Hop 255

tv2me

tv2me promises users television anywhere they have a broadband connection. It has been around for a couple of years but has yet to generate the same excitement as Slingbox. Why? The a price difference of around US$4.500 might be a good starting point. The debate continues ....

hop255 is waiting for the PAL version of Slingbox though they should hurry with services such as these, from eWan1, soon to launch.

Net Neutrality Hearings

Testimony from today's Congressional Hearings can be found here. The USTA Rep says Internet traffic growing at about 100% per year but does not give a source or say whose traffic he means. Vint Cerf makes good case for Net Neutrality and the need for some regulatory safeguards where monopoly power may be exercised in the absence of strong competitive alternatives.

Slingbox Mobile

Slingbox which allows video transmission from a tv to any location on the net with broadband is introducing the same feature for mobile users. Still waiting for the PAL version.

WiMax for Xmas

A new WiMax deployment in NZ is written up here.

More growth in Indian telecoms

Another article documenting growth in the Indian telecoms market since liberalisation including growth in Internet access and broadband. The best place for statistics on Indian telecoms is at the regulator's website.  Unlike the rope trick, described in Peter Lamont's new book, it seems like it is really happening this time.

Broadband Speed Ranking

From time to time Hop255 glances at the bandwidth test on the Greengrass site. The results from earlier in the year are here. The most notable change is Australia dropping out of the top ten and being replaced by Canada and the US dropping from second to tenth. It would be interesting to know the sample size. Here are the results from December 4th, 2005.

Average for Top 10 Countries
	KR	5.54 Mbps
	DE	3.12 Mbps
	JP	1.88 Mbps
	IT	1.86 Mbps
	FR	1.84 Mbps
	CN	1.81 Mbps
	BE	1.77 Mbps
	CA	0.98 Mbps
	UK	0.83 Mbps
	US	0.63 Mbps

Free Tests DSL in France at 174 Mbps

Free, the French broadband provider has tested DSL at 174 Mbps. The press release can be read on Iliad, the parent company's website. At a distance of 1800 metres 120 Mbps was achieved.

This may not, however, be that remarkable according to Dave Burstein writing here. He notes the press release says "lines" and that If you bond 10 lines at 15 Mbps, you get 150 Mbps. Burstein is the author of a well know industry newsletter on DSL.

Rupert Murdoch on Broadband

Press baron Rupert Murdoch speaks out on newspapers and impact of increasing Internet access.  Interesting that someone who has spent his life with newspapers is so ready to recognise potential of a new technology. Quotes from here in today's Independent.

"We now have one billion people - not with broadband - but access to net, and computer literate. In 20 years, 30 years it's not going to be one billion, it'll be six billion.

"It's going to be a huge force for good, but also a force for change in many ways that we can't foresee."

BBC webcasting

The BBC says it wants to be the first free to air mainstream television station to webcast its regular service. A pilot will be unveiled in 2006 along with further trials of MyBBCPlayer, which will allow viewers to legally download BBC programs.

All I want for xMax

xMax has demonstrated a new broadband wireless technology. It sounds very promising, if it scales, and is probably more likely to provide an alternative broadband platform than gas (BiG). Meanwhile Verso is helping the Chinese do to Skype what SBC might like to do except for being in a liberal democracy. Hopefully Amnesty International, or their like, will do the recto press release to cut through the lame spin Verso put on their technology. Longer term it would be even better if xMax provided an alternative local loop to bypass providers wanting to block legitimate application level services like PhoneGnome or Google's new services. SoftGnome basically cuts the cord on using PhoneGnome away from the home or office. Meanwhile Google has released its mapping service for mobile phones.