October 2022

What do next wave 5G consumers want?

The largest ever 5G global consumer study to date. The respondents selected for the interview represent the online population aged between 15 and 69 within the surveyed markets, which in total consists of 1.7 billion consumers and 430 million 5G users. The research reveals that the next wave of 5G is underway, with mainstream consumers now adopting 5G in frontrunner markets that launched 5G early on.

Comcast wanted $210,000 for Internet—so this man helped expand a co-op fiber ISP

Los Altos Hills Community Fiber (LAHCF) is a cooperative (co-op) broadband provider that gives multi-gigabit fiber Internet to dozens of homes and has a plan to serve hundreds more. Town residents were able to form the provider with the help of Next Level Networks, which isn't a traditional consumer broadband provider but a company that builds and manages networks for local groups. This was done to overcome frustrations residents have been having with providers like Comcast.

Please Don’t Force Low Rates

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) conducted an annual broadband survey in 2021. The survey asked folks who didn’t have home broadband what they would be willing to pay, with the question, “At what monthly price, if any, would your household buy home Internet service?” The purpose of the survey was to understand the kind of price points that might be needed to get broadband to more of these households. Three-quarters of respondents said they would only get broadband if it was free. I find this result to be troubling for several reasons:

Silicon Valley's Rep Ro Khanna offers a midterm warning

Although Rep Ro Khanna (D-CA)'s district includes a wide swath of the tech industry's homes in towns like Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Santa Clara, and Fremont, he is an advocate for laws that would curb Big Tech's power. Among the restrictions Rep Khanna favors would expand privacy protections beyond California's existing law as well as a change in antitrust law that would shift the burden of proof in large deals, requiring the acquiring company to prove a deal won't hurt competition. Members of Congress have proposed new bills around privacy and antitrust and children's online safety, but so far