Cisco is apparently hoping to piggyback on the excitement surrounding Google’s recent announcement that they’re deploying 1 Gbps fiber service to a limited number of consumers for testing purposes. According to the Financial Times, Cisco is “developing an ultra-high-speed system for internet access” in cooperation with a number of US service providers. Given Cisco already sells hardware to most of the major ISPs, many of whom already are cooking up “ultra-high-speed” service (like Comcast’s exploration of 100-250 Mbps service), the leak is annoyingly vague:

Cisco declined to comment on its plans. But it said the US “needs high-speed, future-proof broadband networks that are accessible and affordable to all and that it “looks forward to being part of this exciting transformation”. David Kaut, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus in Washington, said Cisco’s move, like Google s, would help the private sector determine whether there was real consumer demand for huge amounts of bandwidth, or whether current levels of 5 or 10 megabits were sufficient.

Mr. Kaut’s quote is particularly odd for several reasons. One, we’re already quickly pushing past 5 to 10 megabits per second speeds for even standard service in many markets, with several carriers launching 50-100 Mbps service. Two, why would anybody think that the evolution in broadband speeds should just stop at 5 to 10 megabits? Today’s power user is tomorrow’s regular user; you don’t just stop upgrading networks because you think Joe public currently doesn’t need faster speeds.

Cisco’s “leak” offers no details, though the company tells GigaOM that they’re holding a press event on March 9 where Cisco “will make a significant announcement that will forever change the Internet and its impact on consumers, businesses and governments.” From the sound of it, ISPs are working with Cisco to design a public relations counterpunch to Google’s announcement, which as we noted at launch is in part designed to give Google policy and political ammunition in the fights over open access, network neutrality, and competition.

Link to the original article…

The article makes no mention of publicly available financial reports from broadband providers like Time Warner Cable that prove that at the same time their profits on broadband service are increasing, the company s costs to provide the service continue to decline, along with the dollar amounts they spend to maintain and expand that network to meet demand.

Dampier also notes how the Journal misidentifies Rep. Eric Massa (who is pushing for laws protecting consumers from over-charging) and omits the potential conflict of interest in ISPs pushing for high overages while at the same time crafting massive new Internet video empires. While the Journal does note that the average user consumes just 15 GB a month (that number is even less, according to a recent Cisco study) it omits just how low many of these proposed caps have been (Frontier thinks 5 GB a month is reasonable for an entire household).

The Journal also also helps the industry make caps sound more reasonable by measuring them in e-mails sent, an annoying and silly metric used by ISP marketing departments. Most importantly though, the Journal helps sell the idea that a shift from flat-rate pricing to the industry’s version of metered billing (not to be confused with pure per byte billing) is both necessary and inevitable. In reality, it’s neither, and the metered billing models we’ve seen proposed by carriers so far are little more than price hikes disguised as altruism and fairness.

It doesn’t inspire fresh confidence in the American press when a consumer covers the full scope of the metered billing discussion far better than the nation’s supposed top business paper and its corral of staff writers.

Link to the original article…

I’ve been a Vonage customer since pretty close to their beginning. I had, for the longest, one of their Cisco ATA-186 VoIP adapters that I’d consider small enough to travel around with, but broadband in a hotel back in those days was just plain odd and not as normal as it is now some years later.

Vonage has had other miniature offerings that could be packed up and plugged up while traveling but none seem to have the same feature set and usability as the recently released Vonage V-Portal. Gone are the days of multiple offerings from Vonage; they wised up and support one definitely good adapter.

The best part of summer is getting away, but even when taking a break from the real world, everyone still needs to be in touch with work, loved ones, or both. Vonage offers a number of ways to do just that:

• Domestic Travel: Did you know that you can take your Vonage adaptor with you while traveling domestically you can make and receive calls for the same cost of using the adaptor at home? Just plug in an adaptor in to a high-speed Internet connection, and your home phone number comes with you virtually.

• International Travel: If you are traveling or moving abroad this summer, Vonage offers a way to make calls back to the U.S. without getting charged an arm and a leg on your cell or using cumbersome calling cards. Plug in your Vonage adaptor and you can make calls to the U.S. for free.

• Virtual Number: While abroad, you may want to add a local phone number to your Vonage account so locals can call you for free. Vonage has you covered here, as you can add a local international number in several locations for an additional $4.99-$9.99 per month (more details here).

• And, as always, Vonage’s $24.99 Residential Premium Unlimited Plan includes calls to the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, and landlines in Italy, France, Spain, England and Ireland are included.

The V-Portal, which is a Vonage adaptor and one-port router combined, comes with a built-in LCD screen. Among its features, the LCD helps customers with troubleshooting, displays call logs, and allows users to set call forwarding.

Dimensions(in mm): 126L x 124W x 31.9H

With some upcoming trips coming up, it means that I’ll be able to tote this around and save money while making phone calls and not use up my cellphone minutes. Also when it’s not plugged up, via the Vonage control panel – a web based method to maintain your account – I can forward all calls to my cellphone.

Save money, easy to pack… I can dig it. Monthly fees do apply.

[ Vonage ]