwire throttling at-home WiMAX users?

Ah, throttling. Can't ever seem to fully shake it, can we? Just weeks after hearing about a similar issue with the EVO 4G, scores of Clear at-home WiMAX users are now up in arms over apparent throttling on certain accounts. As the story goes, it seems as if the company is pulling back on upload and download speeds (from 10Mbps to around 0.25Mbps) for users who have consumed between 7GB and 10GB in a month, which is comically low even compared to Comcast's hated 250GB / month usage cap. Forum users are finding customer service lines to be no help whatsoever, and some digging has found that this may all be a part of a network traffic administration program that's ongoing within Clearwire. Have any of you seen similar issues? How much data are you sucking down per month? Does your usage clock still show up in your account profile? Let us know in comments below.

What Is "Super Wi-Fi"?

The FCC just cleared a path for a new generation of "Super Wi-Fi" technologies. Sounds great! But what the heck is Super Wi-Fi?

Super Wi-Fi is still Wi-Fi...

It's not as though Super Wi-Fi is some entirely alien concept. For all intents and purposes, it's Wi-Fi! The same kind of wireless data transmission you use around your apartment or at the office or waiting in line at Starbucks. It's just much, much more powerful.

...but on a new spectrum...

As John explained previously, pretty much all Wi-Fi activity takes place on the same 2.4GHz or 5GHz frequencies. For the first time in 25 years, though, the FCC has opened up a sizable new block of unlicensed spectrum, this time between 50MHz and 700MHz.

...that lives in between your TV channels...

Ever since television went entirely digital, folks like Google have been lobbying, literally, to free up the airwaves between channels. The so-called "white spaces" would otherwise have been lying around unused or been subject to prohibitive regulatory precautions.

...that's much more powerful than what we have today...

Unlike current Wi-Fi airwaves, whose reach can be measured in feet, the spectrum that would carry Super Wi-Fi would be able to travel for several miles because of that lower frequency. Through brick walls, even—something your Linksys really struggles with. You can also anticipate download speeds of 15Mbps to 20Mbps—about as fast as a cable modem.

...that shouldn't interfere with your regularly scheduled programming...

Back in 2008, when the white space plan was first approved, the biggest concern was that using these airwaves for data transmission could interfere with TV signals. To mitigate those fears, white space devices will be required to query a special geolocation database, ensuring no signals are crossed.

...and that will have (literally) far-reaching benefits...

The advantages are already apparent. Google, for instance, already has a trial running in a Logan, Ohio hospital that's giving first responders and the hospital grounds alike super-speedy broadband. Wilmington, NC uses white-space to send real-time feeds from traffic and security cameras. And eventually, you would potentially be able to access your home Wi-Fi from several blocks away.

...though maybe not for a while.

So far, most of what we know about how the white space will be used is based on conjecture. There may be some proof-of-concept devices early next year at CES, and there may be more mass production of products in a year or two. But the first Super Wi-Fi projects are likely to be medical, municipal, large-scale. How long it takes for us to be always connected from anywhere and anything? That's up to the inventors and entrepreneurs to decide. [FCC (pdf)]

The US' Fastest Internet Speed Is Coming to Chattanooga, Tennessee

If you've ever heard of Chattanooga in Tennessee, chances are you're either a resident or you remember this remarkable UFO house constructed in the '70s. From today, it'll be known for offering the fastest internet connection in the US—1Gbps.
Of course, the 1Gbps speed from EPB won't be a patch on the 40Gbps that this Swedish granny was drying her laundry on two years ago, but 1Gbps is actually 200 times faster than the average speed the rest of the US receives.
Any Chattanooga citizens dreaming of lightning-fast downloads will have to fork out $350 a month, though the CEO of EPB admitted that they "don't know how to price a gig...we're experimenting. We'll learn."
In a quote reminiscent of George Mallory's infamous answer to the question of why he chose to climb Mt Everest, the EPB CEO Harold DePriest told the NY Times the reason they're launching a 1Gbps service is "because we can."
Non-Chattanoogaians after similarly-fast speeds will have to look to Google to provide the answer. Bad luck if you weren't one of the 500,000 lucky individuals chosen for their fiber network experiment. [NY Times]

Sci-Fi Author's Son Creates Wireless ISP To Give You 20Mbps Downloads For $40/Month

Sci-Fi author Rudy Rucker's son's one of the folks behind the cleverest wireless ISP serving San Francisco. He and his team have set up a system to provide customers with reliable 10-30Mbps download speeds for a mere $40 per month.
Sure, you could get theoretical speeds of about "20 Mbps down and 4 Mbps up from Comcast for $55 per month," but the service provided by Rucker's company, MonkeyBrains, is providing reliable and consistent speeds:

MonkeyBrains guarantees at least 10 Mbps symmetrical and most customers see 15-20 Mbps. Some customers see 25-30 Mbps with a good connection. According to [a company employee], this depends on the company's backhaul connection, which is in the process of being upgraded. Once that happens, he expects 30 Mbps+ connections will be common.

There are initial startup costs associated with the service—it costs about $250 to install the required antenna—but MonkeyBrains appears to be offering customers several free months of service to compensate for that cost.
The company is still small: It has "about 100 antennas, each of which may serve one or many customers—an average of 5-10 per antenna"—but it certainly appears to be off to a good start. Of course, the downside of a company like MonkeyBrains is that it provides such great—and cheap—service because it's sticking to a small area and focusing on those customers. This means that those of us who live outside of San Francisco are left hoping that someone will think to run a small WISP with a silly name in our areas too. [Information Week]

USB Modem & Internet Sharing

Wireless Access Point want to build my place to the Internet from multiple systems. I have the 17 “iMac Core Duo with OSX on my 10th two sixth place and the setup of this network at my place. I have the USB modem for connecting to the Internet. So I would like to know that I can use the USB modem and use Internet Sharing to activate me. Re: USB Modem & Internet SharingI dont think it is possible to create wireless access points in your home with the USB modem to access the Internet wirelessly in many computer the area. So also dont think about it. you can not share the Internet on multiple computers simultaneously. So do not even try to think to do that. proper use of the Internet with the USB modem on 17 “iMac Core Duo with OSX 10th 6th 2nd Re: USB Modem & Internet SharingYou can only access and exchange on the Internet on multiple system at your site using the wireless router only. To configure the wireless router at home and enjoy the wireless Internet connection on multiple systems without problems. But this can not be with the USB modem Internet device. So try this as soon as possible. Re: USB Modem & Internet SharingI am not quite sure but I think it made the device available that Apple can easily do this for you. Then you can access to the manifold system with the Access Point at your site. But I do not remember the name of the device. So it will be better that you go through the Apple Store and ask for this device. I am sure you will get it from there. Re: USB Modem & Internet SharingI should advise you to get Apple’s AirPort Express device for this purpose. With AirPort Express connected to your DSL or cable modem, up to 10 users to simultaneously surf the Web, send email, annihilate the competition in multiplayer games and much more wire-free. AirPort Express connects people to each other as well. You can wirelessly share photos, movies and other files without having to vex about slow data transmissions.

iiNet announces bonded DSL for business

iiNet, Australia’s third largest ISP has announced support for bonded DSL, which can double broadband speeds compared to a standard ADSL2+ connection.
iiNet’s business GM Steve Harley told CommsDay that the technology would be of benefit to the almost 42,000 businesses already using iiNet ADSL broadband connected through iiNet’s own DSLAMs.
Business users signing up for iiNet’s bonded DSL service can expect to pay from $99 per month for the service, plus a one off setup charge (if you are an existing iiNet customer) of $150 if currently using Naked ADSL or $79.95 for Broadband 2+ customers. iiNet’s bonded DSL modem costs an additional $419 on top of the setup costs.
Bonded DSL differs from other approaches that look to load balance two separate ADSL connections, in that it combines to twisted pair connections at the exchange end, creating what is described as “one big pipe” by iiNet’s Steve Harley, rather than two separate pipes pushing information to your business. This eases administrative problems at the business end, by simply having one modem connect to your network in the same way as your current ADSL connection.
iiNet currently offers a range of fibre optic connections to businesses, but many see the step up to a fibre connection cost prohibitive, with monthly costs in the range of $1,000 or more, in addition to set up costs in the range of $20,000-30,000. iiNet’s bonded DSL solution brings this prohibitive price point down for small to medium businesses that need more bandwidth than ADSL2 offers, but at a significantly more attractive price point. Bonded DSL is also more likely to be available to businesses, with 85 percent of iiNet’s current customers in areas capable of supporting the technology.

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My tech support nightmare shows why Comcast has the worst tech support ever

Pity me --- I use Comcast as my ISP. Based on the support hell I've been put through by that company today, I can definitively say Comcast has the worst tech support of any company anywhere. Here's my tale of woe.
In the last week or so, I've been experiencing intermittent Internet outages. This has happened before; each time Comcast has dispatched a technician to the neighborhood, who fixed a nearby connection, and then things worked fine.
This time when I called tech support, I was told the problem was my cable modem. There was no problem with Comcast's network, he insisted. I had to return my cable modem and get a new one. That would fix the problem.
"Can you check whether other people in the neighborhood are calling with the same problem?" I asked. "If they are, it means there's a problem with your network, not with my modem."
The technician told me that no, he couldn't check on that. I'd have to return my cable modem for a new one. That would fix the problem.
I dutifully trudged to the Comcast office in my neighborhood and waited in line. The person before me, who also lived in my neighborhood, handed a cable modem to the person behind the counter and said, "I'm having a problem with my Internet connection. Tech support told me the problem was with my cable modem and I had to get a new one."
When it was my turn, I asked whether a lot of people in the neighborhood were suddenly returning their cable modems and getting new ones, because tech support told them that would fix their Internet connection problems.
"You know, you're right," she told me. "I've never seen so many people returning their modems like this."
I suggested that she call someone at Comcast's main office and tell them that there's clearly a problem with a connection in the neighborhood.
I returned home and plugged in my cable modem. No Internet connection. I called tech support and received an automated message saying that there is a problem in my area, and they've dispatched someone to fix it.
An hour later, I used ping to see whether I had an Internet connection. It worked! Finally, I thought, I'd be able to get onto the Internet.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. I launched my browser, but apparently because I had a new cable modem, Comcast thought I was a new customer and so the Web page asked that I set up a new account. Given that I already have an account, I couldn't set up a new account.
I called tech support again, so they could fix the problem. This time around, they'd be able to make a change to my record, and that would do the trick. No thinking would be involved. When it comes to Comcast, that's a good thing.
I again received the recorded message. No human would help.
I figured that I'd try to set up a new account. First, though, I had to download software. But when I clicked the link to the download, nothing happened. I clicked again. Nothing.
Eventually, though, the link worked. But even after installing the software and using it, each time I launched my browser it brought me back to the same screen, informing me that because I was a new customer, I had to set up a new account. But it wouldn't let me set up a new account.
I called tech support yet one more time. Once again, I received the same recorded message.
Luckily, my son Gabe came to the rescue. He suggested that I configure my PC to use OpenDNS DNS servers and bypass Comcast servers. I followed his advice. That did the trick...but only on that one PC. So I'll have to change DNS settings for all the computers in my house. So I can't say that the problem is really solved yet.
In fact, I realized, the problem will never really be solved, until I get away from Comcast, which unfortunately offers the only truly high-speed Internet service where I live. Verizon FIOS, when will you finally come to Cambridge?

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Faster internet on way for residents

Wellington residents will be among the first to experience Telstra’s latest advance in national mobile broadband speeds.

Telstra will launch a new mobile device enabling the doubling of data speeds on the NextG network later this year.

Telstra CEO David Thodey said 100 regional towns would benefit from the new modem when it became available.

Customers using the new device, the Telstra Ultimate USB, will be able to download files or surf the internet up to twice as fast as those using the next-fastest 3G modem currently available.

Mr Thodey made the announcement in a speech to community leaders in Albury to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Telstra Country Wide, which was launched in June 2000.

“Telstra will make this new technology available in 100 selected regional towns and cities at the same time as many capital cities, underlining our commitment to provide the best technology to Australians no matter where they live,” Mr Thodey said.

“Telstra has been investing in regional and rural Australia for more than 100 years, including through Telstra Country Wide for the past 10 years, to improve the quality of life for people living and working in regional and rural Australia.

“The first decade of Telstra Country Wide is just the beginning.

“Telstra is committed to continuing its investment in regional and rural Australia so we can provide local consumers, businesses, governments, schools and health services with the same leading-edge services that are available elsewhere in Australia.”

Mr Thodey said since the inception of Telstra Country Wide 10 years ago Telstra’s mobile phone coverage had expanded from about 800,000 to more than two million square kilometres, and now covered more than 99 per cent of the population.

“Internet access speeds have increased from dial-up rates of a few 10s of kilobits per second to be typically 550kbps to 8Mbps in selected regional areas,” he said.

Clear Wireless Internet Now Here

Harrisburg, Pa. - A new service in our area has internet speeds as fast as a cable modem, but there's no cable involved at all.

Maybe you've seen the displays popping up in electronics stores all over the area,
like the green tent at Harrisburg Radio Lab. Or maybe you've seen the TV commercials.

Clear is a wireless, 4-g internet service that's just hitting our area.

"It's wireless right to the modem and then it's at broadband speed, so it's just as fast as your major service providers like Comcast and Verizon," said Shawn Bechtel of Radio Lab.

That means no service person visits your home. You just take the modem home and plug it in. Not only is Clear wireless, it's home internet service is about $30 a month, considerably less than broadband cable internet service.

You can add home phone service too. By plugging a module into a laptop, and with the proper service plan, Clear can also be used away from home, anywhere in the coverage area.

The company's website, www.clear.com, shows where their internet service is available in our area. Harrisburg, York and Lancaster are good to go. The best thing to do, is check the map to see if where you live, is in the green area.

Motorola SURFboard SB5120 - Cable modem - external - Hi-Speed USB / Fast Ethernet - 38 Mbps

Product Description

Motorola's next-generation SURFboard SB5120 Cable Modem incorporates the latest DOCSIS 2.0 Advanced Time Division Multiple Access (A-TDMA) and Sychnronous Code Division Multiple Access (S-CDMA) technologies to provide up to three times greater upstream capacity than DOCSIS 1.0/1.1 systems. Packed with power, the SB5120 is interoperable and backward compatible with DOCSIS 1.0 and 1.1 for a fast and timely transition - operators can deploy the SB5120 today without a service interruption.The Motorola SURFboard SB5120 is flexible and allows operators to maximize their current infrastructure investments and also offer additional cost-effective services, all at the same time. Convenient for both operators and end-users alike, the SURFboard SB5120 ensures end-user security via a top-mounted stand-by switch that quickly isolates the USB and Ethernet connection to the PC without disconnecting the cable modem from the RF network. What's more, the SB5120 simplifies troubleshooting with its front panel status indicator LEDs and integrated HTML diagnostics page. The SURFboard SB5120 is competitively priced and includes many of the valuable features found in previous SURFboard models, such as USB and Ethernet connectivity, software upgrades available over the network, proven field reliability, a quality, advanced RF design, and a high-performance processor.Highly functional and attractive, the Motorola SURFboard SB5120 features a new, compact design that is a stylish and clutter-free addition to virtually any desktop.

Details

• Latest DOCSIS 2.0 Advanced Time Division Multiple Access (A-TDMA) and Sychnronous Code Division Multiple Access (S-CDMA) technologies
• Compatible with DOCSIS 1.0 and 1.1 for a fast and timely transition
• Convenient for both operators and end-users alike

Buy Your Cable Modem to Save Cash and Other Common Digital Fees to Avoid

Money site LiveCheap offers five suggestions for identifying and cutting down on your monthly digital bill without changing your service, potentially saving you hundreds of dollars. One way? Buy rather than rent your cable modem.

Photo by Rae Whitlock.

By tackling common and hidden fees, the folks at LiveCheap were able to save $500 from their yearly bill. They tackled some issues like eliminating the "free" VoIP line that comes bundled with your cable and removing unnecessary services from your cell phone plan. Our favorite cost-cutting measure included buying your cable modem box:

Even if you've already negotiated the best possible cable deal with your provider, there's one charge that you probably missed: the cable box fee or the cable modem fee. If your cable service is provided by Charter Communications, CableVision or another big operator, they'll charge you a whopping $5 to $6.95 a month for each of these boxes. $10 - $12 a month for both of these works out to over $120 a year. If you're stuck to cable, you can purchase a digital cable box in good condition online for about $30 and the cable modem will cost you another $25. It will take all of 6 months to recoup the cost.

Annual fee savings? $130. For a few other suggestions for how you can cut down on your digital bill, hit the link below.

5 Overlooked Digital Charges to Eliminate and Save $500 [LiveCheap via The Consumerist]

Remotely Reboot Your Router from Any Browser

We've all had those routers that just don't cooperate, and every once in a while lose connection and need to be rebooted (or rather, unplugged and then plugged back in). Here's how to do it without walking across your whole house.

If this happens to you a lot, your router may have a larger underlying issue that needs to be fixed—perhaps the firmware needs an update, or your router is not cooperating with your ISP and you need to give them a call. If it happens only once in a while, though, and you have yet to find a defining solution (maybe you just have a cheap router), here's an easy way to reboot your router without having to be near it.

Note that you'll need to have administrator access to the router. If this is your personal, home router, this is easy. Chances are, the router is still using the default username and password for that model, which is readily available information. You can also do a hard reset of your router by using a paper clip to press the reset button on the back. If you'd rather not restore the factory settings, though, and you have a backup of your config file, you can also use previously mentioned RouterPassView to find your username and password.

To reboot the router when the connection goes down, just type in your router's IP address in the address bar of any browser. The IP address should be easily viewable in your computer's network preferences, though it's usually http://192.168.1.1 or something similar. Every router's settings page is different, but you should be able to reboot the router just by going to basic settings and hitting the "save" or "apply" button without making any changes—this will reboot your router and hopefully get your connection up and running again.

This information is an amalgamation of information from commenters over at Lifehacker Australia and a bit of Googling. I've tested it as much as I can, but I can't verify that this works for restoring lost connections that require an unplug/replug (since I cannot reproduce the event that would cause that type of connection loss), so let us know if this works for you in the comments.

Ask Lifehacker: Rebooting Your Router Remotely [Lifehacker Australia]

AT&T Can Save Their Network... With Wi-Fi?

AT&T's latest idea is actually kind of brilliant on multiple levels: totally free Wi-Fi in Times Square. And it could be how they save their network.

It's no coincidence that AT&T already runs the largest Wi-Fi network in the country—20,000 hotspots in all—providing free Wi-Fi (to AT&T customers) in the kinds of places that people like to hang out and gobble data on their phones: Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, and McDonald's. The Times Square Wi-Fi project is a pilot program, and depending on the results, possibly the first of many dense, high-traffic urban areas AT&T blankets in Wi-Fi.

Upfront, it's good publicity, with AT&T scoring major brownie points from folks for providing a legitimately useful service for free in a perfect location: Times Square is highly visible, a perpetually throbbing, pulsing throng of humanity, largely wafting through like a concrete lazy river. And it's largely tourists, who you can imagine exclaiming "ooooooOOO! free internet!" as they glisten, unaccustomed to walking distances greater than the length of a parking lot, upon discovering AT&T's open Wi-Fi network in the north central section of Times Square, near 7th Avenue between 45th and 47th Street.

A huge mass of people. Well known landmark. Oh yes, and the AT&T service there is crap, as it is in many highly trafficked areas of New York.

Which brings us to the why: Because, instead of thousands and thousands of people simultaneously uploading their awesome photos or videos to Facebook or YouTube or wherever to share—gigs and gigs of data—over AT&T's bruised, congested cellular network, they can use free Wi-Fi, offloading traffic and reducing the strain on the network thousands of other people are trying to make phone calls over.

AT&T would be missing a huge opportunity if they failed to leverage Wi-Fi in a significant way, building their Wi-Fi network out to every huge, congested public space they can find. In New York, half of my calls fail in Union Square. Offloading traffic to a separate Wi-Fi network wouldn't completely solve the cell network crush in these superpacked areas, but it would seriously help, if these networks were promoted and maintained correctly. That is, people knew about them, and they were speedier than using the 3G network (since speed would be the incentive to use them). Their own numbers bear this out: AT&T served up 53.1 million Wi-Fi connections in the first three months of this year, over 500 percent growth from a year ago. Where would they rather have all that traffic? On the cell network, or on Wi-Fi?

True, Wi-Fi networks would introduce their own maintenance issues, but they would be cheaper and easier than constructing and tuning new cell towers, particularly in places that might already be stacked to the brim with towers, as many of these areas likely are. (The success of muni Wi-Fi in a few places suggests the economy of the idea.)

It's a pair of fabulous, depressing ironies: The way to save AT&T's network is by keeping us off of it. And the technology to save it is not some new R&D breakthrough, but a technology that even Grandma's got. [AT&T, Image via jliba/Flickr]

The FCC's New Plan for Broadband (and Why Nobody's Happy About It)

The FCC was told fairly bluntly it doesn't have the power to mandate net neutrality. So! Time for a new plan.

The problem, as FCC Chairman Genachowski sees it, is that the FCC can keep trying to regulate stuff using indirect authority (which sucks because it doesn't go far enough, as the chairman sees it), or they could reclassify internet communications, so that the FCC has direct authority, but that would mean ISPs would have crazy new regulatory requirements (which sucks because it goes too far down the regulatory road).

Hence, the third way, which tries to neatly slip between the two extremes by breaking broadband up into different components, subject to different regulations, giving the FCC what the chairman says is "modest authority" over broadband, shoring up the shaky legal ground its internet powers sit on following the Comcast decision:

• Recognize the transmission component of broadband access service-and only this component-as a telecommunications service;
• Apply only a handful of provisions of Title II (Sections 201, 202, 208, 222, 254, and 255) that, prior to the Comcast decision, were widely believed to be within the Commission's purview for broadband;
• Simultaneously renounce-that is, forbear from-application of the many sections of the Communications Act that are unnecessary and inappropriate for broadband access service; and
• Put in place up-front forbearance and meaningful boundaries to guard against regulatory overreach.

The main point being that under this plan, "the transmission component" of broadband falls under the FCC's direct authority—not any of the actual content on the internet, or how much it costs—which the FCC says wouldn't change much for ISPs, since it's narrowly targeted (it "would not give the FCC greater authority than the Commission was understood to have pre-Comcast"), but at the same time, it would let the FCC move forward on the things it needs to do, like work on the national broadband plan. The upshot is that while broadband wouldn't be regulated as tightly as say, telephone service, the FCC is interested in applying a limited form of net neutrality, limiting the ability of ISPs to discriminate against particular services or applications or websites.

Broadband providers hate it, as the NYT and WSJ show, because they think it goes too far, with Verizon saying it's "legally unsupported," and Republicans apparently passing around proposed legislation from a year ago that would ban the FCC from regulating the internet. And so do the hardcore pro-net neutrality groups, thinking the FCC isn't grabbing the authority it really needs, like Public Knowedge. Well, you know, you can't make everybody happy.

Though re-watching this clip of Al Franken reaming Comcast's CEO is still pretty entertaining. [NYT, WSJ, Broadband.gov]

The Best and Worst Hotel Wi-Fi

I'm not going to pretend HotelChatter's chart works, so I'll just point to their list of best hotel Wi-Fi (Holiday Inn for mega-chains) and worst (avoid mid-high-enders like DoubleTree). My hotel criteria? Waffle House proximity. [Hotel Chatter via Lifehacker]

How Much Less AT&T Is Sucking

Sure, sure, AT&T added another 1.9 million subscribers and activated 2.7 million new iPhones. But the most interesting slide in their earnings statement was the one detailing, statistically, how much less they suck. With graphs and stuff.

The improvements are indeed caveat-loaded. Dropped 3G calls in Manhattan, one of AT&T's admitted trouble spots, are down 6 percent, and 9 percent overall in NYC. That's great, especially if you consider they've been adding subscribers. But note that's not calls on EDGE, which some people are stuck with, or resort to in an attempt to pull a more reliable signal—which, since AT&T's mostly focused on improving 3G, presumably haven't gotten any better.

Faster 3G speeds via AT&T's deployment of HSPA 7.2—32-47 percent faster downloads—are only happening where they've actually deployed fiber backhaul. Thing is, limited backhaul—the pipes that actually run to cell towers—has always been a huge aspect of AT&T's data crunch. The fact the boosts are only happening where they've deployed new fiber backhaul shows how tapped out they are. Given that they made nearly a billion dollars more in data revenues vs. last year, this is non-trivial. [AT&T]

Take the Consumer Broadband Test, Help the FCC Keep ISPs In Check

Feel like your broadband's not living up to how it's advertised? Here's your chance to prove it: the FCC's introduced a Consumer Broadband Test that'll let you know exactly how good a connection you've got.

The test is in beta, but can be used for both fixed and mobile broadband, and there are already iPhone and Android apps available for download. You can already figure out your broadband speed with YouTube, but the info the FCC collects will be used by the agency to determine the state of broadband in the US. Hopefully it'll also be ammo to help reconcile the difference between hyperspeed ISP claims and your pokey broadband reality. [Broadband Task Force via Boing Boing]

Cisco promises the 'next generation internet,' delivers markedly less

Cisco promised us a significant announcement this morning, one that would "forever change the Internet and its impact on consumers, businesses and governments," so we had to tune in to the company's webcast to find out what it was all about. We were instantly bowled over with the shocking news that video is the killer app of the future internet, before getting it drilled into our heads that we really need, like and want more bandwidth. No kidding -- so what, Cisco, what is your revolutionary next step? Is it the space-based IP router? Some killer alternative 4G connectivity? Well, it turns out it was the CRS3. The what? Cisco is bringing out a new Carrier Routing System, which Pantaj Patel describes as "this is huge" in a perfect monotone. We couldn't agree more. Apparently Cisco is keen on offering smarter pipes, and we did hear that AT&T is handling 19 petabytes of traffic each and every day, but the sum of the whole thing is that Cisco is just refreshing its backhaul hardware and regurgitating promises about 100Gbps bandwidth and whatnot. The internet remains safe and un-revolutionized for another day. Video after the break.

Cisco

RT-N56U Router From The Starship Enterprise Lands...Err, From ASUS, I Mean

I just don't know what to think about this router. I've been staring at it for minutes now, wondering how in 802.11n's name it was created in ASUS' laboratory.

ASUS hasn't been too forthcoming with details on the RT-N56U, which was announced at CeBIT this week, and until we hear back from them we'll just have to entertain you with these small slivers of detail: it has dual band support with the 5GHz band being used, is compatible with both printers and scanners, and is very fast apparently—with 300,000 concurrent sessions available.

Time to go back to boggling over that inconceivably thin frame. [ASUS]

Beceem's BCS500 4G modem splices WiMAX and LTE into one chip, sampling later this year

When we were told market research pointed to WiMAX and LTE standards for 4G connectivity coexisting, we didn't expect they'd do it quite so closely. Beceem, the maker of the WiMAX chips inside "every device in Clearwire's network," is working on a 4G modem that can handle both WiMAX and LTE, with the added extra of being able to move seamlessly between the two networks in order to find the best signal possible. The mashup of the two standards makes sense in light of all the equivocation from Clearwire and Sprint on the subject of which one they'd prefer, and would be a more than welcome simplification of our collective 4G future. Anyhow, the latest development is that Beceem and Motorola are working to pair the BCS500 to the latter's WiMAX 4G infrastructure, with the first dual-mode chips set to start sampling "later this year" and hit mass production in early 2011.

PR Newswire