Internet service: Cable v. Telcos
A couple interesting tidbits came across my rss reader today. First this bit on ars technica that tells how cable companies are going to run into a bandwidth crunch very soon now. What with all the HD, video on demand and high bandwidth internet use, they’re going to need to do some infrastructure work to make it all happen. I guess everyone’s having this problem as the telco’s try to figure out how to shape up their infrastructure for 3G and 4G.
Then, I read that Sprint is actually still on target to roll out their 4G WiMax (strangely branded XOHM) in a couple cities by the end of 2007. For those of you just waking up from a deep sleep, that’s this year. Sprint’s already on 4G, Verizon’s just at 3G, AT&T can barely roll out 3G, T-mob hasn’t even started on 3G. Still loving my EVDO decision. I guess Verizon is also trying to roll out FIOS, but that’s going to happen much more slowly than a wireless deployment and if I had to lay a wager, I’m guessing that the future lies with wireless not wired access.
Sadly, according to this early report, the initial rollout for this year is only for Chicago, Baltimore and D.C. Man, that sucks, although they said that by the end of 2008 they’ll have rolled it out to at least 100 million people - that ought to include NYC. With WiMax supposed to actually be able to achieve 10Mbps up and down, I will happily toss my Road Runner out the window and switch to Sprint.
I don’t know if that’s merely switching evils, I mean the telco’s are no friend of the consumer. For a vivid example take a look at the Motorola’s new RAZR2. It comes in not one, not two, but five, that’s right five different flavors. Three different hardware modles but five different full packages, literally one for each of the carriers. Each with different features - so basically, Motorola said, we’ve got this great new phone and look it can do all these things! And the carriers each said, well that’s great, but we don’t want our customers doing all those things so you’ll have to cut them out. Each carrier dropped features to taste. That is why the iPhone is such a revolution. For once someone said, you know what? You’re going to let us do whatever we want to do - you don’t get to pick. Whether or not you like the iPhone, you have to appreciate that that is something that thus far hasn’t happened but hopefully will begin. With Nokia pushing into the market with unlocked smart phones, it seems a revolt is in the air.
