Leadpile’s Blog

Reuters is reporting that the FCC is trying to regulate a minimum broadband speed that American households are delivered by our nation’s broadband companies (ie-Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner and AT&T are the largest) provide all of us. “The planned initiative, which will be proposed in the National Broadband Plan report to Congress next month, comes a week after Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) said it would build a super-fast Internet network for up to half a million people, a project that could pressure telecommunications companies to loosen their control of Web access in the United States.”
So once again is Google pushing the envelope on the way things are done technologically? From everything I am reading it appears that they are in fact doing that and this is forcing broadband companies to compete technologically to stay in business. This new initiative potentially by the FCC could be a great thing for all of us and how we get out internet delivered to us. Nice job Google!

AOL came into this decade as an independent company, and it looks as though they will be leaving the decade solo. In recent news, AOL and Time Warner are “divorcing” and many are wondering how this will impact the internet veteran. AOL became famous as the big dial up internet company, and now they seem to have some challenges on their hands as they try to compete with other internet service providers.
Will there be a big challenge on their hand to get back in the internet “game”, or do they know what they are doing and will jump right back in game after the divorce from Time Warner?
We wish you luck in your new single life!

Are you ready to treat the internet the same way you treat your cell phone? It may be on the horizon… Time Warner believes that the more network capacity someone uses, the more they should pay. In Beamont, TX they are conducting a test with new subscribers selecting how many gigabytes they will use each month. If they go over their cap, they are being charged $1 per gigabyte. For people that only send email and read news on the internet, this will have little or no impact. How about those users that are now watching television shows and movies on the internet? This could have a huge impact on them as well as the content providers. This test will be watched closely, because the ramifications could be huge. Some may remember the early AOL days when they charged for usage. The internet really took off when unlimited access plans became the norm. Will people be willing to pay for what they use, or will internet service providers need to figure out a better way to manage their networks and their finances?