Bypassing CATV-Telco Internet Duopoly
Posted on August 10, 2011
Yesterday Online Video Insider published the article below which I wrote.
(Phil Leigh, August 9, 2011) Rising popularity of Internet video in combination with the advent of the smartphone and tablet computer places an obscure segment of the Internet Service Provider industry at the threshold of major opportunities. Although Internet access is dominated by a duopoly of CATV and Telco operators, a promising third category is the Wireless ISP (WISP). Not to be confused with cellular carriers, WISPs offer Internet service to subscribers from fixed base stations to radio transceivers typically mounted on the rooftops of customer premises.
Download six minute audio narration to iPod, iPhone, or iPad.
The first WISP was organized twenty years ago by a young computer consultant in Laramie, Wyoming after he discovered the only Internet access in the town was at the University. He approached a number of local businesses with a proposition to provide them Internet access wirelessly through unlicensed spectrum normally used by cordless phones. His connection to the Internet backbone was a T1 line (1.5 mb/s) which the local telephone company connected to his house for $6,000 a month. Essentially, all subscribers shared the bandwidth of that singe T1. Read more…
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Future Internet Access
Posted on July 12, 2011
Two major changes in the way we get to the Internet are pending.
First, conventional ISPs such as CATV and telecom companies shall attempt to abandon fixed monthly rates and replace them with metered fees based upon bandwidth consumption. The probability the change will remain permanent is about fifty-fifty. Second, a steadily growing percentage of our Internet access will be via wireless networks including both cellular and unlicensed bands such as Wi-Fi and White Spaces. The likelihood of the second prediction is about as certain as fleas on a yard dog.
Download six minute audio narration to iPod, iPhone and iPad
Fixed-Wire Metered Fees
At the annual National Cable Television Association conference last month there was an important shift in informal discussions about metered rates. Previously, such conversations centered on whether the rates should be attempted at all, but this time discussion gravitated toward when and how. Competition from Netflix and other methods of getting Internet video to television screens is simply proving to be too competitive for traditional pay TV services. Read more…
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Defeating Internet Video Threat
Posted on August 4, 2010
Some contend that Internet Video will never achieve its promise in the United States because the parent companies of the dominant Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are hostile to it. More specifically, CATV operators and Telcos consider it a competitive threat to their conventional television subscription services. Furthermore, the threat intensifies as growing numbers of consumers discover that modern televisions can also be used as display monitors for computers or other appliances capable of accessing the Internet.
Download audio narration to iPod, iPad, or iPhone here. (seven minutes).
As a result, it is argued that the ISPs will adopt usage-sensitive Internet pricing. In short, they will charge consumers for the bandwidth consumed thereby making it uneconomic to watch television shows and movies via the Internet instead of over conventional subscription services. Although consumers will object, their protests will be impotent because there are no realistic competitive alternatives to CATV and Telco ISPs. As AT&T Labs research compellingly documents, metered pricing of communications services severely restricts per-subscriber network usage. Read more…
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Metered Pricing for Internet Access
Posted on April 16, 2009
Timothy Karr, Campaign Director, FreePress.net
If you would like to learn about efforts by Time Warner Cable and other broadband ISPs to test metered-use pricing of Internet service in selected markets, this interview is for you.
Our guest today is Timothy Karr who is the Campaign Director at FreePress.net. His organization is about six years old and is focused on policy issues relating to media. It is funded by various private foundations and individuals and does not take donations from corporations. Read more…
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