With some providers, trying to figure out what their broadband tiers' upstream speeds are from their website isn't entirely unlike unearthing national security secrets. If that's the case, it's usually because on some level, they're embarrassed by what they're offering. I noticed that Light Reading has an entertaining rant about the upstream speed of Qwest's new ADSL2+ service, which the company is offering to a limited number of homes. story continues..

Firefox has joined some esteemed company in the Guinness Book of World Records. With the release of Firefox 3, the browser now officially holds the record for the greatest number of downloads in a twenty-four hour period. On June 18, 2008, 8,002,530 people downloaded Firefox 3, according to the official website. The website counter says there has been 29,113,166 downloads of the browser since launch.

Like Comcast, Time Warner Cable is migrating to switched digital video (SDV) in order to conserve bandwidth on their network. Unfortunately for customers in Kansas City, the company is upgrading to SDV before the technology has been modified to work properly with CableCARDs, so users of third party set-tops (like TiVo) are being told to downgrade to Time Warner Cable boxes.

Telephony Online asks the simple but highly contentious question: how much bandwidth does the American home really need? The question was raised again recently when Comcast and Verizon began offering 50Mbps tiers in some markets. For an individual user those speeds may seem excessive, but for an entire home it's quickly going to become commonplace.

I'm generally amused when a broadband provider employs low caps in the age of FiOS and HD web delivery, but I'm far more entertained when their marketing departments try and convince customers how reasonable those caps are. For instance when Rogers recently began charging overages, they sent out an e-mail informing customers, with pictures, that their new caps allowed 6,291,456 e-mails and 1,572,864 page views.

It appears that Comcast is expanding their tests of switched digital video (SDV) in two additional markets -- Minneapolis and St. Paul. SDV frees up bandwidth on cable systems by holding unwatched channels at the edge router, instead of transmitting all channels, regardless of whether they're in use, to your set-top box. Comcast is already using Cisco for a SDV trial in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and has tagged Motorola for a trial in the Denver area. In February, Comcast execs claimed they'd introduce SDV in about 15 percent of their markets by the end of 2008.

A new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project highlights that while broadband adoption still saw a healthy growth of 17% over the last year, adoption stalled or was minimal among the poor and African Americans. The report also explores in more detail why many Americans remain on dial-up.

• Mediacom, Qwest offering faster speeds [desmoinesregister.com]
• Virgin defends file-sharing campaign [BBC.co.uk]
• Charter Launches High-Speed Internet in Michigan [TradingMarkets.com]
• FCC chief Martin: The nation's indecency czar [Philly.com]
• Will tiered system slam 'YouTube generation'? [daytondailynews.com]
• Japanese ISPs Decide That Criminal Confessions Should Be Blocked Online [TheInquirer.et]
• Nokia settles 3G patent dispute [PCPro.co.uk]
• Google wins source code ruling against Viacom [Yahoo.com]

• Keep your broadband, say dial-up users [MSNBC.com]
• Broadband Internet Adoption Stalls, Regresses for Poor, Says Pew Report [DrewClark.com]
• Report: Fiber Internet growth overtakes cable [mlive.com]
• McCain pushes for national broadband public safety network [News.com]
• Australia shows US how a real broadband strategy works [Arstechnica.com]
• Time to school the FCC on what "free" really means [LinuxJournal.com]
• Google's one chance for Android - become a wireless carrier [BloggingStocks.com]
• Cable and Wireless left cableless by double line break [TheRegister.co.uk]

AT&T this week announced that the company would be investing $400 million to deploy U-Verse VDSL/FTTN service in parts of Tennessee. That's of particular note because, according to Telephony Online, Tennessee has more municipal fiber projects than any other state. AT&T says they have 1 million existing phone customers in the state, where Comcast is the dominant cable TV provider. Municipal fiber projects in the state lay claim to about 33,000 video customers. The largest muni-fiber projects exist in Jackson, Chattanooga and Clarksville.

A Verizon insider gives the Consumerist a few handy tips for FiOS customers. They highlight how exactly FiOS installation works differently from DSL (FiOS support reps can turn a tech around if he didn't knock on your door hard enough), the fact that Verizon won't help with a wireless router if it's not visible from where your PC sits, and how an internal wiring FiOS support tech costs $90 just to show up if you don't have an inside wiring protection plan. Back in March, a FiOS insider leaked an insider's view of the dysfunction that is FiOS billing.

This week T-Mobile decided to join carriers in charging twenty cents to send or receive a text messages, a trend that started last fall with Sprint. But AT&T also this week informed iPhone users that they'll be paying a little more for text messaging; outlets like Crunchgear and CNET doing the math that shows that iPhone SMS costs users around $1,310 per megabyte.

Cablevision this morning contacted me to note that the cable company is bringing 15 additional high-definition channels to their iO TV digital cable lineup. According to the company, these new additions will launch over a five-day period starting July 28 and will be available across Cablevision’s entire service area by August 1. The additions bring Cablevision's total HD channel lineup to 60 channels. "Unlike our phone and satellite company competitors - we don't charge any extra equipment or programming fees for HD," spokesman Jim Maiella reminds me. Ten of the fifteen channels they're adding:The remainder will be announced later this month.

Last fall, Sprint began offering a new service in select areas of Denver and Indianapolis that delivers customers unlimited mobile minutes while at home. Dubbed Airave, the new femtocell-based system uses your home broadband connection to extend cellular coverage and offer unlimited calling for an additional $15 per month ($30 for multi-cell families). According to employee gossip over at Sprint Users, Sprint is preparing for a market wide launch starting on July 15, and the Samsung device itself should cost $100. Coverage area for the device is said to be about 5,000 square feet, and the service will work with any Sprint phone (see product FAQ).

• Copyright Office Would Deny Key TV License To Internet [MultiChannel.com]
• AT&T Files First Statewide Video Services Franchise [EFYTimes.com]
• Telstra's naked DSL helping competitors [ITWire.com]
• Virgin Media in trouble over broadband speed claims [Pocket-Lint.co.uk]
• Next-Gen Wi-Fi (802.11n) Kit Sales See Dramatic Increase [ISPreview.co.uk]
• Samsung Instinct has become the fastest-selling EVDO handset in Sprint history [TeckWhack.com]
• Malware growth slowing, say experts [Vnunet.com]
• How to beat AVG's fake traffic spew [TheRegister.co.uk]

The latest data from broadband stat farm Point Topic suggests that for the first time ever, new fiber connections outpaced new cable broadband connection additions on a global scale during the first quarter of 2008. Given Verizon is the only major US carrier embracing fiber to the home, most of fiber's popularity is coming out of China, Japan and South Korea. According to the press release, it's fiber's cost-per-megabit as much as speed in those countries that's driving adoption:Looking at global averages, the report concludes that DSL can cost the consumer fifteen times as much as fiber, while cable broadband can cost seven times a much. While beating cable globally in new additions shows nice growth, keep in mind that DSL is far more popular than cable broadband outside North America.

As I've noted, U2 manager Paul McGuinness thinks that ISPs and Silicon Valley "hippy values" are responsible for the decline of the music industry. Most recently, McGuinness called broadband ISPs "shoplifters" and accused them of "turning their heads" away from the music industry's troubles. Techdirt notes that U2 lead singer Bono agrees to some extent, stating "it is disturbing to see internet service providers and technology companies profit from the so-called 'disintermediation' of the music business when so many music lovers are losing their jobs." Of course the music industry's real desire is to see ISPs start implementing piracy filters.

AT&T has told Dish Network that the telco is ending their agreement at the end of the year to sell bundled TV, phone and broadband packages. According to Reuters, AT&T Is setting the stage for a bidding war between DirecTV and Dish Network for who'll get to partner with the nation's largest broadband provider. Obviously AT&T wants consumers to use their U-Verse IPTV service, but they're still going to want a DBS partner in the significant number of market where U-Verse won't be profitable to deploy. It's not particularly good news for Dish, which was already facing a decline in subscribers. I've dropped a line to AT&T to see how this will impact the Homezone DSL/DBS service they offer in conjunction with Dish Network.

• Italian armed forces raid alleged music filesharing forum [TheRegister.co.uk]
• Is Internet offload the next bottleneck for mobile broadband? [SeekingAlpha.com]
• Free, Bollore in talks with Google over WiMax [Reuters.com]
• WildBlue Announces Partnership With Dell Computers [DenverPost.com]
• Verizon Helps Turn Consumers Into Geeks [GigaOm.com]
• In-Flight Broadband Market to Generate $936-Million Annually by 2012 [Teleclick.ca]
• Akron, Ohio to provide free citywide WiFi, inevitably fail within a few years [Engadget.com]
• New VoWi-Fi Certification Program Ensures Interoperability and Performance [Wi=FiPlanet.com]

In an effort to piggyback on the success Linksys saw with their open source WRT54G, Netgear has released the open source WGR614L, which is designed with tinkering in mind and supports popular third party firmware like Tomato and DD-WRT (though it doesn't support the draft 802.11N standard). The company has also launched the My Open Router support page, which is aimed at building a community around the device, which they first announced via press release on Monday. More from the product page:It looks like most retailers are selling the new router at around $60.