Allen Wan from Chicago dropped Stop the Cap! a postcard by good old snail mail about today’s broadband cap ‘n tier regime in place at some of America’s largest Internet Service Providers to make an important point: with Internet Overcharging schemes like usage caps and usage-based billing, America’s best broadband value may actually come from the United States Postal Service.

Allen breaks it down for us:

Allen’s chart points out that for large file transfers like movies, TV shows, and major software updates, consumers actually get more value on a per-GB basis burning those shows and software to a traditional or dual-layer (DL) DVD, and dropping them in the mailbox.

While prices for service may vary, so do Internet Overcharging schemes.  If a customer reaches their monthly limit one time too many, they will be relying on the post office to move files back and forth because companies like Comcast and Cox will terminate their service.  Other providers, like AT&T and Suddenlink, are content to simply send the customer a bill with overlimit charges on it.

With a marketplace duopoly, ineffective government oversight, and ever-increasing prices, the U.S. Post Office may still be in the running after all, thanks to Back to the Future-pricing from your ISP.

While most rural telephone companies are selling customers 1-3Mbps copper-delivered DSL service, Alcatel Lucent has announced the commercial availability of VDSL 2 Vectoring, a new way of delivering up to 100Mbps over the copper wire telephone network most rural North Americans still depend on for telecommunications service.

VDSL2 combines a fiber-copper hybrid network similar to Bell’s Fibe or AT&T’s U-verse, with interference-cancelling technology called “vectoring” to deliver speeds much closer to the 100Mbps theoretical limit of current DSL technology.

“Alcatel-Lucent’s plan to make VDSL2 vectoring commercially available is very timely,” said Rob Gallagher, Principal Analyst, Head of Broadband & TV Research, Informa.  “VDSL2 Vectoring promises to bring speeds of 100Mbps and beyond to advanced copper/fiber hybrid networks and make super fast broadband speeds available to many more people, much faster than many in the industry had thought possible.”

A new way to boost copper speeds even faster.

Different flavors of DSL are currently in use around North America and beyond.  The most basic form, ADSL, also happens to be the most commonplace among phone companies offering basic broadband service.  For customers up to 12,000 feet away from a phone company central office, DSL delivers speeds usually at 1Mbps or faster.  Customers enjoying the fastest speeds must live much closer to the phone company facilities.  The further away you live, the slower your broadband speed.  In rural areas, consumers can live further away than the maximum distance of the central office, which means no DSL service for those subscribers.

A combination of signal loss and interference, called “crosstalk,” from adjacent copper wire pairs are both the enemies of DSL broadband, because they can drastically reduce speeds.

Telephone companies can address this problem by building new satellite central offices located halfway between customers and their primary facilities.  These offices, usually connected by fiber, can successfully reduce the amount of copper wire between the customer and the company, boosting speeds.  Many phone companies also deploy DSL extensions called D-SLAMs, which can be attached to a phone pole or enclosed in a metal box by the roadside.  A fiber cable connects the D-SLAM back to the phone company, while existing copper phone wires go back to individual subscribers.

More modern forms of DSL: ADSL2, ADSL2+, and VDSL, share some of those concepts.  The key is cutting as much copper wire out of the network as possible, replacing it with fiber optic cable which does not suffer signal loss or interference in the same way.

Many European and Pacific broadband networks rely on ADSL2/2+, which can usually deliver reliable speeds in the 20Mbps range.  VDSL networks offer even more bandwidth, and are the basis of U-verse and Fibe, which split up broadband, phone service, and television on the same cable.  When customers demand even faster speeds, phone companies can “bond” several individual DSL connections together to deliver faster speeds.  Some traditional ADSL providers do that today for their customers, especially in areas where low speeds prevail.

An argument the phone company will love.

Alcatel Lucent says VDSL2 with Vectoring is the next best thing to fiber to the home, because it is cheaper to deploy with fewer headaches from local authorities when streets and yards are dug up for fiber cable replacements.  It also meets the growing speed needs of average consumers.  Alcatel Lucent predicts the minimum speed North Americans will need to support the next generation of online video is 50Mbps, more than 10 times the speed phone companies like Verizon, AT&T, Frontier, and CenturyLink provide over their traditional DSL networks, especially in rural and suburban areas.

Vectoring can deliver results for phone companies with aging copper wire infrastructure, more prone to crosstalk and other signal anomalies.  Alcatel Lucent compares vectoring with noise-cancellation headphones.  By sampling the current noise conditions on copper cable networks, vectoring can suppress the impact of the interference, boosting speeds and delivering more reliable results.

With technologies like VDSL2 with Vectoring promising speeds far faster than what rural North Americans currently enjoy, the Federal Communications Commission may want to re-evaluate its national minimum speed standard for broadband — 3-4Mbps — found in its National Broadband Plan.  Alcatel Lucent promises they can do much better.

[flv width=”640″ height=”324″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Alcatel Lucent VDSL2.flv[/flv]

Alcatel Lucent produced this video to promote its new VDSL2 with Vectoring technology.  The video targets cost-conscious phone companies who are being pressured to deliver faster service, but don’t want to spend the money on a fiber to the home network.  (6 minutes)

Even Jessica Fletcher can't solve the case of The Digitally Murdered VCR

Time Warner Cable customers in Maine are learning the cable operator’s move to digital cable is making VCR programming downright murder.

Although many of us have retired the videocassette recorder to closets, attics, or basements, millions of them are still being used on a daily basis to time-shift shows and to record one channel while watching another.  But in Maine, the first area to experience Time Warner’s shift to an all-digital cable experience, viewers like Nancy Blethen from Hallowell are learning those days are coming to an end.

Blethen shared her plight with the Kennebec Journal:

I read with interest the story about the converter box for Time Warner subscribers. Although, the idea of more channels is appealing, they really aren’t any that I care to watch.

Another point the story omitted is that if you have a VCR and connect the converter from your cable through the VCR to the TV set, you will only be able to record the channel you are watching. No more recording when you are not home or if you want to watch another channel while recording another program.

I spent at least 20 minutes on the phone with a tech person, and they checked with their supervisor and concluded that this is something subscribers will have to live with, at least for the present. You can avoid this by using one of their DVR recorders, but at an additional monthly fee. Time Warner is the only choice I have where I live so I have to forget recording on the VCR.

Although Time Warner Cable will happily supply a digital solution to this analog quagmire, it doesn’t come for free.  DVR service costs $13 a month or more each month.  While it solves the problem of the flashing 12:00-clock for confounded consumers, it also increases their cable bill by well over $100 a year, more than the cost of the VCR (and tapes) that used to let them record shows for free.

Courtesy 9 to 5 Mac

AT&T has begun sending out warnings to wireless customers deemed to be using too much of their “unlimited data plans” and are now subject to speed throttling that will reduce their wireless Internet experience to one more familiar for dial-up users.

Life in the slow lane is the price AT&T customers pay for being a member of the Top 5% Data User Club.  Running the numbers, that means using more than around 4GB of wireless usage per month.  One customer who managed to rack up 11GB in September, even before the new speed throttle plan took effect Oct. 1, has already found himself in the speed reduction doghouse with a warning message he received Sept. 29.

Although the customer did not reveal what he was doing to achieve 11GB of usage in one month, the two most common ways to run up usage are watching a lot of streamed video or using your phone to tether to other wireless devices, especially laptops.  Some wireless customers are attempting to use their unlimited data plans as a home broadband replacement, especially in rural areas where cable or DSL service is not available.  That’s an option AT&T doesn’t seem to want customers to consider.

In addition to eliminating unlimited use plans for new customers more than a year ago, the company has increasingly cracked down on existing customers grandfathered into unlimited use plans.  In addition to banning third party tethering apps, AT&T is now simply reducing speeds for heavy users to make high bandwidth applications like video and even some forms of streaming audio impossible when residing in the penalty box.

But don’t worry: you can still use your data plan to read e-mail or browse simple web pages.  The company also advises customers can use unlimited amounts of Wi-Fi, whether they provide it or not.

As we originally reported a few weeks ago, Time Warner Cable has launched a planned fall promotion offering new Wideband and SignatureHome customers a $300 rebate on a Slingbox PRO-HD purchased at a participating local Best Buy store or through the retailer’s website until November 30, 2011.

The high-end Slingbox allows customers to stream live cable programming and other video across their home broadband connection to computers, smartphones, or tablets (the latter two require a separate purchase of a $30 iPhone/iPad or Android app).

The offer is good only for Time Warner Cable customers serviced by the company’s New York City division who install new Wideband (50/5Mbps) standalone broadband service for $99 a month or who sign up for the company’s SignatureHome tier ($199/month), which includes Wideband service.  Existing Wideband or SignatureHome customers are not eligible, but current Time Warner customers who upgrade to either service are.

Time Warner Cable has configured the rebate offer to make sure customers pay on time and stay put for at least six months after signing up.  The rebate will appear as a $50 service credit for six months after being successfully processed.  If you pay your bill late or cancel service within six months, subsequent rebate service credits will be cancelled.

If you take advantage of this promotion, we strongly suggest you sign up for automatic payments to avoid a missed payment, which could cost you up to $300 — the value of the rebate — plus any associated late fees.  Remember, you also have to receive service from Time Warner’s NYC operation and the Slingbox must be purchased from Best Buy to qualify for the rebate.

Time Warner’s rebate website accepts online rebate submissions, so you can scan and keep your original receipts.  Since the cable operator will accept rebate submissions until February 15, 2012, there is plenty of time to refile if your original rebate request is lost.

[flv width=”640″ height=”331″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/SignatureHome Ad 9-2011.flv[/flv]

Time Warner Cable unveiled new advertising for its super-premium SignatureHome service last month.  The “concierge” service will bring your monthly cable bill to $199.  The concept of the $200 cable bill was unheard-0f just ten years ago.  (1 minute)