Telecom And Broadband

Listening to Yogi on Interconnection and Net Neutrality

May

2014

I’m returning from a packed event, hosted by the Progressive Policy Institute, on the FCC’s role in Internet interconnection. It was a good discussion. And I’m glad to see these issues getting the attention they deserve. I was the only panelist calling for an ongoing FCC role as a backstop for interconnection agreements, which I’ve advocated in my Only Connect (2007) and No Dialtone (2014) papers. The others were more concerned ...

Wireless: Walled Gardens to Walled Markets?

Aug

2008

T-Mobile, the #4 US wireless carrier, is moving to an App Store model for all its phones.Â In other words, users will be able to choose their own applications, as they now do on Apple’s iPhone.Â Along with Google Android/Open Handset Alliance, Verizon’s open development initiative, and the success of Apple’s App Store, this is good news for wireless subscribers in the US.Â For too long we’ve been stuck with ...

All in the Family

Apr

2005

My brother Adam, who sits on the San Francisco Public Utility Commission and has an amazing record as a progressive activist, has an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle promoting municipal wireless broadband. It’s great when our professional paths cross like this. It’s even better when Adam does such an effective job of making the case for municipal networks.

Philly WiFi: The Gloves Come Off

Feb

2005

It has been interesting to watch the debate progress over the city of Philadelphia’s plan to create a city-wide outdoor public WiFi network. The project generated a lot of attention when first announced. At that time, Verizon and Comcast didn’t have much to say about it. Then word leaked out that a bill in the Pennsylvania legislature would prohibit Philadelphia and other cities from engaging in such projects. (After a ...

Skype Stats

Nov

2004

An update on Skype’s P2P voice over IP service, courtesy of Jeff Clavier: * 13M+ users registered * 1M+ simultaneous users reached for the first time a couple of weeks ago * 2,384,686,217 minutes served, as I type this – i.e almost 2.4 billion minutes. Just to put things in perspective: Vonage has 170,000 customers and passed the billion minutes mark sometime in 2004 * 295,000 users have signed for ...

The Next Billion Users

Nov

2004

Two billion mobile phone users worldwide by 2006, with numbers continuing to grow, according to Nokia. Not surprising, but still mind-boggling when you stop to consider it. Two billion human beings walking around every waking moment with a networked communications device.