U.S. regulators will announce a major Internet policy this week to revolutionize how Americans communicate and play, proposing a dramatic increase in broadband speeds that could let people download a high-definition film in minutes instead of hours.

Technology  |  Media

 Dramatically increasing Internet speeds to 25 times the current average is one of the myriad goals to be unveiled in the National Broadband Plan by the the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday.

 The highly anticipated plan will make a series of recommendations to Congress and is aimed at spurring the ever-changing communications industry to bring more and faster online services to Americans as they increasingly turn to the Internet to communicate, pay monthly bills, make travel plans and be entertained by movies and music.

 ”This is a fairly unique event,” said Paul Gallant, an analyst with Concept Capital. “The FCC really has never been asked to design a broad regulatory shift like this. Broadband is important and difficult because it threatens every established communications sector.”

Some details of the plan have trickled out in the last few weeks including how to find spectrum to meet an anticipated explosion of handset devices capable of playing movies and music in addition to handling emails and voice calls.

But some carriers like AT&T Inc and Qwest Communications International Inc were irked last month when the agency’s chief, Julius Genachowski, announced that the FCC would propose in the plan a goal of 100 Mbps speeds to be in place at 100 million American homes in 10 years. The current average is less than 4 Mbps.

In a sign of tension between the FCC and carriers, Qwest called it “a dream” and AT&T reacted by saying the FCC should resist calls for “extreme forms of regulation.”

Since the FCC announcement, Cisco Systems Inc announced it would introduce a router that can handle Internet traffic up to 12 times faster than rival products. Google Inc has also gotten in on the hype, saying it plans to build a super-fast Internet network to show that it can be done. The FCC has praised both announcements.

The plans could also touch off tensions with television broadcasters, who will be asked to give up spectrum to wireless carriers who desperately need it for their mobile devices, such as the iPhone and Blackberry.

The FCC plans to let them share in the profits of auctions structured to redistribute the spectrum.

“We’ve developed a plan that is a real win-win for everyone involved and we have every expectation that it will work,” Genachowski said in an interview with Reuters.

“We’ve certainly heard from a number of broadcasters who told us they think this is a promising direction and are getting ready to roll up their sleeves with us,” he said.

The FCC also wants to make sure that anchor institutions – government buildings, schools, libraries and healthcare facilities – get speeds of about 1 gigabit per second by 2020.

The full broadband plan is expected to be released at a Tuesday meeting among the FCC’s five members who are expected to discuss the results and recommendations of the roadmap, which was mandated by Congress. Congress may have to pass legislation to enact some portions of the plan.

FCC officials have said some of the goals are aspirational and should be viewed as a “living, breathing” document for the next decade in hopes of helping 93 million Americans without broadband get connected.

ACHIEVABLE

“It is both aspiration and achievable,” Genachowski said.

The Obama administration has touted the plan as a way to create jobs and make energy use more efficient.

“It will be a call to action,” said Blair Levin, who heads the FCC’s broadband task force which has collected data and comments from the industry, academics and the public as well as from three dozen public workshops.

The FCC has placed most of its attention on broadband policy which Darrell West, director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution, called “the signature issue” since Genachowski took over the helm in late June.

“It means that broadband is going to drive other types of policy decisions and it really sets the parameters for telecommunications and new applications,” West said.

FCC officials have said that the plan will not take sides on technology or applications, but they want to lay the groundwork to spur innovation and job creation.

Officials have said the plan will ask Congress to fund up to $16 billion to build an emergency public safety system.

It would also tell lawmakers that a one-time injection of $9 billion could accelerate broadband reach to the 4 percent of Americans who do have access. Otherwise they could let the FCC carry out a 10-year plan to realign an $8 billion U.S. subsidy program for universal broadband access instead of universal phone access.

Experts call the plan ambitious but question if the FCC, which plans to spin off a series of rule-making proposals linked to the plan, can realistically make good on its recommendations.

“There’s so little progress on this stuff in Washington,” said Rob Atkinson, who heads the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

“I think Chairman Genachowski has a real opportunity to bring different warring interests under 50-75 percent of the plan.”

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T-Mobile USA has replaced Yahoo with Google as its default search engine on mobile phones, such as BlackBerry smartphones. Yahoo says it will continue to work with T-Mobile, citing the recent partnership on Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Messenger and on content services such as the placement of various Yahoo services on T-Mobile’s Web2Go portal. Default search deals significantly improve search engine market share, as users are more likely to carry out searches through the search engine presented by the browser.

Wireless carriers AT&T and T-Mobile are playing a game of musical default search engines, giving and taking away in a fun display of mobile phone brinksmanship.

Days after iPhone carrier AT&T said it had chosen Yahoo as the default search engine for the Android-based Motorola Backflip, T-Mobile USA replaced Yahoo with Google as its default search engine on mobile phones such as RIM BlackBerrys.

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News Analysis: Major mobile carriers such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T are having trouble with Google and its desire to change the way that the telecommunications industry operates. They realize that time is running out before they lose some control, and they want to do everything they can to stop Google’s move into telecom services before it gets out of hand.

Google’s Nexus One smartphone has caused several executives at mobile carriers to wonder just how far the search and Web services giant will go.

In a recent discussion at an industry conference in Spain, Vodafone CEO Vittorio Colao said the industry should be wary of Google. He cited the fact that “80 percent of the advertising online goes down one funnel” as proof that wherever Google decides to compete, it attempts to dominate and leave just scraps for the competition.

Other carriers are concerned that Google might attempt to change the way the industry sells phones and, in the end, dictate the direction of the entire mobile industry—a luxury carriers have had since the beginning.

The only problem is, beating Google to the punch will be difficult. The company has captivated consumers with several well-respected Android-based devices. It has also used its position as one of the more trusted companies in the space to change the way consumers buy phones. All the while, it has generated significant advertising revenue originating from mobile phones connecting to the Web on carriers’ networks. Those carriers are upset that they’re being left out of the money-making process. And they want Google to address that.

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ATandT, after some collaborating and optimizing, announced it will allow Sling Media’s SlingPlayer Mobile app to run on its 3G network. The app enables iPhone users to enjoy their home TV programming from anywhere.

AT&T announced is now allowing Sling Media’s SlingPlayer Mobile app to run on its 3G network.

The app enables iPhone users to watch live, streaming television, as well as DVR content and movies downloaded in their homes on their smartphone, from anywhere in the world. AT&T previously blocked the app, fearing it would clog up its already struggling network.

AT&T may lose its exclusive rights to the iPhone on Jan. 27, according to one published report. Whether it happens this week or later this year, though, AT&T will have five new Android phones, including Dell’s Mini 3, to fall back on.

Is Jan. 27 the day Apple introduces its anticipated tablet — and AT&T’s exclusive relationship with Apple’s iPhone comes to an end?

According to Hot Hardware, which cites an “inside source,” the latter is seeming likely — though news of which additional carrier or carriers will gain access to the iPhone is still unknown.

Apple’s tablet PC, unconfirmed by the company but nonetheless expected to make its debut on Jan. 27 in San Francisco, could be carried by both AT&T and Verizon. AT&T uses a GSM network, while Verizon relies on a CDMA network, which means that Apple would theoretically need to offer two versions of the tablet if it chooses to use both carriers. A recent survey indicated that the majority of users would be disinclined to purchase an Apple tablet that retailed for more than $700, although a carrier subsidy might lower that price.

Although Apple currently has a deal with a single carrier in the U.S., AT&T, for its bestselling iPhone, recent rumors indicate the company could be considering multiple carriers for its much-speculated tablet PC.

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Windows Mobile updates for all?

Those of us with Windows Mobile phones have been eagerly awaiting updates to the operating system to bring us to the current version 6.5.  Its been a long time in coming. And if we have to wait on Windows Mobile 7, we’ll be waiting even longer. Microsoft has pushed back that date for a some time.

So, in a bit of New Year’s cheer, T-Mobile has announced a Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrade for its Touch Pro2 and T-Mobile Dash. Just go to the T-Mobile web site to download the update. You will need the phone’s IMEI number get the download onto your phone. Verizon Wireless and AT&T already have these updates available.  This just leaves out poor Sprint.

Not to despair fair Sprint subscribers, according to this blurb on Boy Genius, your wait may be rewarded:

A statement from Sprint suggests that the Sprint flavor of Windows Mobile 6.5 may offer “significant enhancements to the Touch Pro2 user interface which will allow additional customization / personalization options and more integration with the applications users access most.”

What does that really mean?  We’ll have to wait and see when the update becomes available.

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AT&T has fixed several problems that caused some AT&T customers to log into the wrong Facebook account when using their mobile phones, an AT&T spokesman said on Monday.

“In a limited number of instances, a server software connectivity error resulted in some AT&T wireless customers being logged in to the wrong Facebook account when they accessed Facebook through their mobile phones,” AT&T spokesman Michael Coe in a statement.

AT&T added new security measures to prevent the problem from happening again and worked with Facebook to disable subscriber identification information as an option for automatic log-on, Coe said. The subscriber identification is the session identification number that gets added to the URL, he said.

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There are consumers–including those potentially opting for laptops from Hewlett-Packard or Dell–who would like to buy a MacBook with 3G built in. Let’s hope Apple sees the light with the expected upgrade to the MacBook Pro line.

Yes, there are ways to bootstrap a MacBook to get 3G. I’ve done tethering with my BlackBerry Storm. And then there’s Verizon’s tiny MiFi portable hotspot–which I use now.

But it would be nice if Apple offered one laptop in its MacBook lineup with a built-in 3G option. Like Wi-Fi and Ethernet, 3G should be part of the standard connectivity mix on a laptop.

And it wouldn’t have to be an AT&T-only deal, like the iPhone. HP offers, across its consumer and business laptop lines, the Qualcomm Gobi 3G modem, which works on AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint networks. Dell, too, offers plenty of 3G options on its notebooks, including an AT&T wireless option on its new ultrathin Vostro v13 laptop.

And visit a Verizon or AT&T store and you’ll see a growing collection of Netbooks (including a couple from HP), all with built-in 3G.

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FCC wades through Net neutrality comments
by Marguerite Reardon
The Federal Communications Commission was flooded Thursday at midnight with filings from technology and communications companies, industry lobbying groups, and consumer advocates putting in their two cents on upcoming Open Internet rules being created by the agency.

Thursday’s deadline created a sea of paperwork for FCC officials who are already scrambling to complete a massive report detailing plans for a national broadband policy due to Congress in March. (The deadline has been pushed back from mid-February.)

The comments submitted Friday offered little surprise. Skype, along with consumer advocates Free Press and the Open Internet Coalotion–consisting of several technology companies, such as Amazon, Skype, and Google–are in favor of establishing Net neutrality rules. Most network operators, including AT&T and Comcast, say they support keeping the Net open, but they don’t believe rules are necessary. And the CTIA, the industry group representing the wireless industry, says rules are “inappropriate and unnecessary.”

Verizon and Google teamed up once again to jointly file comments informing the commission on areas surrounding Net neutrality where they have found “common ground,” such as “encouraging investment and innovation of broadband networks” and “providing users with information.”

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