Category Archives: connectivity

FYI: Teksavvy, the best local deal in Broadband?

You may recall some of my historic adventures in finding cheap broadband [ Open letter to 3Web, local broadband internet service provider *]. Well I posed the question to the TorCamp Google Group and received exactly one resounding reply. So I thought I’d pass it on:

Teksavvy.com I have it at home and work now. I’ve tried Bell, Rogers, and a handfull of
other DSL providers… – Colin Smillie

I have had pretty awful results with Bell myself. Roger was alright.
But definitely, of the better local ISPs, TekSavvy in particular, has
been doing it right. It makes it much easier to be a geek… So, is your sanity worth a lot to you? Then start off with TekSavvy. -Li-fan

Agreed – Teksavvy is the way to go. I switched to them a good few
months ago haven’t regretted the decision one bit. Least of all
bittorrent and secure connections work without throttling! – mkuplens

Had been extra smart, I might have asked the question first to gig park, Noah & Pema’s excellent new social tool for service recommendations on pretty much anything </worthyplug>.

Anyway, I’ll post my thoughts on Teksavvy to this blog and gigpark after I give them a try for a while. Cheers all, and thanks to all for your recommendations.

“Go, and never darken my towels again.” -Groucho Marx

The definition of mobile devices just got more interesting

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“the much-anticipated iPod touch with WiFi, Safari, and a touch-screen interface—an iPhone without the phone and e-mail capabilities—for $299 and $399. The iPod touch will be able to purchase music directly from the iTunes Store via WiFi. Apple also had a major bit of news with regards to the iPhone, dropping the price for the 8GB model by $200 to $399 and eliminating the 4GB model altogether. ”
–ars

The new ipod comes with a big touch screen and wifi and full safari web browser.
The iphone with a big kick in the nuts to anyone who shelled out $600 for it weeks ago, just dropped in price by a huge $200.*

Those two products are going to move a lot of units (and also spur further competition). Expect also European, and Asia Pacific (and finally?) Canadian operators to come online with iPhone sometime starting early in 2008, probably just as soon as apple can shoehorn in proper mobile broadband (HSDPA, EVDO etc.) into the device.

Jobs also demoed the facebook on the iphone, so the desktop web is definitely going mobile fast. (and it’s not using -shudder- WAP, very much sms or downloaded client apps).
So I’m leaning towards thinking that the killer mobile platform may well be… the web browser not to mention bog-standard Web2.0 social webapps. You can run iphone facebook in a regular browser too.

You just know the google phone will be browser centric.

Imagine that the horrible fractured state of mobile software development could be solved by something as simple as: a half decent web browser.

Feeding this trend: Watch for the convergence of Telcos offering roaming wifi hotspot + cell network plans.

*somewhat mollified by Jobsing fobbing off of $100 store credits to past purchasers hastily announced earlier today.

The most interesting piece of news this week.

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Now this could change everything. Will Canada follow?

UPDATE:More from the horse’s mouth (thanks Michele: Our commitment to open broadband platforms – google

UPDATE2:
[FCC Says Wireless Could be America’s “Third Pipe”] FCC responds:

In a congressional hearing on Tuesday, three out of the five FCC commissioners told lawmakers that they are supportive of the open-access standards as proposed by FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin, according to Reuters. “A network more open to devices and applications can help ensure that the fruits of innovation on the edges of the network swiftly pass into the hands of consumers,” said Martin, speaking to the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee.

Democratic commissioner John Adelstein specifically noted that an open-access approach “could open these key airwaves to badly needed competition in the broadband space.”

RIM Slams Canadian Carriers for Data Rates

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BunnyHero (wayne a. lee) says:

Rim blasts Telcos for high cost of wireless:
“Research In Motion Ltd., riding high after finally gaining entry into China’s lucrative wireless market, blasted Canadian cellphone companies yesterday for their high data rates and for not competing against each other strongly enough.” michael geist writes about the article: -From BunnyHero [11:47:25 AM TorCamp ChatSwarm]

You may have seen this in the papers this morning. And my own famous post [canada-worse-than-3rd-world-countries-when-it-comes-to-mobile-data-access] has been garnering another flood of traffic and inbound links again this week. This is a major issue in Canada and it’s about time the story has broken in the mainstream media. That story of mine is now up to 130 comments and trackbacks if you want a sense of how much this issue is really starting to bug Canadians. That is an awful lot for a little blog like this one.

Thomas Purves.com