Internet speeds in the United States rose dramatically on average over the past year, according to a new report.
December 27, 2021 – Internet speeds in the United States rose dramatically on average over the past year, according to a new report.
An annual report from highspeedinternet.com found that average internet speeds increased to 99.3Mbps (download speed) from 2020’s average of 42.86Mbps.
The report, released this month, demonstrated how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic drove demand for faster internet speeds across the nation.
“Beyond faster speeds, people needed more mobile options to stay connected, and more people looked to get fiber internet after feeling frustrated with their cable or DSL connections,” said the report.
According to the report, customers connected to fiber internet were happiest with their connection as opposed to cable and DSL customers.
“Surprisingly, cable customers gave satisfaction ratings on par with DSL customers, despite the fact that cable internet offers much higher speeds. Perhaps cable users ran into more throttling as overall internet use increased, whereas fiber users don’t have to worry about throttling,” wrote the report. The report noted how fiber internet would be customers’ top choice if it were available in their community.
High Speed Internet’s report also surveyed the fastest internet providers of 2021. They found that Google Fiber “reigned “as the fastest internet provider in the US, but that Google is not as available in many places. Xfinity was the fastest provider with the most availability across the US, while Verizon was the fastest provider with the lowest latency.
US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo promised better connectivity for Wisconsin residents.
She recognized that access to reliable, high-speed internet is an essential part of Americans’ economic participation.
“So many folks in Wisconsin live in rural communities, there is no broadband. If you live in a city, maybe you live in Milwaukee, there is broadband but it’s not affordable. We’ve got to fix all of that,” said Raimondo on Sunday.
According to the White House, only 5.5 percent of Wisconsin residents live in areas served by broadband providers. Even where infrastructure is available, broadband may be too expensive to be within reach, a White House fact sheet stated. Fourteen percent of Wisconsin households do not have an internet subscription. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will grant $100 million for the state to connect its most disconnected residents.
“I’ve talked to so many women during the pandemic who couldn’t hold down a traditional office job, but they started selling things online. They started a small business to sell online. They started services to businesses online. But they need broadband to do that,” said Raimondo.
Raimondo added that the work of laying the fiber cables needed to connect communities will create “thousands of new jobs in Wisconsin over the next several years.”
Internet service provider Bluepeak announced that it received franchise approval for a fiber network in Blackwell, Oklahoma.
Bluepeak will begin construction on the new high-speed network that will bring service to almost 3,000 residents and businesses in the city.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with the City of Blackwell to build a next-generation, fiber-to-the-home network,” said Bluepeak CEO Rich Fish. “Bluepeak is a different kind of provider with faster, more reliable speeds that will better connect homes, businesses and organizations across Blackwell.”
Last month the company announced plans to expand its fiber network in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
That project, which cost $25 million, will connect almost 23,000 residents to high-speed broadband.
In Blackwell, customers can purchase up to 5 gigabits of symmetrical bandwidth, while businesses can receive up to 10 gigabits of symmetrical bandwidth.
Blackwell city officials reacted enthusiastically to the partnership. “Providing city residents, businesses and industry with additional telecommunication options is paramount in this age of information. The City looks forward to working with Clarity Telecom, LLC/Bluepeak in the coordination of the installation of fiber on the City’s poles and underground fiber in its rights-of-way where no poles are present,” said Blackwell City Manager Jerry Wieland.
Lifeline Underutilized, China’s Problem with Starlink, FCC Approves GMEI/iHeartMedia Deal
Facebook Wins Data Privacy Lawsuit, Carriers Oppose Backup Power Mandates, Action on Suicide Site
Reporter Justin Perkins is graduate of Howard University School of Law, with a focus on telecommunications and technology. He has in-house experience at the Federal Communications Commission, Comcast and NBC. He brings curiosity and insight to broadband news.
Facebook Wins Data Privacy Lawsuit, Carriers Oppose Backup Power Mandates, Action on Suicide Site
Stephane Daeuble: Crossing the Digital Divide with Citizens Broadband Radio Service
FCC Commits Another $603 Million in Emergency Connectivity Fund Money
Settlement Over Failed 911 Calls, Former FCC Chairs Criticize FAA, Kansas Sets 2030 Broadband Goal
FCC Announces Largest Approval Yet for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund: $1 Billion
Public-Private Partnerships Will Help Bridge Digital Divide, Industry Leaders Say
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
NY’s Brad Hoylman introduced legislation that would attempt to control how social media handles users’ speech.
December 29, 2021 – New York State Democratic Senator Brad Hoylman is joining the list of lawmakers to have introduced legislation that would attempt to control how social media handles users’ speech.
The new bill Hoylman announced this week would prohibit platforms from promoting certain objectionable content such as false and fraudulent medical information, which has seen increased scrutiny during the coronavirus pandemic.
Should it be passed, the law would likely face significant legal challenges on First Amendment grounds, with courts having ruled in the past that even false statements are constitutionally protected speech.
Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman says that even though the bill targets platforms’ promotion of such speech rather than simply the hosting of it, constitutional issues would likely still abound.
Earlier this year Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, introduced the Health Misinformation Act that would create an exception to Section 230 for users’ posts with false health information promoted algorithmically during a national emergency. The act specifically aims to discourage platforms from promoting false content on COVID-19.
Republican bills in Texas and Florida that appear to be opposite to Hoylman’s proposal were blocked by federal judges. The laws attempted to require social platforms to host certain types of content even if it was objectionable or factually suspect.
State officials are currently waiting for responses from appellate judges to requests to reinstate those laws.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld Google’s settlement in a class action case alleging the company collected Wi-Fi data illegally through its Street View program.
The court rejected the argument that the settlement, totaling $13 million, was unfair because it only gave money to privacy groups and not the class members.
In the court’s Monday decision, Judge Bridget Bade said it was not feasible to distribute money directly to the 60 million people whose data the suit said was collected.
The initial suit was filed in 2010, stating that the vehicles Google used to take photos of streets around the world collected sensitive information such as emails, passwords and documents from Wi-Fi connections.
The case was settled in San Francisco federal court in 2018, paying out to nine involved privacy groups.
Prior to this appeal of the case, the settlement had been approved last year following objections from two class members and a group of state attorneys general.
A regulator in the Netherlands last week required Apple to allow that dating apps use non-Apple payment platforms due to Apple’s alleged abuses of its dominant position in markets.
Apple will also be required to provide dating app users with in-app notifications about non-Apple payment options.
The chairman of the board of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets stated that Apple has “special responsibilities” because of its dominance.
The order gives Apple two months to comply, after which it will face fines of around $5.7 million a week with a maximum of around $57 million.
Regulators expressed concern over Apple’s conditions that render dating apps unable to handle any issues regarding invoicing, cancellation and refunds directly with customers. Additionally, apps have a hard time carrying out safety protocols such as background checks.
Earlier this month in the U.S., a federal appellate panel stayed a California federal district court judge’s order for Apple to allow all app developers to use in-app buttons or links that direct customers to outside payment options.
The Internet Innovation Alliance said less than 6.5 million Americans participate in the subsidy program.
WASHINGTON, December 28, 2021 – The Internet Innovation Alliance is calling attention to the underutilization of the Lifeline subsidy program in comments to the Federal Communications Commission.
“Because of its shortcomings, the Lifeline Program is substantially underutilized,” the IIA said in its submission Tuesday, which focused on the agency’s implementation of the Affordable Connectivity Program, which extends the Emergency Broadband Benefit program.
The FCC’s Universal Service Administrative Company estimates that there are about 33.2 million Lifeline-eligible households, but less than 6.5 million participate, meaning that only one in five eligible households is taking advantage of the program subsidy,” the comments read.
The comments called for a “light-touch administrative approach” to modernize and simplify the ACP and reach more households. They also requested that households enrolled in the EBB as of Dec. 31, to be auto enrolled in the ACP.
Additionally, the IIA called on the FCC to improve its outreach, saying that it should continue to leverage its existing partnerships with local communities and its anchor institutions, in addition to exploring new relationships.
The IIA also said that “beneficiaries should not be expected to order from a limited menu,” and argued that providers participating in the ACP should offer diverse service plans providing increased internet speeds – even if some of them are relatively expensive – to accommodate the diverse needs that users may have.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson urged the U.S. to “act responsibly” in the wake of near collisions between SpaceX Starlink satellites and Chinese satellite, according to reporting by The Guardian.
China’s Tiangong space station had to initiate evasive maneuvers to avoid Starlink satellites twice within the last year, it said. China lodged these complaints in an informal bulletin during the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space’s meeting in December of 2021.
China is not the only entity to have experienced issues with Starlink. In 2019, a European Space Agency observation satellite had to engage its thrusters to dodge a Starlink satellite.
The FCC has greenlit the Bahamas-based Global Media & Entertainment Investments to purchase up to 14.99 percent of iHeartMedia equity.
On December 22, the FCC announced that it would approve the foreign equity and voting interests, not to exceed 14.99 percent.
GMEI supported this move after walking back its November request to purchase 49.99 percent of iHeartMedia.
A judge ruled Facebook cannot be held liable for securities fraud in data leaks related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
December 22, 2021 – A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Facebook from company stockholders that alleged the social media platform allowed third party companies such as data consultancy Cambridge Analytica to obtain millions of users’ personal information.
U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila ruled in San Jose that plaintiffs’ allegations do not support a finding that Facebook engaged in securities fraud and said plaintiffs did not prove Facebook executives intentionally misled users on their privacy.
Davila’s Monday ruling was issued with prejudice, meaning plaintiffs cannot sue again without intervention by an appellate court.
It was revealed in March 2018 that the now-defunct Cambridge Analytica obtained millions of users’ data, revealed to impact up to 87 million individuals and compounded by new information on Facebook data-sharing practices that face scrutiny. These practices resulted in a $5 billion Federal Trade Commission fine.
Cambridge Analytica reportedly received its data from researcher Aleksandr Kogan, who got the information in 2014 through personality-quiz app Thisisyourdigitallife.
Following the public reports on Cambridge Analytica in 2018, Facebook immediately lost $50 billion in market value.
Many of the nation’s largest wireless providers are opposing suggestions that the federal government mandate the use of backup power generators at cell sites, according to reporting by Light Reading on Tuesday.
Verizon and AT&T are among the leaders of the charge, as well as several other entities outside of wireless providers.
Mandate advocates cite the essential role cellular networks can play during natural disasters because they often regain function before electricity is restored to several other areas.
Generally, U.S. wireless providers have rejected increased federal oversight over their operations.
Network operators argue that they already heavily employ generators and other backup power technologies, and that federal rules could impede them from quickly responding to issues.
Whether the Federal Communications Commission issues mandates is unclear, but in 2020 Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel restated calls for new backup power rules.
A bipartisan group of congressmembers are calling on tech companies to investigate and limit the visibility of websites that promote suicide after The New York Times published an investigation into a website that allegedly contributed to 45 suicides.
The group of lawmakers announced Monday that it has requested briefings from search engines, web hosting companies, organizations that oversee networks of content delivery and relevant social media platforms to investigate how the website is able to encourage suicide.
They are also asking for briefings from the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Surgeon General to discuss America’s suicide crisis that is often fueled by harmful online content and, according to experts, has worsened during the coronavirus pandemic.
In an October Senate hearing, lawmakers grilled representatives of social media companies on the crisis which they are accused of contributing to through negligent platform policies.
Another bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Massachusetts, issued a letter to the Department of Justice asking about actions to take against the site.
The letter inquired about whether the Department of Justice has the authority to investigate the site and whether the DOJ shares information about websites that promote suicide with state and local authorities.
The Times’ investigation found that the website contained “goodbye threads” from more than 500 members detailing how and when they planned on dying by suicide in what reporters called “explicit directions on how to die.” Those individuals did not post on the site again following those threads.
HHS officials announced Monday that $280 million will go towards transitioning the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline to the three digit phone number 988 next July, and the FCC voted last month to allow individuals to text the lifeline at that number.
Cox’s Wireless Deal with Verizon Dies, Apple Appeals Epic Games Case, AT&T’s Fiber Investment
FCC and FTC Announce Open Meeting Agendas and AT&T Signs Deal with OneWeb
Shrihari Pandit: States Can Enable Broadband Infrastructure Through Open Access Conduits
AT&T Hurricane Survey, FCC Announces $1.1B from Emergency Connectivity Fund, Comcast’s Utah Plans
Facebook Changes and Second Whistleblower, Comcast’s Spam Call Feature, AT&T Picks Ericsson for 5G
O’Rielly ‘Perplexed’ By Delay in Rosenworcel Decision, China Mobile Domesticating Contracts, AT&T Partners with Frontier
Comments on Provider Deals in Buildings, AT&T Asks FCC for Midband Screen, Apple Suspends Child Protection Tool
Facebook Pauses Instagram for Kids, $1.2B from Emergency Connectivity Fund, Ransomware Attacks
Copyright © 2008-2021 Breakfast Media LLC. Articles on Broadband Breakfast are not legal advice or legal services.