Comcast Offers Advanced Home Security System
Comcast Offers Advanced Home Security System
Comcast Offers Advanced Home Security System
Comcast executive Mitch Bowling used his Apple iPad, 3,000 miles away from his home to view his dog while sleeping and turn on a garage light.
Bowling, senior vice president and general manager for new business said that everyone has only been talking about futuristic homes which are smart and remote controlled. It’s already here.
Starting 30th March Comcast is selling its Xfinity Home service which combines a traditional home alarm system with hi tech home climate and lighting controls. Currently the company has introduced this service in the San Francisco, South Bay and the Peninsula
According to Bowling the time is perfect for Comcast, a traditional broadband and cable provider to branch into what he calls a lifestyle system especially because tablets and smart phones have created awareness about smart homes.
It has also come at the right time as Comcast has lost around 17,000 cable TV subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2011 although this figure is much less than the 135,000 it lost in the same period the previous year. But Comcast Internet added 336,000 broadband customers during the quarter and Xfinity home is aligned with Comcast’s Internet service.
Bowling said that going forward a smart home would be the norm or very nearly the norm for people wanting an automated home or to remain connected when they are away from their homes.
An ABI research report indicated that the home automation business is expected to grow rapidly and the users of home automation system would grow from the current figure of 1.8 million to 12 million by 2016 as other service providers like Comcast enter the fray. And Comcast is not the only one in the field. Verizon had launched its own home monitoring and control service last year with a starting price of $9.99 per month.
Categories: Comcast, Internet News, Verizon Tags: Cable, Comcast, home security, Xfinity
Dismissal of Suit Against Cable Providers Upheld
Dismissal of Suit Against Cable Providers Upheld
A federal appeals court ruled last week that cable providers do not breach antitrust laws by their standard sales practice of clubbing low demand and high demand channels rather than allowing customers choose their individual channels.
The arrangement makes people pay for channels they do not want. The court noted that the effects are fully consistent with a competitive and free market. The hearing was being carried out at the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. It upheld a federal judge’s order to dismiss an antitrust suit filed in 2007 by a group of satellite and cable TV customers in Los Angeles. They had accused Entertainment companies like Fox Entertainment Group and NBC Universal of using their clout with distributors like EchoStar Satellite and Time Warner Cable to sell channels as a package instead of allowing customers to choose them individually.
Maxwell Blecher, the lawyer for the group had pleaded that a basic entertainment package offered by most companies contains at least 50 channels whereas an average person watches between 5 and 15 channels only. People must be able to choose smaller packages or individual packages but these options are not made available due to absence of competitive conditions, Blecher said.
But the court observed that sales practice that harm consumers do not necessarily damage competition which is a prerequisite for an antitrust violation. A similar conclusion was derived by the panel in June who withdrew the verdict in November and issued a fresh decision last week.
Judge Sandra Ikuta had noted that packaged sales had not affected competition amongst cable TV channels or quality of distribution. It neither affected programmers from offering one channel sales.
Glen Pomerantz, the lawyer for Fox Entertainment said that the court had correctly noted that agreements between cable and satellite operators and television programmers do not harm competition in any way.
Categories: Cable Internet, Internet News, Internet Providers, Uncategorized Tags: Cable, providers
How to Choose Your Internet Download Speed?
How to Choose Your Internet Download Speed?
How to Choose Your Internet Download Speed?
by Dan Karas
Surfing the Internet is a very enjoyable thing to do, but in order to be able to this you need to choose the proper Internet speed that will allow you to do what you want or need to accomplish. Many people choose a slow connection, or in other words the Internet speed doesn’t match their requirements, and lose their heads over their poor Internet experience. Not only can opting for a slow connection cost you a lot of nerves, but it can also prevent you from playing your favorite online games without lag and viewing a video or movie without excessive buffering. This being said, here will be discussed all Internet speeds along with the reason what each of them is used for.
Choose Your Download Speed According to What You Need
Before discussing the various download speeds available to users, it is important to note that you need to decide what you will be using the Internet for. If you want to save money on your Internet service plan, you will need to choose the minimum speed that will allow you perform the tasks that you wish to do with relative ease. In other words, you should opt for a super fast Internet connection only if you plan on using the Net on a daily basis and for demanding tasks. For instance, if you want to download movies and your favorite music, 56 Kbps wouldn’t help you much with that, as this is the lowest Internet speed available.
Different Types of Internet Connections
Dial Up Connection
A very inexpensive Dial-up connection is usually adequate for people who don’t use the Internet very often, or for long periods of time. Instead, this type of Internet connection enables their users to do some basic stuff online, and this may include sending and opening emails, and using search engines to find content. The maximum download speed for a dialup connection is 56 Kbps, the upload speed is around 6 Kbps, and the price of this package is the lowest available to allow you to access the Internet.
DSL Connection or Cable Internet Access
These two types of broadband Internet connections are very commonly used, and the difference between these two connections is that DSL service uses your standard copper phone lines to connect to the Internet, and the cable Internet, as it name suggests, uses a coaxial TV cable for its method of providing Internet access. Another thing is that the DSL connection is often more affordable than cable, but it generally has lower speeds. Namely, a DSL connection can provide users with the download speed of from about 768 Kbps up to 12 Mbps, whereas a common cable connection goes from 4 Mbps to 50 Mbps or higher. Some newer DOCSIS 3.0 cable Internet services boast ungodly fast Internet speeds in excess of 100 Mbps. Regardless of the fact that DSL is slower that the cable, a great many people manage to do everything they want with either of these types of connections. Downloading movies and music is only a small part of the activities that these two types of Internet connections can offer to their users.
Satellite Internet Connection
This type of connection has gotten faster in recent years, but it is not as popular as most think it should be. Namely, the download speed related to this type of Internet connection can go up to 5 Mbps. However, it is not very affordable and the majority of people using a satellite Internet connection do so because DSL or cable is not available in their area. Many satellite systems also have low usage limits on the amount of data that you can use. When you exceed these limits the satellite provider slows your connection speed. Satellite systems are furthermore plagued with high latency due to the distances that the signals must travel. This delay causes problems for online gamers. Some ordinary things such as bad weather can also influence satellite connections, so if you need full-time access to the Net, then you should better opt for cable or DSL Internet service if it’s available.
Fiber Optic Connection
To compete with the cable Internet speeds and cable offerings such as HD television most DSL providers have started upgrading their services to ADSL2+. By using fiber optic cables the download speeds have been increased to 50 Mbps or more. The increased bandwidth also permits high definition digital television to be transmitted on the same connection as the broadband ADSL2+ Internet. Fiber Optic Internet is relatively new and only offered in select limited markets.
At&t U-Verse Fiber Internet Availability
Verizon FiOS Fiber Internet Availability
Categories: Broadband, Cable Internet, Dial-Up, DSL, Fiber Optic, Satellite Internet, Speed Tags: Cable, Dial-Up, DSL, Fiber Optic, Internet Speed, Satellite
What is Broadband Internet?
What is Broadband?
What Is Broadband Internet?
by Dan Karas
Can you even imagine the world without the Internet? Can you imagine living without the ability to turn on your computer and use the World Wide Web as an omnipotent and omniscient tool that it is? Well, you will probably have a negative answer to the previous two questions. However, you will also have a negative answer to the following question: what exactly is broadband Internet? Sure, a lot of people will say that this is the type of Internet connection they have set up at their homes or offices, but this doesn’t really answer the question, does it?
So, What Is Broadband Internet?
Technically speaking the FCC currently defines broadband Internet as a connection that is faster than 4 Mbps. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband_Internet_access However, the more common definition is anything that is faster than a traditional 56 K dial up Internet connection. In most cases, it is true to tell people that broadband, also commonly called high speed Internet is the type of Internet connection they are using, as this really is the most commonly used type of Internet connection throughout the USA and the entire world. In addition to this, it is also true to say that this is the form of Internet access that offers the highest Internet connection speeds at the moment, and when compared to dial-up connection, broadband Internet is the obvious choice.
Types of High Speed Internet
There are five types of broadband Internet, and below they are listed and explained:
- DSL – The Digital Subscriber Line Internet access is a type of Internet connection that comes to you through your telephone line. Contrary to what many people may think, you can use your Internet and your phone at the same time, as voice and Internet connection travel at different frequencies which are commonly separated by a device called a DSL splitter. DSL speeds range from 256 Kbps to over 6 Mbps, although the distance that you are located from the telephone companies CO will affect the speed that will be available.
- Cable – If you have Cable TV, you can probably ask your Cable TV provider for Cable Internet. Currently DOCSIS 3.0 cable connections can provide the fastest consumer Internet connections, with some cable companies such as Comcast offering speeds of over 100 Mbps in select areas. With Cable Internet, your connection speed will depend on how many users are using the same connection bandwidth at any specific moment. So, you will not have the same Internet connection speed in the mornings and in the evenings, as the evenings will be characterized by more active users, thus a somewhat slower connection.
- Satellite – Even though the satellite Internet connection is the slowest and the most expensive type of broadband Internet to set up, it is the only option for many who live in areas where other types of broadband Internet are not available. The connection speed will in this case may depend on weather conditions, and the speed will generally be lower than with the other three types of broadband Internet. Satellite Internet is also a poor choice for gaming due to the high latency (delay) of the signal. This is due to the extreme distance that the signal needs to travel from the earth to the satellite and back.
- Wireless – Wireless Internet is available from cellular providers such as Verizon, At&t, Sprint, etc. It currently comes in two flavors of 3G and 4G. 3G or third generation wireless is the most widespread and offers speeds comparable to low end DSL services. 4G or as you may have guessed fourth generation wireless is the new kid on the block and boasts much higher speeds. Even though the 4 G wireless network is expanding rapidly there are still relatively few locations providing widespread 4G coverage. Wireless broadband Internet is very convenient; however its Achilles heel is the low usage limits as compared to DSL and cable plans. Most wireless providers charge outrageous overage fees or throttle your connection to a crawl when you exceed these modest bandwidth limits.
- Fiber-optic – This is the least used, as well as the one of the fastest broadband Internet connections out of the four types mentioned here. The reason why it is the least used is the fact that not many areas have fiber-optic Internet connections available yet. However, where it is available, its cost is very competitive with standard DSL and Cable, but provides much higher connection speeds. There are a couple of types of fiber optic Internet connections. FTTH (Fiber To The Home) This is the type of connection used by Verizon FiOS which brings the fiber all the way to your house, if you get the At&t U-Verse version it is FTTK (Fiber To The Kerb/Curb) which uses copper from the curb to your house. Both Fiber connections provide ADSL2+ Internet speeds of up to 50 Mbps and can also provide on demand HD television and digital telephone service on the same line.
In order to choose one of these types of broadband Internet, you will first have to check and see which of them are available in your area. Some Internet services, particularly DSL, are very distance sensitive. For example you might qualify for a specific level of service while your next door neighbor doesn’t. Not all Internet service providers will offer the same conditions, so you will also have to shop around before you make the final decision. You’ll want to pick the fastest broadband plan that fits your budget. In some areas this can be 100 Mbps+. But these extremely high end broadband plans are also extremely expensive. You may find that a plan in the 5 to 25 Mbps range might satisfy your Internet service needs at a much lower cost that won’t break your monthly budget.
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Categories: Broadband, Cable Internet, DSL, FiOS, Internet Access Article, Satellite Internet, Wireless Tags: Broadband, Cable, Dial-Up, DSL, fiber, Satellite, Wireless
Broadband Internet Bundle – Do I Want One?
Broadband Internet Bundle?
It’s likely your slow Dial-Up Internet connection is frustrating to you and you’d rather upgrade to High Speed Internet. For some, this can be accomplished quite easily but for others, the issue of higher cost has slowed down their plan. Still, others are greatly troubled by accumulated bills from cable companies, their high-speed Internet provider and even phone provider. To all these problems, there is a simple solution that will provide you with high speed Internet access and at a reduced cost too.
You will certainly not be the first person to identify the draw backs of DSL Internet Access especially touching the issue of broadband Internet speed. There are several other reasons that make people want to switch or avoid the same pitfalls they have seen other people fall into with DSL.
You can have faster Internet speed with a Broadband Internet Bundle and save money in the process. This is the trick that smart people are now using that makes them enjoy the use of the Internet more every hour of the day.
Although we all use the Internet for various reasons, we do not use the Internet in the same way. While some people are casual browsers, others browse heavily and download a lot of large files from the Internet. If you are a light browser then, you would probably not need a super high speed Internet connection and therefore would not want to pay for such. A 1.5 Mbps connection is adequate to take care of light emailing and social networking and you can get this from most Internet service providers at a lower cost. If you’re a heavy Internet user or your business relies heavily on the internet, you would want something more substantial.
Because some providers are actually not true to their words, many people have suffered significant losses due to a poor Internet connection. Since technology is not static, market research has come up with such technologies as phone Internet bundle and cable Internet bundle. In fact, right now bundles are the current buzzword in low cost Internet options and they have been acknowledged to be integral parts of the success of the information technology industry. Those that have lost their hope in the telecommunication service have had their faith restored with these inexpensive Internet bundles.
The higher quality of service provided by these bundles is due to the fact that, you would no longer be at the mercy nor have to rely on the services rendered by several different providers. If anything goes wrong, you only need to contact one service provider. You would also not have to pay 2 or 3 different bills because your combined services are consolidated into one convenient monthly bill. Internet bundles allow you to save money because you’re able to bring services all together. This combination of TV Internet Phone service which individually would cost much more can be bundled together at a cheaper cost and you would still be provided with excellent service.
Although, it is advantageous to save money with these Internet Bundles, you must however make sure that you check out the reliability of the provider’s service before you subscribe to the bundle bite.
Motorola SB6120 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem Review
ISP 1 review of Motorola's New SB6120 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 eXtreme Broadband Cable Modem
Categories: Product Reviews Tags: Cable, Hardware, Modem, Review
