With the climate for municipal broadband becoming increasingly difficult to navigate, we wanted to showcase regional providers who are doing their part to bring high-speed internet to rural, underserved areas. To find out more about the changing landscape, we asked 19 rural broadband providers to share their founding stories, walk us through their company’s evolution, … Continued
Astronauts have had personal Internet access since 2010. For the moon and mars, Internet service is already being developed. On July 18, aerospace manufacturer Blue Origin launched the New Shepard rocket into orbit. Aboard the vehicle was a tiny router developed by Solstar — a company that aims to bring Wi-Fi connectivity to spacecraft the … Continued
“We will have perfect data all the time” says Sinclair exec about new TV broadcast technology that enables them to collect data on consumers through TV sets and mobile devices. Overview Outdated local broadcast TV is being replaced by a new, broadband-enabled standard called ‘Next Gen TV’. ‘Next Gen TV’ will allow broadcasters to track … Continued
Who the FTC Is and Why They’re Taking Over Consumer Protection on the Internet. Update: this post has been updated as of May 2018 to reflect new appointees under the Trump Administration. With the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) loosening their regulatory authority over how Internet providers like AT&T and Verizon structure their service offerings, the … Continued
More Than Half of States in America Are Opposing the FCC’s “Internet Freedom” Bill With Local Net Neutrality State Laws. Here’s Exactly How Those Laws Work. This post will be updated weekly through Q4 2018 with the latest updates on Net Neutrality state laws and legal initiatives. Information on this page was last verified and … Continued
Politicians and Big Cable Promise to Bridge the Digital Divide. Small WISPs Actually Build the Bridges. As of 2018, industry records show that the “digital divide” leaves nearly a quarter of the US without wired broadband access, and 46 million Americans still have only one provider available. Tech corporations and politicians frequently campaign on the … Continued
The war over how to regulate the internet has a key problem: the process for creating regulation is so complex that even vehement supporters and opponents of Net Neutrality and other key issues often have little knowledge of where this regulation actually comes from, or how it’s created. Interestingly, the group that’s responsible for managing … Continued
A Brief History of the Internet and the Problems Facing Broadband in America The colossal labyrinth of pulses and wires we refer to as “the Internet” is sort of like the jumble of wires and plugs behind your uncle’s VCR. Sure, it works — but it’s largely improvised, and for the love of God don’t … Continued
Ironically, the government subsidy program they’re exploiting is called “Lifeline.” There’s a house in southern California with 10,000 residents. The people that live in this house have a lot of similarities — in fact, most of them share the same name, age, and birthday. But the most important thing they have in common is that … Continued
Politicians have a well-earned reputation for misunderstanding the Internet. …So it’s no surprise that candidate stances on tech issues are all over the map as we approach the 2016 presidential election. From Clinton’s email server scandal to Trump’s proposal of “closing that Internet up” to fight ISIS, Internet users have plenty of reason to be … Continued