Communication Breakdown
Communications from the world of, er, communications. And other stuff.
Tuesday 29 April 2008, 5:23 PM
C4 cottons onto net neutrality debate
A Channel 4 News report tonight will have the British Chambers of Commerce calling on the government and ISPs to pay up for a broadband infrastructure upgrade, in the face of rising online video usage (YouTube, iPlayer, the usual suspects).
The net monitors at Broadband Expert have apparently surveyed 18 ISPs, finding that, shocker, people don't get the speeds they pay for.
BCC DG David Frost (not that one): "It is clear that the internet is currently slowing down because of increased demand... The system needs to be upgraded; whether that is by the service providers or government, to ensure economic growth... The money has got to be found for improvements, if not the harm to the economy will be very substantial indeed."
From the press release: Dr Ian Waldon, professor of Information and Communications Law at Queen Mary, University of London, has told Channel 4 that 'net neutrality' – the idea the internet is equal to all users – will become a thing of the past as customers are forced to pay extra for the web capacity they take up [...] We get onto the internet through access networks – and there's a possibility that the capacity of those networks will be exceeded soon".
See our analysis of the situation here. I still refuse to believe this stuff about the net falling over, or the idea that net neutrality - the right kind of net neutrality - will have to go out the window. There's a lot of lobbying going on here with this web-slowdown stuff. The upgrade will happen, and consumers in particular will have to stump up, via the ISPs. It would be nice if the government helped out, though.
Grrr.
Anyway, the C4 report can be viewed here.
Monday 28 April 2008, 12:22 PM
Mobile broadband joins the pick'n'mix
As if proof were needed that mobile broadband has now flown the enterprise-only coop, news arrives that pre-pay HSDPA dongles are being sold in Woolworths. Argos and Tesco are reportedly set to follow suit.
I remain unconvinced that mobile broadband will become more prevalent than fixed-line by 2010, but it seems clear that it's becoming very widespread, very quickly. It'll be interesting to see what impact this has on operators' networks, and on those business customers who had a certain quality of service when it was a business-only proposition, but now find themselves sharing bandwidth with, well, lots of consumers - especially if "netbooks" like the Eee take off like we think they will.
Friday 25 April 2008, 3:46 PM
Orange broadband - easy go
Ah, cheap unlimited broadband offers. Gotta love them. Or, according to Mobile Today, not. It seems Orange's decision to levy a £30 connection charge for its masses-pleasing and market-changing offer has seen its broadband sales "plummet" by more than 50 percent in some stores, within just two weeks of the charge being introduced. Being rated as the worst broadband provider in the UK can't help either, mind you.
You'd think the "free unlimited broadband" crowd would be more loyal than that, but there you go...
Tuesday 22 April 2008, 4:39 PM
Social networking and portability
One of the more interesting speakers at Infosec's "Locking Down Social Networking Vulnerabilities" event today - itself locked down by a power cut just as Facebook's Max Kelly was cutting to the nub of his gist - was Giles Hogben of the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA).
Hogben was suggesting, as he did in a report to the European Commission last year, that users of social networking sites like Facebook should be able to export their profiles - a "secure briefcase", in his words - rather than being stuck in the current situation, where it is impossible to get your data off Facebook's servers whether or not you "deactivate" your account. In other words, the social network's servers won't hold your profile - you will, encrypted on a USB key. Which you can then take around different social networks.
I can see his point, but also the obvious flaw. Despite OpenSocial and such initiatives, can you imagine social networks really opening the door for their users to wander off with all their data, not leaving any "stickiness" for the social network? Perhaps I'm being overly cynical, but I think it'll be a cold day in hell before we see the likes of Facebook agree to that. In the words of Hogben, speaking to me after the abbreviated panel discussion: "The social network provider would provide you with a platform, but they wouldn't get to see the data."
Then how would they make any money and stay viable? If the EC takes this suggestion on board then we're in for an entertaining fight.
Friday 18 April 2008, 4:28 PM
Cash raised for Voice 2.0 plans
Truphone, the mobile VoIP company, has gathered up £16.5m in an investment round.
Last week the company also bought SIM4travel, a global pay-as-you-go mobile network. Truphone says its new cash fund will help it provide "a single, global SIM card that offers not only low call charges both domestically and abroad, but also internet calls at free and ultra-low prices".
Truphone's approach is based on software that routes VoIP calls onto Wi-Fi where it's available, and onto partners' mobile networks where it's not.
James Tagg, Truphone's CEO, claims that "as a 'Voice 2.0' company we can start to develop and introduce new internet-based features and applications that give customers a richer mobile experience".
Mobile VoIP does seem at first to be a daft idea, but it'll be interesting to see what the Tagg-team comes up with in terms of those new features and applications. Dean Bubley has an interesting take on the whole affair at his blog.
I wish Truphone luck, but I also hope to never see or hear the term "Voice 2.0" again. I mean, really...
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