Heard on the Net

News about People and Companies influencing The Broadband Home

"Wireless Is Magic" -- Our Evaluation of 802.11g Wi-Fi

Our first evaluation report on Wi-Fi products covers 802.11g access points and notebook adapters. Wi-Fi has come a long way since the original 802.11b technology and our experience with current versions is much improved over early products. But we don't think 802.11g yet fulfills all the promises that have been made.

The Quest for ARPU: Alcatel's "Lead With Speed"

What do you learn when you bring together 125 executives from 70 telcos based in 40 countries? Alcatel's DSL customer event focused on broadband applications which will help increase the Average Revenue Per User to justify the continuing expenditures for building the underlying infrastructure, applications and support.

Banda Ancha - Broadband in Spain

We met with the incumbent and several aspiring broadband competitors. Despite differences between countries, we found many common themes across borders, including the move to "all IP," innovations in wireless and PLC technologies, and public policy to spur broadband competition. Muchas gracias to our readers in Spain for sharing their insights with us.

SCTE Cable-Tec Expo: Two Tidbits

At SCTE's Cable-Tec Expo, meetings with Wave7Optics and Toshiba introduced us to some technologies that deserve a closer look.

Broadband Home Labs - More on "Smart Displays"

We're now testing two Smart Displays: ViewSonic's airPanel V110 and V150. The latter includes Nevo for Smart Displays, a universal remote control from Universal Electronics.

Website Changes

We made many changes to the Broadband Home Labs section including an extensive new "Wi-Fi" section with detailed results of our Wi-Fi tests. We also revised the report home page and added several new pages.