Engadget http://www.engadget.com Engadget http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif Engadget http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Virgin Media to double broadband speeds this year, BT smirks]]>http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/11/virgin-media-to-double-broadband-speeds-this-year-bt-smirks/http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/11/virgin-media-to-double-broadband-speeds-this-year-bt-smirks/http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/11/virgin-media-to-double-broadband-speeds-this-year-bt-smirks/#comments Virgin Media customers are in for a big treat today, because the UK-based ISP has just announced plans to double the average speed of its broadband service. Over the course of the next 18 months, top speeds will increase from 100 Mbps to 120Mbps, as part of a £110 million ($169 million) initiative. Users on 10Mbps, 20Mbps and 50Mbps plans, meanwhile, will see their speeds and bandwidth usage limits doubled, at no extra charge. The upgrade is slated to begin rolling out in February, and should be complete by the middle of next year. Competing company BT, meanwhile, was quick to point out the similarity between Virgin Media's new campaign and its own upgrade. "It is no surprise to see that Virgin are following our lead by doubling speeds," BT said in a statement. "We announced we would do this for our fiber products last autumn and so they are trying to catch up with us."

Virgin Media to double broadband speeds this year, BT smirks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>broadbandbroadband upgradeBroadbandUpgradeBTbusinessindustryinternetinternet service providerInternetServiceProviderispspeedspeedsukupgradevirgin mediaVirginMediaWed, 11 Jan 2012 00:13:00 EST<![CDATA[AT&T 4G LTE now working in parts of New York City]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/02/atandt-rolls-out-4g-lte-in-parts-of-new-york-city/http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/02/atandt-rolls-out-4g-lte-in-parts-of-new-york-city/http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/02/atandt-rolls-out-4g-lte-in-parts-of-new-york-city/#comments
We got a taste of AT&T's 4G LTE action last night in the Big Apple with the introduction of its LG Nitro HD, and today, the company has apparently flipped the 4G "on" switch in the City That Never Sleeps -- confirming its promise from November. According to tipster reports, some speed tests are showing downloads as fast as 27 Mbps and uploads of 15 Mbps, confirming that the LTE network has indeed gone live in parts of New York City.

Update: To be clear, this is not an official deployment of LTE in NYC by AT&T. So, if you can't get signal, or if your signal stinks, don't take it out on them. It's still in testing!

[Thanks, @SamSavitt]

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AT&T 4G LTE now working in parts of New York City originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Dec 2011 10:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>4gattlg nitrolg nitro hdLgNitroLgNitroHdltemobilepostcrossnetworknetwork speedsnetworksNetworkSpeedsnitrospeedspeedsFri, 02 Dec 2011 10:17:00 EST<![CDATA[US lags in broadband adoption and download speeds, still has the best rappers]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/21/us-lags-in-broadband-adoption-and-download-speeds-still-has-the/http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/21/us-lags-in-broadband-adoption-and-download-speeds-still-has-the/http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/21/us-lags-in-broadband-adoption-and-download-speeds-still-has-the/#comments US Ranks #9 U, S, A! We're number nine! Wait, nine? At least according to a recent broadband survey by the FCC, yes. The good ol' US of A ranked ninth (out of the 29 member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) in fixed broadband penetration on a per capita basis, and 12th in terms of pure percentage -- behind the UK, South Korea, Iceland, the Netherlands, and plenty of others. Though, granted, these nations lack the sprawling amber waves of grain that America must traverse with cables. The US also trailed in wireless broadband adoption, ranking ninth yet again, behind the likes of Ireland, Australia and Sweden. Worse still, even those with broadband reported slower connections than folks in other countries. Olympia, Washington had the highest average download speeds of any US city with 21Mbps (New York and Seattle tied for second with 11.7Mbps), but was easily topped by Helsinki, Paris, Berlin, and Seoul (35.8Mbps). Well, at least we beat Slovenia... if only just barely.

US lags in broadband adoption and download speeds, still has the best rappers originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 May 2011 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>accessbandwidthbroadbandbroadband adoptionbroadband penetrationbroadband speedsBroadbandAdoptionBroadbandPenetrationBroadbandSpeedsdatadownload speedsDownloadSpeedsFCCfiguresgovernmentinternetnumbersoecdonlineOrganization for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentOrganizationForEconomicCo-operationAndDevelopmentresearchspeedspeedsstatisticsstatssurveyUSUSASat, 21 May 2011 18:01:00 EST<![CDATA[AT&T says 'new devices and updates to existing models' will be HSUPA-ready]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/09/atandt-says-new-devices-and-updates-to-existing-models-will-be-h/http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/09/atandt-says-new-devices-and-updates-to-existing-models-will-be-h/http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/09/atandt-says-new-devices-and-updates-to-existing-models-will-be-h/#comments Our digging revealed that the Inspire 4G and other devices in AT&T's current stable are more than capable at the hardware level of using HSUPA for high-speed upstream connections, but for whatever reason, the carrier seems to currently require that most handsets handshake with the network using an old protocol stack that doesn't include HSUPA. The result? Glacial uploads, which especially suck when you're trying to tether. Though there's no resolution yet, AT&T's now circulating a mildly hopeful statement: "...we have a number of HSUPA devices today and we will have more HSUPA-enabled devices in the future-new devices and updates to existing models." We're hoping that means we'll see a bunch of firmware updates in the next few months that flip the switch on HSUPA, especially for owners of phones like the Inspire and the Atrix, both of which have a shaky "4G" tacked on to the ends of their names.

AT&T says 'new devices and updates to existing models' will be HSUPA-ready originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>atrix 4gAtrix4gattdatahsupainspire 4gInspire4gspeedspeedsuplinkuploadWed, 09 Mar 2011 16:24:00 EST<![CDATA[Verizon can now throttle top five percent of bandwidth hogs, downres multimedia transfers]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/03/verizon-can-now-throttle-top-five-percent-of-bandwidth-hogs-down/http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/03/verizon-can-now-throttle-top-five-percent-of-bandwidth-hogs-down/http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/03/verizon-can-now-throttle-top-five-percent-of-bandwidth-hogs-down/#comments Nice timing, Verizon. Just as thousands -- possibly zillions -- of smartphone users are pondering the switch to Big Red for Apple's iPhone 4, the carrier has slipped in two critical policy changes that are apparently effective immediately. Tucked within loads of fine print in a new PDF that surfaced on the company's site, there's this:
"Verizon Wireless strives to provide customers the best experience when using our network, a shared resource among tens of millions of customers. To help achieve this, if you use an extraordinary amount of data and fall within the top 5 percent of Verizon Wireless data users we may reduce your data throughput speeds periodically for the remainder of your then current and immediately following billing cycle to ensure high quality network performance for other users at locations and times of peak demand. Our proactive management of the Verizon Wireless network is designed to ensure that the remaining 95 percent of data customers aren't negatively affected by the inordinate data consumption of just a few users."
To our knowledge, this is the first time that VZW has taken a notable position on throttling, and the link to its stance on net neutrality (as it applies to wireless, anyway) is fairly obvious. What's most interesting to us is the five percent of data users figure; the top one or two percent isn't a huge amount, and there's a good chance that bandwidth abusers are up in that echelon. But we're guessing that quite a few business travelers will fall within this particular range, and given that VZW now holds the right to throttle data for your existing billing cycle and the next one... well, good luck gritting your teeth and lasting through that two-year contract.

In related news, the company is also implementing optimization and transcoding technologies in its network, which is a politically correct way of explaining that it can downres any multimedia you try to send through Verizon's pipes. Head on past the break for the full quote.

Continue reading Verizon can now throttle top five percent of bandwidth hogs, downres multimedia transfers

Verizon can now throttle top five percent of bandwidth hogs, downres multimedia transfers originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Feb 2011 12:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>3g4gbroadbanddata capdata capsdata discriminationDataCapDataCapsDataDiscriminationdownloadsltemobile broadbandmobile internetMobileBroadbandMobileInternetnet neutralityNetNeutralityspeedspeedsthrottlethrottlingverizonverizon wirelessVerizonWirelessvzwwwanThu, 03 Feb 2011 12:08:00 EST<![CDATA[Australia's iiNet hits 85Mbps in VDSL2 trials, could bring HDTV / internet to apartments]]>http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/18/australias-iinet-hits-85mbps-in-vdsl2-trials-could-bring-hdtv/http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/18/australias-iinet-hits-85mbps-in-vdsl2-trials-could-bring-hdtv/http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/18/australias-iinet-hits-85mbps-in-vdsl2-trials-could-bring-hdtv/#commentsiiNet, which is based in Western Australia, has reportedly achieved download speeds topping out at 85Mbps and upload rates of around 47Mbps in field trials held in Perth. The live VDSL2 trials are being used to determine the feasibility of eventually wiring up multi-dwelling units with an array of services. In theory, the service could bring high-speed internet, digital phone and HDTV to apartment complexes via a single wire, much like AT&T's U-verse and Verizon's FiOS suites in America. Regrettably, there's no mention of when this will move beyond the testing phase and into the for sale stage, but as always, here's hoping for the answer to be sooner rather than later.

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Australia's iiNet hits 85Mbps in VDSL2 trials, could bring HDTV / internet to apartments originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>AustraliabroadbandDSLglobalhdhigh-speed internetHigh-speedInternetiiNetinternetspeedspeedsVDSL2Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:20:00 EST<![CDATA[Verizon aims to deploy 100G network capabilities in 2009]]>http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/10/verizon-aims-to-deploy-100g-network-capabilities-in-2009/http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/10/verizon-aims-to-deploy-100g-network-capabilities-in-2009/http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/10/verizon-aims-to-deploy-100g-network-capabilities-in-2009/#commentsIf you'll recall, the IEEE gave the all important thumbs up to 100G as the next Ethernet speed, and while we've seen such a milestone met on the Internet2, Verizon's looking to bring it to the masses in just twelve short months. According to Fred Briggs, Verizon Business' executive vice president of operations and technology, the firm is aiming to "deploy 100G network capabilities over all its major routes within the United States." Verizon actually tested out its 100Gbps capabilities last year on a video transmission from Tampa to Miami, Florida, and apparently, the results "showed that it could deploy 100G on routes and not disrupt current wavelengths." Granted, we wouldn't expect many consumers to actually be able to take advantage of all this speed right away, but even if you're not down with (or nearby) any of Verizon's forthcoming offerings, there's always DOCSIS 3.0.

[Image courtesy of Futurenet]

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Verizon aims to deploy 100G network capabilities in 2009 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>100g100gbpsbroadbandinternetspeedspeedsverizonMon, 10 Mar 2008 22:56:00 EST<![CDATA[Verizon ups its FiOS speeds to 50Mbps, sets the internet on fire]]>http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/21/verizon-ups-its-fios-speeds-to-50mbps-sets-the-internet-on-fire/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/21/verizon-ups-its-fios-speeds-to-50mbps-sets-the-internet-on-fire/http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/21/verizon-ups-its-fios-speeds-to-50mbps-sets-the-internet-on-fire/#commentsNot content with blazing up your local connection at 20Mbps downstream and up, Verizon has once again bumped its already-painfully-fast FiOS broadband service into the realm of ridiculous. According to reports, the company is now offering a 30Mbps / 15 Mbps service at $89.95 a month, and the nerve-shattering 50 Mbps / 20 Mbps speed at $139.95. The telecom has also introduced symmetrical connections in all 16 states where it currently offers FiOS service, with a 20Mbps / 20Mbps on the up and down, starting at $64.99. Of course, it's all bleeps and buzzes in our particularly lonely corner of Brooklyn, where we'll have to suffer the indignation of a lowly 10Mbps connection until the big V blesses us with some real speed... you hearing us, dudes?

[Via GigaOM]

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Verizon ups its FiOS speeds to 50Mbps, sets the internet on fire originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Nov 2007 04:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>20mbps50mbpsbroadbandfiber opticFiberOpticfiosspeedssymmetrical connectionsSymmetricalConnectionsverizonWed, 21 Nov 2007 04:14:00 EST<![CDATA[AT&T customers seeing sudden boost in EDGE speeds?]]>http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/28/atandt-customers-seeing-sudden-boost-in-edge-speeds/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/28/atandt-customers-seeing-sudden-boost-in-edge-speeds/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/28/atandt-customers-seeing-sudden-boost-in-edge-speeds/#comments
Shortly after beginning the shutdown process of AMPS and TDMA networks, and just hours before the launch the EDGE-capable iPhone, a number of users are reportedly seeing dramatic increases in EDGE throughput. After questioning whether the mobile was actually using WiFi, a New Yorker began to see if fellow AT&T customers across the nation were also noticing the substantial boost in speeds; sure enough, it looks like quite a few others are seeing speeds upwards of 200Kbps. Of course, the usual banter over the legitimacy of speed tests conducted on mobiles inevitably ensued, but we're leaving it up to you. So, dear readers, hop on AT&T's 2.5G highway and give it a go, but be sure to return and let us know whether the increases are for real.

[Thanks, Peter]

Update: We tried some speed tests on an EDGE handset ourselves, and though it's been a little inconsistent, we've been shocked to find a number of runs over 200kbps. True, these kinds of speeds are theoretically possible (actually, little known fact, the ITU technically defines EDGE as a 3G standard), but we'd never expect to see them in practice. Should make the iPhone's browsing experience a little more bearable if it holds up!

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AT&T customers seeing sudden boost in EDGE speeds? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jun 2007 23:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>2.5g3gatandtattbroadbanddataedgegsminternetmobilemobile internetMobileInternetspeed testsspeedsSpeedTestsThu, 28 Jun 2007 23:23:00 EST<![CDATA[AT&T customers seeing sudden boost in EDGE speeds?]]>http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/28/atandt-customers-seeing-sudden-boost-in-edge-speeds/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/28/atandt-customers-seeing-sudden-boost-in-edge-speeds/http://www.engadget.com/2007/06/28/atandt-customers-seeing-sudden-boost-in-edge-speeds/#comments
Shortly after beginning the shutdown process of AMPS and TDMA networks, and just hours before the launch the EDGE-capable iPhone, a number of users are reportedly seeing dramatic increases in EDGE throughput. After questioning whether the mobile was actually using WiFi, a New Yorker began to see if fellow AT&T customers across the nation were also noticing the substantial boost in speeds; sure enough, it looks like quite a few others are seeing speeds upwards of 200Kbps. Of course, the usual banter over the legitimacy of speed tests conducted on mobiles inevitably ensued, but we're leaving it up to you. So, dear readers, hop on AT&T's 2.5G highway and give it a go, but be sure to return and let us know whether the increases are for real.

[Thanks, Peter]

Update: We tried some speed tests on an EDGE handset ourselves, and though it's been a little inconsistent, we've been shocked to find a number of runs over 200kbps. True, these kinds of speeds are theoretically possible (actually, little known fact, the ITU technically defines EDGE as a 3G standard), but we'd never expect to see them in practice. Should make the iPhone's browsing experience a little more bearable if it holds up!

Filed under: ,

AT&T customers seeing sudden boost in EDGE speeds? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jun 2007 23:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>2.5g3gbroadbanddatainternetmobile internetMobileInternetspeed testsspeedsSpeedTestsThu, 28 Jun 2007 23:23:00 EST