Julia King

Speed is but one thread in the tapestry of connectivity and user experience. To address bandwidth-constrained households, some ISPs and vendors are exploring alternative routes to enhance network performance. Traffic prioritization tools within the home, for instance, offer a potential solution for the bandwidth-constrained. The key to driving user adoption of tools like this is to make the interface easy to use, and automate where possible. Speed has become “less relevant,”  said OpenVault CEO Mark Trudeau, now that the industry has reached multi-gig levels.

In news that's probably not sitting well with public broadband naysayers, communities now have a handy guidebook to build their own networks.

When it comes to Verizon’s wholesale business, growth is the name of the game. That might seem like an uphill battle, considering the wholesale industry has been shrinking for years. But newly appointed SVP of Verizon Partner Solutions Jeffrey Hulse said the company’s investments in fiber and 5G could help it beat the odds. Verizon's wholesale business provides telecommunications services (voice, data and internet connectivity, etc.) to other companies who then resell those services to end customers under their own brand.

The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) well is about to run dry, but some analysts remain hopeful that the program may be able to secure additional funding. As the saying goes: it ain't over till it's over. To be sure, the odds are still favoring ACP funds running out, New Street Research’s Blair Levin said.

In the wake of the FCC's December decision to change its rules on pole attachments, industry groups and utility companies are continuing to give their input. The proposed reforms, detailed in the Commission's third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, aim to streamline dispute resolution processes and enhance transparency to facilitate the expansion of broadband infrastructure. The FCC also requested feedback on its proposal.

Mears Broadband, a fiber network construction contractor, has launched as a standalone company just in time to support the flood of broadband deployment slated for later in 2024. For the last five years, Mears Broadband was a division of Mears Group, a subsidiary of Quanta Services that provides construction services for fiber broadband projects. CEO Trent Edwards explained the untethering will allow Mears Broadband to make decisions without impacting the 13 other companies within Mears Group.

It seems cable internet providers are still lagging behind in customer satisfaction, especially when it comes to cost. In a 2024 CableTV survey, the best major internet service providers for overall satisfaction were either fiber or wireless providers, those being Google Fiber, T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T.

Tracking broadband funding awards as they happen. In January 2024:

Breezeline closed out construction projects in both West Virginia and New Hampshire.

In a new trial Windstream and Cisco claimed the industry’s first successful 1 Terabit per second transmission over 1,100 kilometers, done across multiple routes on Windstream's Intelligent Converged Optical Network (ICON). The trial showcased the compatibility of multi-vendor technologies on Windstream's disaggregated architecture, using components from Cisco, Acacia Communications (a Cisco subsidiary) and a third-party line system vendor, Ciena. It also marked progress in Windstream's development of ZR+ modules for high-speed wave services.