Central Sierra Connect

Source:  http://tiny.cc/uwple

Excerpt:

The results of this second annual survey of Internet
speeds show that the United States has not made
significant improvement in the speeds at which
residents connect to the Internet. Our nation continues to fall
far behind other countries.
Between May 2007 and May 2008, nearly 230,000 people
in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico
— most of them with broadband connections — have
gone to the speedmatters.org site to take an Internet speed
test and measure how fast their computers can upload and
download data. The results of this national survey of actual
Internet speeds show just how far the U.S. continues to lag
behind other countries.
The median download speed for the nation was 2.3
megabits per second (mbps). In Japan, the median download
speed is 63 mbps, or 30 times faster than the U.S. The
Internet Speeds Across the United States & Puerto Rico
Speed Test results for May 2007 through May 2008
U.S. Internet Speeds In 2008 Show Little Growth Over Previous Year
U.S. also trails South Korea at 49 mbps, Finland at 21
mbps, France at 17 mbps, and Canada at 7.6 mbps. The
median upload speed from the speedmatters.org test was just
435 kilobits per second (kbps), far too slow for patient monitoring
or to transmit large files such as medical records.

Source:

http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=160620

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T - message board) is considering expanding its WiMax footprint beyond the frozen wastes of Alaska as the rising cost of copper starts to make DSL deployments prohibitively expensive in rural areas of the U.S.

The carrier's CTO, John Donovan, tells USA Today that WiMax is “at the top of the list” as an alternative technology to copper for the operator. He added that the carrier is also considering cellular femtocells -- tiny base stations that extend the speed and coverage of wireless signals in the home -- as the way to get cheaper broadband faster to country folk.

AT&T already has a limited deployment of WiMax technology in Alaska. The operator is using 2.3 GHz equipment from Alvarion Ltd. (Nasdaq: ALVR - message board) for those networks. The operator is also said to be looking at extending the WiMax specification for improved video performance. (See AT&T: Broadband in Alaska.)

In fact, AT&T has never put down WiMax as a potential replacement for wired broadband technology. The operator, however, favors long-term evolution (LTE) technology for mobile broadband deployments. (See AT&T 's Road to 4G.)

Nonetheless, if AT&T does choose to deploy fixed WiMax as a DSL alternative, that may help to explain its sudden recent interest in the approval process for the Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S - message board)-Clearwire LLC (Nasdaq: CLWR - message board) deal. (See Sprint, Clearwire Create $14.5B WiMax Giant.) AT&T argued last week that it believes that if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) were to include Sprint and Clearwire's non-operational spectrum, then the proposed merger would be subject to more scrutiny, and therefore, the initial application should be denied. (See AT&T Looks to Block Sprint/Clearwire Merger.)

Clearwire and Sprint hold the vast majority of available 2.5 GHz licenses in the U.S. In fact, AT&T actually sold Clearwire all of its 2.5 GHz holdings back in February 2007 for $300 million. (See AT&T Sells Spectrum to Clearwire.)

If it wants to expand WiMax beyond Alaska and some Southern states, however, AT&T will need more spectrum. Potentially it could use some of the 700 MHz spectrum it won at auction earlier this year. AT&T's 700 MHz holdings are definitely a finite resource, though, and one that may be more suitable for mobile broadband deployments, because it will allow signals to travel further and penetrate buildings more easily. (See WiMax USA: Spectrum Crunch Ahead.)

I have added some new features to the site to keep it up-to-date. The largest addition is a link to different broadband related news feeds that will keep a steady stream of articles coming to the site. I have also added featured news from an RSS feed from Broadbandinfo.com to the front page of the site, below the fold. I also placed a link to a local blog called "Internet Newcomers" for those that need tips and advice on the Internet. Finally, there is a broadband glossary with special menu on the side for the latest terms added to the site. As the project moves forward, links to maps and mapping information will appear, and an entire page devoted to the survey and survey information will also appear. Our new template may be very plain, but it passes the newly established XHMTL WCAG compliance tests, along with WAI and 508 accessibility compliance for those that use text readers or have other special needs.

If you are a registered user on this site, when you log in an additional user menu will appear in the sidebar. From that menu you can submit articles, web links and news feeds of interest. You can also send Kristi or I an email and we can post the article for you.

The meeting went well; as a result of the meeting there is a draft copy of the survey in progress on the Google Groups sites (both demand and outreach) in it's own page. Feel free to go to the Google Groups (see the side menu) and red the draft survey. We have gotten some great feedback so far and will be adjusting the survey accordingly.

Also, according to the funders, our grant agreement/contract is on it's way in the mail! Look for updates next week as we bring the contractors on board and start the mapping and surveying.