Posted 04/28/09 at 02:38:05 PM by Paul Lilly

With all the hubbub surrounding bandwidth limits and tiered internet, it would seem that dark days lay ahead for broadband. So excuse us if we refer to Cablevision as a beacon of shining light, as the cable company today became the fastest cable ISP in the US with its Optimum Online Ultra service.

Optimum Online Ultra takes advantage of the multi-channel DOCSIS 3.0 standard, and by doing so, Cablevision is able to woo customers with up to 101Mbps peak downstream and a more than respectable 15Mbps upstream. On paper, that make's Cablevision's service more than twice as fast as Comcast's 50Mbps package, but it's the lack of a bandwidth cap that may ultimately prove to be the biggest draw for consumers.

Long Island, New York residents will get first crack at the new service starting May 11, which will run $99 per month. 

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Posted 04/14/09 at 09:26:27 AM by Paul Lilly

Newton's third law of motion states "to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction," which might help explain why ISPs feel compelled to offer increasingly faster broadband, yet place bandwidth restrictions as low as 40GB/month. It hardly seems fair considering that streaming HD content is finally starting to take hold, along with downloadable games, an increased interest in Linux, and other ways to use up that monthly allotment. New York Congressman Eric Massa doesn't think it's fair either and has pledged to introduce a bill called the "Broadband Internet Fairness Act."

"I am taking a leadership position on this issue because of all the phone calls, emails, and faxes I've received from my district and all over the country," Massa said in a statement. "While I favor a businesses' right to maximize their profit potential, I believe safeguards must be put in place when a business has a monopoly on a specific region."

Massa was referring to Time Warner Cable (TWC), who said it plans to test tiered internet service in Rochester, New York, which resides in Massa's district. Even more startling is AT&T's plans to test its 20GB data cap in the same town where TWC began its pilot program.

It remains to be seen what, if anything, will come from Massa's proposed bill, but the lesson here is that if you take the time to write, email, or call your Congressman, someone just might listen.

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Posted 09/04/08 at 07:41:11 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Microsoft has revised the cap on hard disk space in netbooks running Windows XP. Now netbooks can have up to 160GB hard drive space, which is double the 80GB space previously permitted. It is anticipated that this increase in storage size will boost netbook sales, though not as significantly as enhanced processing power might. MSI and Asustek have already released the 160GB variants of their Wind and Eee PC netbooks respectively. This move can also dampen the sales prospects of SSD-bearing netbooks, which have comparatively lesser storage space due to current SSD prices.

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