New York ramping up for broadband

Ramping city up for broadband

December 19, 2005

A political push to broaden the use of broadband - by making high-speed Internet lines cheaper and more accessible - should gain a bit of ground this week.

In one of its last acts under Speaker Gifford Miller, the City Council on Wednesday is expected to approve a bill creating a new 15-member "broadband advisory committee."

Sponsor Gale A. Brewer (D-Manhattan), who chairs the Council's technology committee, considers it a populist calling for government to prod or provide more equal Internet access. She's held a dozen hearings in the past two years and sees the new body as the next step. "The gap between those who can afford broadband and those who cannot persists," Brewer says in a report she co-authored with her top aide Bruce Lai, "despite growth in the availability of broadband connections."

Census data show that more than half the U.S. households with annual incomes above $100,000 have broadband while more than two thirds of those who earn less than $100,000 do not.

Philadelphia, Atlanta and San Francisco are carrying out plans for wireless broadband networks, note Brewer and Lai. Smaller cities such as Spokane, Wash. and Corpus Christi, Texas already created them.

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Microsoft: jumping into the VoIP fray

Microsoft has announced plans to release its first beta version of Live Messenger with VoIP

Microsoft has staked a claim in the US VoIP market by announcing its software users can soon make Internet calls to standard phones thanks to a new partnership with MCI. Although rival products from the likes of Yahoo and Skype offer extra features, given Microsoft's broad market reach elsewhere and its alliance with MCI, this should not affect the company's foray into VoIP in the longer term.

The MCI Web Calling for Windows Live service will be available in the first half of 2006. Essentially, it combines MCI's existing VoIP offerings with Microsoft software.

The service will be available via Windows Live Messenger, the upcoming successor to Microsoft's existing instant messaging (IM) service. At 2.3 cents per minute, it will undercut rates from MCI, which is being acquired by Verizon Communications.

Yahoo! targets! Skype! with! improved! VoIP! offer!

Fab! tastic!
By Tim Richardson

Yahoo! is adding more features to its existing VoIP service in a bid to gain a bigger of the rapidly growing broadband telephony market.

A new version of Yahoo!'s Messenger service is due to be released soon that will enable users to make broadband calls that are reportedly cheaper than those on offer by VoIP giant Skype.

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Verizon fighting for piece of cable market

By MARY ANN D'URSO

BRIDGEWATER -- Already a giant in the telephone, wireless and DSL markets, Verizon wants to deliver cable television service to customers, too -- which puts it at odds with New Jersey's cable TV giants, including Cablevision and Comcast.

Consumers in a growing number of New Jersey towns can already sign up for Verizon's FiOS service, which uses a new fiber optic network instead of a regular telephone line. It features high-speed Internet access that is faster than its own DSL connection.

But before the company can "switch on" cable and other interactive video services, it wants to change New Jersey's cable franchise rules, which require cable operators to negotiate agreements with individual towns. Such a process could take years, said Dennis Bone, Verizon New Jersey president, delaying competition in what is now a cable industry monopoly.

Verizon is lobbying for a new law that would make a single cable agreement good for the entire state.