Comcast Corp. Chief Executive Brian Roberts dazzled a cable industry audience Tuesday, showing off for the first time in public new technology that enabled a data download speed of 150 megabits per second, or roughly 25 times faster than today's standard cable modems.

The cost of modems that would support the technology, called "channel bonding," is "not that dissimilar to modems today," he told The Associated Press after a demonstration at The Cable Show. It could be available "within less than a couple years," he said.

The new cable technology is crucial because the industry is competing with a speedy new offering called FiOS, a TV and Internet service that Verizon Relevant Products/Services Communications Inc. is selling over a new fiber-optic network. The top speed currently available through FiOS is 50 megabits per second, but the network is already capable of providing 100 Mbps and the fiber lines offer nearly unlimited potential.

The technology, called DOCSIS 3.0, was developed by the cable industry's research arm, Cable Television Laboratories. It bonds together four cable lines but is capable of allowing much more capacity. The laboratory said last month it expected manufacturers to begin submitting modems for certification under the standard by the end of the year.

Pew's May 2005 survey indicated that 53 percent of Americans get online with high-speed connections, up 3 percent since December 2004, but described by Pew as a "statistically insignificant increase" that is likely to remain flat or even drop further in the near future.

Analysts attribute the slowdown to a saturation of users, and a reluctance of today's dial-up Internet users to pay more for bandwidth that they don't necessarily need.

"The issue is that the remaining pool of dial-up users today is a different demographic category," author of the report and Pew research director John Horrigan told the E-Commerce Times. "A couple years back, you had people making the bit-per-buck calculation, where the dial-up wait was costly in time, and prompted them to switch. The existing pool of dial-up users is not accessing as many bits."

TiVo has struck a deal with the Independent Film Channel to transmit several of the cable channel's shows through a broadband connection as part of a trial program. Participating customers will begin receiving the shows next week, said TiVo spokesman Elliot Sloane.

Sloan confirmed that TiVo sent messages to its customers - later posted on the technology Web log Engadget.com - offering to transmit three IFC shows beginning Aug. 19, before they aired on the cable channel.

You could find some evidence in the quarterly numbers reported by AT&T and Level 3. Ma Bell noted that ita data revenues (long haul) business declined 10.2% from the prior-year second quarter as a result of pricing pressure and technology migration. That’s not as steep as 30% declines a few years ago. Level 3, reported communications revenue of $342 million in the second quarter. Out of that the transport business was $122 million, down only $3 million from the second quarter sales in that specific business of $119 million. Not concrete evidence, but looks like the eye of the storm might finally have passed over bandwidth providers.

An extraordinary statement by the US government has sent shockwaves around the internet world and thrown the future of the network into doubt.

In a worrying U-turn, the US Department of Commerce (DoC) has made it clear it intends to retain control of the internet's root servers indefinitely. It was due to relinquish that control in September 2006, when its contract with overseeing body ICANN ended.

The decision - something that people have long feared may happen - will not only make large parts of the world furious but also puts ICANN in a very difficult position. The organisation has slowly been expanding out of its California base in an effort to become an international body with overall responsibility for the internet.

The United States recognizes that governments have legitimate public policy and sovereignty concerns with respect to the management of their ccTLD. As such, the United States is committed to working with the international community to address these concerns, bearing in mind the fundamental need to ensure stability and security of the Internet's DNS.

Since more and more people are using the Internet, there are more and more diverse views about the policies and control. This is clearly making consensus more difficult and ICANN is one of the groups which is having to adapt to the increasing number of inputs in the consensus process. This is all the more reason to work harder to keep everything together. Please. Lets fight to keep the Internet and not let it turn into the internets... It is a difficult process with various flaws, but if we give up, it will be very difficult if not impossible for all of to talk again very soon.

In 2000, the OECD said the U.S. ranked third in Net users connecting at high-speed among the top-30 world economies. The next year it fell to fourth. Now it's 11th, according to the OECD. And fast connections in the U.S. are slower than in many other countries. A top-of-the-line cable modem in the U.S. carries five megabits per second, while broadband connections in Asian countries like Japan and South Korea are often 20 times faster. South Korea is, in fact, the world leader in broadband. And unlike the U.S., it has multiple companies offering most of the country DSL lines that are also faster than what's available in the U.S., thanks in no small part to government encouragement and sponsorship.

Many critics point the finger at Washington for not fostering the kind of competition that has allowed Canada's broadband market to thrive and led France -- not exactly known for fostering capitalist competition -- to boost its broadband penetration from 12% in 2003 to a forecasted 41% next year. If cable companies were forced to open up their lines, over-night 80% of the U.S. would have more than one broadband supplier to choose from. Theoretically at least, that would drive down prices and force companies to offer enticing service packages like phone and TV delivered via the Web.

"This will change our lives well beyond entertainment," says Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers. For example, when speeds allow quick sending of detailed images. such as X-rays, he says, "You'll do the majority of your health care straight from the home." Others envision a host of other applications. For example, businesses could easily arrange video conferences with high-definition TV. Consumers could download an entire HD movie in about five minutes vs. today's 22 minutes. And, "There will be a need for higher speeds as games become more graphics-intensive," says Adelphia Chief Technical Officer Marwan Fawaz.