Inside Broadband: Will Workman

Senate Looks to Rewrite Telecommunications Act
Suddenly noticing that the United States ranks 16th internationally in broadband adoption, federal lawmakers are finally taking a serious step toward updating the creaky Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Build It, Own It? Network Neutrality Looms as Divisive Issue
Everyone has fuzzy feelings about "Field of Dreams." Kevin Costner in a bucolic Iowa cornfield hears a voice, builds a ballpark, and "he," Shoeless Joe Jackson, comes.

Who's in Control? Hint: You Aren't
In my epic struggle towards a Ph.D. in mass communications, one of the more intriguing subjects I've had the opportunity to study has been the history of technology.

Digital Devices Duel for Supremacy
A whole decade ago, in a galaxy that now seems light years away, I was a neophyte tech reporter covering a TCI press conference.

Evolution Revolution: EV-DO Set to Wack Wi-Fi?
Broadband news in recent months has been abuzz with this latest challenger to Wi-Fi. EV-DO (Evolution Data Only, or Evolution Data Optimized) is a wireless radio broadband data protocol that CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) mobile phone providers are deploying across the globe in countries such as Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea, Brazil and the United States.

Municipalities Become Broadband Battleground
You could see this one coming years away. Wi-Fi began its steady proliferation. Equipment costs plummeted while larger and larger hot spots began popping up in airports, coffee shops and campuses. It was only a matter of time before the notion of scaling up to a citywide service built credibility.

Internet Video for And by The People
Pieces--big pieces--have been falling into place that will dramatically increase the production and use of broadband video, creating the next evolutionary stage of the Internet as a converged platform allowing people to produce, distribute, seek and watch video.

Are You Versed in U-Verse?
They claim it's the largest private infrastructure investment in history: $65 billion. That's the amount the cable industry says it spent on plant upgrades between 1996 and 2002.

Why WiMax Has Maxed Out
It's time to fess up--this tech is nowhere near ready for primetime consumer solutions. Its business applications are limited and its long-term ability to provide mobility is questionable.

A New Year's Broadband Agenda
"Every corner" of the United States will be high-speed wired. And that's supposed to happen by 2007, just two years away.

WiMax Must Choose Its Own Broadband Path
While it's been generating quite a static hum in recent years, WiMax, the new broadband wireless standard designed to work over wide areas, now appears to have a few 800-pound gorillas in its court

Candidates Begin to Unveil Broadband Plans
President Bush and, to a lesser extent, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, (D.-Mass.) have been detailing their plans for making broadband a ubiquitous presence in the American household over the next four years.

Slow Reform Stifles Wireless Broadband
The "government," which in our nominal democracy is ostensibly representing "we the people," is managing a tremendous natural resource, airwaves, that most folks haven't the slightest clue is worth so much.

Broadband Over Power Line Gets FCC Boost
Whenever an infant technology takes its first steps, you can't help rooting for it.

Studios Seek VOD Deliverance from Digital
Question: How many studio executives does it take to change a lightbulb? Answer: One. He merely grasps the lightbulb firmly, and the universe revolves around him.

Two Decades That Propelled an Industry
Cable goes from rural curiosity to dominant player

The House Bill Can't Build
Quick quiz question: Can you name the recent event that drew Bill Gates, Michael Jackson, Jesse Jackson, Mark Cuban and Barbara Eden all on the same day?

Gettin' GigE With It
It's not often I get on a bandwagon, particularly a broadbandwagon ... But hey, I actually have a choice between DSL and cable modem service, I have access to digital cable (though I don't subscribe) and now Time Warner Cable (my operator) tells me VOD is coming.

Cable Must Make HD Triple Jump
It's been a cold, cold summer in cable land ... Finding a ray of optimism beyond the PR spinning has been difficult, but I think I've got one. That is, if operators can pull off an Olympian triple jump over the next couple of years.

They Huff and They Puff, But They Can't Get In
So how important is interactive television? ... Well, it depends on how you define it and how much money you have thrown at it.

Where Does John Malone Want to Go Today?
I'm glad I don't compete with John Malone. I know Brian Roberts will become Cable King once Comcast's $72 billion acquisition of AT&T Broadband goes through and he's sitting on 21.2 million cable subscribers (knowing Roberts, he's already crowned himself), but Liberty Media's John Malone is the guy I'm watching.

Broadband, Home Networking a Likely Pair
Perhaps this is so obvious I'm wasting my time; I'm either afflicted with an unhealthy idealism or there are great movements afoot of which I'm unaware. But in looking over the littered landscape of two related technology fronts, I can't help but see a connection some seem to be missing.