Hasta La Gadget!

The Google Fiber rollout for Austin has been spoiled twice, but today it’s officially official: the music-centric city will become a gigabit city… eventually, that is. Google now says that it will start wiring Austinite homes for super-fast internet access by mid-2014 — we wouldn’t cancel that cable or DSL service just yet, sadly. At least the pricing should be familiar. Google still plans to offer both stand-alone internet access and internet-plus-TV bundles, both at rates within the ballpark of what it offers for Kansas City, and there will still be a near-free 5Mbps plan that only requires a one-off construction fee. Institutions will get free gigabit access, of course. While we’d like Google Fiber as soon as possible, we’re just happy to realize that our next SXSW crash pad may have a lot more bandwidth on tap.

Update: During a formal announcement call, Google and the city of Austin provided a few minor details. They revealed that Google didn’t get any incentives to land a deal, and that engineering work is only beginning in earnest on April 10th. As for AT&T’s me-too initiative? Kevin Lo from Google Fiber says that it’s “great” to see AT&T aware that the demand exists for gigabit access. No hard feelings, then.

Filed under: Networking, HD, Google

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Source: Google Fiber

In its attempt to fight for its users to experience episodes of Pawn Stars in as high definition as possible, Netflix started ranking ISPs dubbing Google Fiber as the best service to watch its video streaming service on. Since then, it’s been regularly ranking US ISPs, but today, the company is announcing it will now be ranking all ISPs around the world.

In last month’s ranks that include not only the US but the UK, Mexico, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Ireland and Norway. In Netflix’s ISP Speed Index, Google Fiber is the clear global winner in the countries included as they come in at the fastest speed of 3.35Mbps. On the other side of the spectrum, Clearwire’s WiMAX came in last place with a download speed of 1.25Mbps.

Netflix’s ISP Speed Index will be updated monthly and be based off of its user’s steaming experience, which is comprised of 33 million members which Netflix says watches one billion hours of video every month. We’re sure until other ISPs decide their customers would actually want gigabit Internet, Google Fiber will continue to lead Netflix’s ISP Speed Index.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: BitTorrent Intros Live Streaming Service That Makes Buffering A Thing Of The Past, YouTube Co-Founder Teases Launch Of New Video Service,

As important as having a reliable home Internet connection is, we know there are people out there who simply can’t afford an additional $50 a month so they could constantly watch cat videos on their Facebook wall. There aren’t many cheap alternatives available in the U.S., but one company is introducing such a service today.

FreemPop offers a broadband plan for its customers to use up to 1GB a month for free as well as an additional tier of 10GB a month for $10. This kind of service would be extremely useful for Internet subscribers who are still stuck on dial-up and would like to be able to have a dedicated connection from their home. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: KFC Offering Free Wi-Fi At All U.K. Restaurants, Internet Proxy Weddings On The Rise,

5 internet service providers, including AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, and Cablevision launched their “Six Strikes” anti-piracy program this Monday. The program is the latest attempt for ISPs to stop its users from pirating software and media illegally. At the launch of the piracy program, the ISPs kept quiet about the consequences that would ensue if the users reached their 5th or 6th warning, but now they’ve explained their punishments.

AT&T’s methods will focus more on educating its users about online piracy in order to deter them from it. If a user reaches their 5th or 6th warning, AT&T will “demand they take an extra step to review materials on an online portal that will educate them on distribution of copyrighted content online.” Users will have to review the materials before they are able to access other websites. AT&T has said that they will not throttle its users data speeds.

Verizon, however, will throttle its users data speeds. Customers who reach their 5th or 6th warning will have to watch instructional videos about downloading copyright material legally at first, and if they still proceed to pirate, they will have their data speeds reduced to dial-up speeds. The throttle will last 2-3 days. The users will be warned 2 weeks in advance before their speeds are throttled, just in case there is something wrong on Verizon’s side and the users want to dispute the warnings. To appeal the warnings, users will have to pay a $35 fee, which will be returned if the user is granted the appeal.

Comcast, like AT&T, will not cap its users data speeds. If they reach their 5th/6th warning, they will receive constant in-browser alerts about their piracy, and in order to stop the alerts, they will have to call Comcast Security Assurance, who will then lecture them on copyright methods and how to download legal content. Like AT&T, Comcast’s goal is to inform its customers.

Time Warner Cable will not throttle its users data speeds either, but users will receive a lock on their internet browsers if they reach the 5th/6th alert. In order to remove the lock, like Comcast, users will have to contact customer service where they will receive a lecture on copyright methods and legal alternatives to downloading media.

Cablevision didn’t chime in with their consequences, but it seems that Verizon will be the only company that will throttle its users’ data speeds. With Cablevision, you’ll probably receive a lecture as well. So far none of the companies plan on terminating their contracts with their users due to piracy. These details of the consequences for violating the “six strikes” program does make the program seem less intense, compared to when we really didn’t know what they had planned. What do you think of the ISPs’ anti-piracy program?

[via Mashable]

ISPs consequences for abusing Six Strikes program revealed is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Google has been an official ISP only in Kansas City for a couple of months now, but its Google Fiber service is one many people are dying to get a slice of in their neighborhood. It looks as though Google’s ISP offerings will be hitting a major metropolitan area as they are announcing today the launch of a free Wi-Fi service in the Chelsea area of New York City.

The move to offer free Wi-Fi in a neighborhood in New York City was done in order to encourage tech growth in the area, which coincidentally Google is a part of as their New York HQ is located in Chelsea. If you’re a New Yorker and are interested in checking out Google’s free public Wi-Fi service, you’ll be covered between Gansevoort Street and 19th Street from 8th Avenue to the West Side Highway. If you’re familiar with the area, you’ll know that’s quite the chunk of land to offer free Wi-Fi to.

We’re hoping this is a step into the direction of offering Google Fiber outside of Kansas City, or at least I am seeing as I’ll hopefully be able to access it within the New York City area.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Chinese Man Found Guilty Of Selling Pirated Software Worth $100 Million, Sony CES 2013 Press Conference Live Blog,