Verizon threatens to sue Netflix in war of words over video quality | PCWorld

Verizon threatens to sue Netflix in war of words over video quality | PCWorld

Netflix has cut deals with Comcast and Verizon to get priority treatment for its video streams. But Netflix isn't at all happy about having done so, characterizing it as highway robbery and extortion. And Netflix is making it clear it expects these edge providers to ensure a congestion free experience for Netflix customers under the agreements.

Verizon's position outlined in this story is other network factors not within its control can degrade connectivity and it thus can't be held responsible. That's likely tick off Netflix even more and escalate tensions into a scorched earth court battle. And perhaps into a deal with Google Fiber to go around the incumbent telephone and cable providers?

The growing tensions and threat of litigation makes it clear a holistic, universal pricing and settlement scheme is urgently needed to ensure providers at the core, transport and edge of the network are fairly compensated and share responsibility for stewardship of the Internet ecosystem and ensuring all -- and not just some -- premises at the edge can obtain landline connectivity. If the private players cannot accomplish this, it becomes more likely the government will intervene and do it for them.

"VolksNet" solution in Deustchland: residents build their own fiber to the premise infrastructure

German villagers build own broadband network - The Local

With around 22 kilometres of network needed to link up all of the
houses to the high-speed data highway, "we would never have found a
company willing to supply the necessary fibre-optics," said mayor Holger
Jensen. Some 58 other communities in Northern Friesland face
similar difficulties and so the idea was born of clubbing together -
businesses, individuals and villages - to secure access to a modern
technology that is taken for granted in most German towns and cities.

In many nations, governments proclaim they are responding to private market failure that leaves homes and businesses disconnected from modern Internet access. These Germans have a backup plan in case that doesn't happen: they're building it themselves. I'm dubbing it "VolksNet;" maybe the idea will catch on elsewhere in Germany and other places.

The FCC may finally admit that 4Mbps doesn’t count as ‘broadband’ anymore - Yahoo News

The FCC may finally admit that 4Mbps doesn’t count as ‘broadband’ anymore - Yahoo News

It's sheer folly to try to define "broadband" in 2014 based on throughput speed. Even the term "broadband" itself is obsolete since it was first used in the 1990s to differentiate service more advanced than dialup "narrowband."

What the U.S. needs is ubiquitous fiber to the premise telecommunications infrastructure and a real plan to achieve it and not more useless debating games and PR spin over what constitutes "broadband."

Why you shouldn’t buy the miracle broadband network Softbank’s Masayoshi Son is selling - Yahoo Finance

Why you shouldn’t buy the miracle broadband network Softbank’s Masayoshi Son is selling - Yahoo Finance

An excellent reality check by GigaOM's Kevin Fitchard on claims by Masayoshi and other wireless space players that wireless can substitute for landline premises Internet service.

The numbers simply don't pencil out in terms of cost and carrying capacity and aren't ever likely to as premises bandwidth demand keeps growing rapidly. Star Trek's 23rd century quantum subspace channel hasn't yet arrived, space fans.

Like health insurance, tipping point of market dysfunction will come for premise Internet service

• Low customer satisfaction levels and high churn
• Rising prices and poor value
• Little choice among providers
• Market segmented into haves and have nots

All of these conditions describe the sickly individual health insurance market as it existed prior to the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act reforms that took effect at the start of the year. They also accurately define the market for premise Internet telecommunications service in 2014.

For the pre-Affordable Care Act individual health insurance market, a tipping point was reached in early 2010 when a California health plan issuer raised premium rates by nearly 40 percent for some plans. At the same time, millions of Americans not covered by employer or government health plans couldn’t purchase coverage at any price due to pre-existing medical conditions.

Today, millions of Americans face the same predicament when it comes to landline premises Internet service because none is available for sale to them -- two decades after most people accessed the Internet by slow, dialup modems still being used today. Mirroring poor customer satisfaction with health insurers, consumers give low ratings to telephone and cable companies.

Like the individual health insurance market, dissatisfaction with premise Internet telecommunications service will soon reach a tipping point that forces positive change. Tipping points are hard to predict precisely. They occur when the right combination of events and public sentiment converge at exactly the right time and place.

For landline Internet premise market dysfunction, it’s inevitable that point will soon be reached. It’s only a question of how and when we’ll get there.

One thing’s for certain. When a market for a product or service of vital importance to the nation’s economic well-being can’t remedy its own dysfunction, massive government intervention becomes more likely.

DirecTV CEO's hopes for AT&T deal could be disappointed

DirecTV CEO Mike White

DirecTV CEO Mike White

DirecTV CEO Mike White

White: AT&T Deal Unlocks Potential | Multichanne: White also sees a big customer service opportunity in the deal, allowing DirecTV to offer more products in a single truck roll.

“To me the real opportunity is growth,” White continued. “For us this is a real unlock, it unlocks our way to better serve rural areas, when you think about the 15 million [customer] build out of rural areas. We have been salivating to be able to do [a] one bill and one install experience for the customer and not have two different people show up on two different days, to run it from one call center. This is an enormous opportunity for DirecTV that’s one of the things we could not have gotten with any other partner.”

DirecTV Mike White's belief that AT&T will follow through with a commitment it announced concurrently with its planned acquisition of DirecTV to expand its Internet footprint to reach an additional 15 million premises could prove illusory, dashing his hopes of expanded cross marketing opportunities. For more than a decade, AT&T has announced various infrastructure expansion initiatives including Project Pronto, Project Lightspeed and most recently, Project VIP that have turned out to be far more sizzle than steak.