“I hate wireless,” proclaims Sonic.net CEO Dane Jasper in a blog post explaining that the the independent California-based ISP has sold off its wireless assets. According to Jasper, the company wanted to streamline their focus on wireline and building out their growing DSL and fiber to the home networks, so they’re offloading their wireless services to a company named CDS Wireless of Santa Rosa. Jasper notes the company is also shutting down several of the [...]

Because trampling your privacy rights while mirroring U.S. warrantless surveillance efforts doesn’t come cheap — Canadian law enforcement is now considering a new “public safety” tax on user broadband connections. As we’ve noted, Canada is busy trying to push very U.S.-centric new wiretap laws aimed at allowing the disclosure of ISP customer data without court oversight, requiring ISPs to rework their networks to allow real-time surveillance, and expanding law enforcement authority to allow broader access [...]

Just a reminder: last year we announced that we’ve set some money aside that we’re eager to give back to the Broadband Reports community. Specifically, we’re looking to pay users to craft content focused on broadband-related topics. Subjects can be anything related to our usual coverage areas, which range from telecom politics and advancements in broadband speeds, to ISP price changes or issues with customer support. If you’re employed by an ISP we’d love to [...]

California independent ISP Sonic.net has been getting some much deserved love lately from several different tech news outlets for being one of the only independent landline ISP to not only survive incumbents, but build their own network. The company this week is giving an update on their fiber to the home plans in Sebastopol, California — noting that the first wave of their installation is complete and that they’re moving on to expand the project. [...]

Ars Technica has a nice write up on independent ISP Sonic.Net, which was not only one of the few U.S. independent ISPs to survive the CLEC-pocalypse, but to thrive and proceed to build their own network. Sonic’s current the top rated U.S. ISP in our good, bad and ugly rankings. It’s a success that has come from not only offering a good product (they’re now offering 1 Gbps fiber for $70 in parts of California), [...]

Georgia is the latest state to try and impose restrictions on communities eager to deploy their own broadband after regional duopolists Time Warner Cable and CenturyLink convinced state legislators to erect roadblocks designed to keep the state’s broadband market just how they like it: utterly uncompetitive. Such bills had fallen out of favor in recent years as locals realized they’re crafted solely to protect regional incumbent ISP profits. That’s despite ISP lobbyist claims that such [...]

Not only to Canadians lay claim to some of the most expensive broadband among all developed countries it’s also among the lowest quality, with numerous ISPs heavily throttling data and imposing unreasonably low caps and high overages in the HD video age. What are you to do if you’re an ISP like Rogers and the data repeatedly shows Canadian broadband is expensive and heavily capped due to weak competition? You fund your own study. A [...]

Recent data shows that Canadian cable ISP Rogers is the worst ISP tracked by MLabs when it comes to meddling with, throttling, or otherwise restricting user traffic. As Canadian network neutrality complaints rise sharply after the nation imposed new neutrality laws, Rogers is busily responsible for more than half of them — as the company continues to use network management platforms that impact legitimate traffic, applications and games (just ask our users). This is something [...]

For much of the last decade the U.S. government has been trying to force data retention requirements on ISPs, most frequently under the banner of fighting child pornography. New bills seem to pop up every year or so, though privacy advocates have traditionally beaten such efforts back. Mandatory ISP data retention was something you’ll recall was a priority for the Bush/Gonzales Justice Department, and (much like warrantless wiretapping) is now being championed by the Obama [...]

As the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) new broadband wholesale rules go into place, competitive broadband provider TekSavvy is being forced to increase its broadband service prices. Under the service provider’s new pricing regime, the service provider will up the prices of its DSL and cable-based services by almost 15 percent beginning on February 2nd. In an effort to cushion the blow for their 300 GB DSL customers, TekSavvy said that while the service [...]