Tag Archive for VZ

| February 3, 2015
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ISPs – Brits Speed U.S. Squabble

ISPs – Brits Speed U.S. SquabbleBritish Telecom has announced its plan to transform the UK broadband landscape from superfast to ultrafast. CircleID reports that the company plans to deliver much faster broadband for homes and small businesses via a widespread deployment of “G.fast” (G.9701) — a technology the company will pilot test this Summer. G.fast is aimed to help BT deliver ultrafast speeds of up to 500 Mbps to most of the UK within a decade. The deployment will start in 2016–2017, BT says.

US broadbandThe day before, the FCC announced that they have re-defined the meaning of broadband in the United States. Under the new definition, US broadband has changed from a measly 4 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up to an anemic 25 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up. There will be little impact for the end-user because this is just gooberment posturing. This will put the US in some low rank internationally. While the UK global telecom giant BT sets its sites on 500 Mbps. The FCC’s presser states that the ruling is meaningless. Their own document says:

… its 25/3 benchmark as a standard to measure the progress of broadband deployment. However, the benchmark is not a minimum speed requirement and does not prevent broadband service providers from advertising or describing slower service as broadband.

Republicans blasted the new definition of broadbandNot surprisingly, 100% of US ISP’s are against this redefinition of broadband the cable lobby is opposed to the FCC’s plan. Ars Technica reports that the Telecommunications Association (NCTA) wrote in an FCC filing Thursday (PDF) that, “Customers do just fine with lower speeds.”

In addition to the CableCo lobby’s opposition, PCWorld reports that Republicans blasted the FCC report and new definition of broadband.

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The Register notes how little things have changed. Haters are going to hate. In 2008, Commissioner Robert McDowell opposed increasing the speed definition of broadband from 200Kbps to 768Kbps. McDowell today represents Washington DC law firm Wiley Rein and appeared last week in Congress arguing that the FCC should not introduce net neutrality rules.

Do you want Comcast in charge of the web? Support net neutrality.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| August 1, 2013
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ALU Gets 31 Tbps

ALU Gets 31 TbpsDavid Meyer at GigaOM noted the latest tests by Alcatel-Lucent’s (ALU) venerable Bell Labs division. The lab has figured out how to increase the bandwidth of submarine cables by a factor of three. They were able to move traffic at 31 Terabits per second (Tbps).

Alcatel-Lucent logoAlcatel-Lucent says it has broken the record for the amount of data that can be pushed through submarine cables. They claim to have achieved 31 Terabits per second over a single fiber that’s 4,474 miles long. For comparison, the Register figured that the average 15 minute, low-res movie is about 100Mb in size. They calculate that the new cable could speed 40,632 flix across the Atlantic every second. That would be enough for 423 days and nights of non-stop video viewing – in just one second.

It is important to remember we’re talking about a lab test. The test took place at ALU’s Innovation City campus in Villarceaux near Paris. The GigaOm article notes that the researchers with Bell Labs squeezed almost 10 Tbps more out of the fiber than the 21.7Tbps that NEC (6701) and Verizon (VZ) managed last year. This is three times roomier than in today’s most advanced commercial undersea cables.

Transoceanic cable

transoceanic cableThe author points out that that’s just one fiber and a transoceanic cable may have eight pairs of fibers. Again, this is a lot of capacity. However, it’s also worth noting that Alcatel-Lucent’s tests required a signal amplifier every 100km along the line.

The article claims that ALU’s Bell Labs division has done this type of research since 1925 in New Jersey. This type of work is more critical to ALU than ever. In June 2013, Alcatel-Lucent announced its “Shift Plan”, which involves moving away from being a telecoms equipment generalist. They want to be a specialist in IP networking and mobile and fixed broadband access. Philippe Keryer, Alcatel-Lucent’s chief strategy, and innovation officer said in a statement:

Undersea fiber-optic transmission is integral to the digital economy, delivering vast amounts of video and data between countries, regions and continents. As our customers cope with increasing demand on their networks for data capacity and higher-speeds of transmission, our researchers are intensifying their application with tests like this to develop new technology solutions to transform global data networks.

Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM)Mr. Meyer explains the test used Bell Labs’s technique for squeezing 200Gbps through a single data channel. It used 155 lasers, each one carrying 200Gbps at a different frequency. This represents an enhancement to the wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) techniques that run at up to 100Gbps in today’s commercially deployed cable.

Normally such signals suffer from distortions and noise, which limit performance. But GigaOM understands that Alcatel-Lucent was able to resolve this by using an enhanced version of WDM. The enhanced WDM works by splitting light up into different wavelengths so that it can carry more data.

Long-haul high-speed networking

Increasing bandwidthThe pace of development in the long-haul high-speed networking field is impressive. It’s easy to see just how far we’ve come. GigaOM provided a quick look at some of the other recent developments in long-haul high-speed networking.

  • May 2011 a team of German, UK, and Swiss scientists successfully used Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) to send data at a rate of 26Tbps over a 50km long single-mode fiber optic cable.
  • January 2012 a Japanese team working out of NEC successfully transmitted 4Tbps over a single “ultra-long haul” (10,000km) fiber optic cable without repeaters by making use of WDM just like Alcatel-Lucent.
  • May 2013 a more exotic approach with the UK test of hollow fiber optic cable that delivered speeds of 73.7 Tbps.

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Remember that the NSA has a submarine, the USS Jimmy Carter designed to tap undersea telecom cables on the bottom of the sea. This new speed record could be used to spy on more people.

 The Undersea Cables that Connect the World

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| March 27, 2013
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Mobile Patent Troll Sues Everyone

Mobile Patent Troll Sues EveryoneSurprise, surprise there’s another mobile-related patent lawsuit. at GigaOM says this time the plaintiff is an obscure Delaware-registered limited liability non-practicing entity called Steelhead. The patent in question covers ‘mobile radio handover initiation determination’ – in other words, choosing which cellular base station has the best signal as the handset moves from one place to another.

Cell phonesThe defendants are a who’s who of the mobile world: Apple (AAPL), AT&T (T), Google (GOOG), HTC, Kyocera (KYO), LG (LGLD), MetroPCS (PCS), Motorola Mobility, NEC Corporation (6701), Pantech, Research In Motion (RIMM), Sony (SNE), Sprint (S), T-Mobile, Verizon (VZ) and ZTE (763). The article says these firms committed the mortal sin of allowing their mobile phones to act like mobile phones. But the interesting thing about this particular suit is the origin of the suit – or, more precisely, the reporting around that origin.

Mr. Meyer reports that U.S. Patent No. 5,491,834 comes from BT (BT). It was filed in 1993 and granted in 1996. The patent is still listed by the USPTO as belonging to BT. In its court filings provided by the author, (the Motorola/Google example is here), Steelhead notes that it “owns all rights of recovery under the ‘834 Patent, including the exclusive right to recover for past infringement.”

aggressively monetizingThe author suggests that this case may not be BT “aggressively monetizing” its patent portfolio. BT told Mr. Meyer, “BT sold all of its rights to the patents last year. We have no involvement in Steelhead Licensing LLC’s litigation activity.”

BT claims the troll is not a shell front for the firm. A spokesperson for the telecom giant told GigaOM,  “BT doesn’t share in Steelhead’s licensing income”.

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I have covered the mobile patent wars many times here. I don’t know why I find patent trolling so interesting to follow. Maybe it is the same reason I watch NASCAR highlights, for the crashes, or the buy a few Powerball tickets, just in case.

Maybe someday all the money spent on lawyers will actually go back to making things and creating jobs.

Kids squabblingShame on BT if this is a legit patent and they were not smart enough to enforce their claim when they had it. I’m no lawyer, it seems to me that mobiles that can’t find a cell tower to connect to don’t work.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| August 30, 2011
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Verizon Upgrades Michigan Service to 4G – Almost

Verizon Upgrades Michigan Service to 4G - Almost

I was going to let this press release from Verizon Wireless slide without comment until I got to the end and then I had to jump right out of my Bach Seat and crank out this post. Verizon Wireless (VZ) told MiTechNews they are investing $850,000 in Michigan to upgrade 450 antennas on all of its cell sites between the Saginaw Bay north to the Mackinaw Bridge and east of Interstate 75 to Lake Huron. The company reports the new antenna equipment has resulted in incremental network coverage gains of up to one mile, improving overall reliability for customers.

The project will be complete when the company can swap equipment on one last tower in Roscommon where a nest of osprey chicks has called home since March.

Michigan“Our customers in eastern northern Michigan are able to use their devices in more places, especially in buildings,” explained David MacBeth, executive director–Network, Michigan/Indiana/Kentucky region, Verizon Wireless. “We’re constantly refining our network to ensure our customers have the best experience every time they pick up their wireless device.”

The company’s ongoing network investment in Michigan now totals more than $1.6 billion to increase the coverage and capacity of its network and to add new services.

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Despite what Mr. MacBeth claims, I’ve heard about an organization that moved to VZW from another wireless provider and VZW could not provide the 4G or any G service in the building. When the customer pushed on VZW to provide any G or basic voice service in their building, the sales rep. came back and said, “we won’t help you because we spent all of our money.”

Verizon Wireless logoApparently, that was the wrong answer, the organization reportedly moved 20 smartphones accounts from VZW back to the previous provider. But hey it is a good press release at least because VZW cares about baby birdies.

What do you think?

Are you satisfied with Verizon Wireless 4G service indoors?

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| January 21, 2011
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Wireless Spends Big Bucks Lobbying Congress

Wireless Spends Big Bucks Lobbying CongressCTIA, the Wireless Association, CTIA is the wireless industry’s largest trade group spent $2.4 million in the third quarter of 2010 to lobby federal officials. Bloomberg cites a quarterly disclosure report filed with the U.S House of Representatives.  This marks a new high in CTIA lobbying spending. CTIA spent $2 million spent in the second quarter and $1.3 million that it spent on lobbying in the third quarter of last year, reports Bloomberg. Bloomberg says the trade association lobbied Washington on:

  • MCTIA, the Wireless Associationore radio spectrum for wireless Internet services.
  • The FCC’s recently adopted “network neutrality” rules, which prohibit broadband providers from interfering with Internet traffic traveling over their systems.
  • The FCC’s legal framework for regulating broadband.
  • “Bill shock” rules, which would require wireless companies to alert subscribers before they run out of minutes, hit data usage or text messaging caps, or start racking up international roaming charges.
  • The CTIA which represents wireless carriers, like AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile, says it now generates annual revenues of $155.8 billion.

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Not only is the wireless industry lobbying group, CTIA spending millions every year to buy influence legislation, but the wireless companies are also the leaders in lobbying spending. I wrote about AT&T and Verizon (VZ) both spending over $3 million on lobbying in 2010 here. I wrote about AT&T’s (T) long tradition of spreading its money around to buy influence legislation here. The rational business use of this money says that these firms are getting more benefit by lobbying lawmakers than investing it in their networks, paying a dividend, or putting the money in the bank, but are the best decisions for the rest of us?

Who do you think the politicians are really looking out for?

 

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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