4Mbps the minimum speed generally required!

Different download speeds for broadband services can give Internet users a variety of online experiences.

Internet speed - or a lack thereof - could influence the quality of experience you have with everything from emailing and web browsing to online gaming and video conferencing.

So, to help you figure out what speed is right for you, you should first understand that connection speeds are calibrated in megabits per second (Mb or Mbps), a number referring to how many bits of data - in millions - can be moved in a second.

The other factor for measuring speeds is bandwidth, or the "size of the conduit in which the data is traveling," says David Salway, director of the Broadband Program Office for New York State.

Download Speed: 4-6 Mbps:
The Federal Communications Commission considers 4 Mbps the minimum speed "generally required for using today's video-rich broadband applications and services, while retaining sufficient capacity for basic web browsing and e-mail."

Salway offers a similar opinion, saying most users with 4-6 Mbps typically will have smooth sailing if they are emailing or, in some cases, streaming music.

But online gaming applications, which might require much higher speeds, could fail at this connection tier, depending on the network traffic.

In fact, the FCC reports you might be at the very minimum speed for two-way online gaming in high definition or streaming HD-quality movies. So, if you're a movie buff or gamer, your lifestyle might be better suited to higher internet speeds.

What You Can Do: File sharing (small/medium files), IPTV (Internet TV services)*

Read more: Yahoo Homes (source)
By: Tony Moton

Alibaba's Singles' Day sales $14.3 billion

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's total value of goods transacted during its Singles' Day shopping festival was 91.2 billion yuan ($14.32 billion), the Chinese e-commerce giant said in Beijing on Thursday.

The numbers got a boost this year from adding the sales from various new channels, including its affiliates and investees. In all, the figure for this year's Singles' Day is up 60 percent from 2014.

The results are preliminary and unaudited, Alibaba said. Of the total value of transactions, 68 percent was through orders from mobile devices.

Alibaba founder and chairman Jack Ma gestures as he attends Alibaba Group's 11.11 Global shopping festival in Beijing, China, November 10, 2015.
 REUTERS/CHINA DAILY

Six years ago, Alibaba turned Nov. 11 into China's equivalent of United States shopping event Cyber Monday. It has now become larger than both Cyber Monday and Black Friday combined, and a closely watched barometer of the company's performance.

"Alibaba is positioned as the number one player in the Chinese e-commerce market, so it has to be seen to be maintaining, or gaining ground really," said Duncan Clark, chairman of Beijing-based tech consultancy BDA.

Read more: REUTERS (source)

BEIJING | BY PAUL CARSTEN

Optical Fibre Cable market in India will reach $424m by 2020

A recently published report released by TechSci Research suggests that the Optical Fiber Cable market in India will reach $424m by 2020 based on the growing adoption of smartphones, broadband services and upcoming 4G roll out.

It is believed that Indian consumers are heading towards internet driven applications such as video on demand and HDTV, this in turn is boosting future investments in fibre.

In comparison to copper cables, fiber optic technology delivers much higher bandwidth, which has become extremely vital for supporting burgeoning data traffic.

“Government of India, on its part, is doing every bit to contribute towards expanding telecom infrastructure. This is evident from government’s participation in various telecom support projects such as National Optic Fiber Network (NOFN) to connect Gram Panchayats in rural pockets of India with a principal telecom network, for high speed data transmission and internet services.

“The NOFN project is expected to be one of the major drivers for OFC installations in India over the next five years.” said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a global market research and consulting company.

“India Optical Fiber Cables Market Forecast & Opportunities,2020” has evaluated future growth potential of OFC market in India and provides statistics and information on market structure, industry behavior and trends. The report includes market projections and demand forecasting.

“The report is intended to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers in taking sound investment decisions. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes the emerging trends along with essential drivers, challenges and opportunities in India’s OFC market.”

Read more: TechSci Research

Apple has $137.1 Billion in cash

Apple has $137.1 billion in cash reserves, according to the company's recent first-quarter earnings , with $94 billion is stored offshore. If Apple wants to repatriate this cash, it will have to pay huge amounts in taxes and would lose a significant percent overall. 

For now, Apple's just sitting on it. Doing nothing. Nada.

An investor launched sued Apple after it announced plans to get rid of "black check preferred stock" instead of cold, hard cash. This led to Apple stating that is in "active discussions about returning additional cash to shareholders." 

Read More: ZDNet

Caption by: Zack Whittaker

Placing your router near a lamp slows down internet speeds

Experts warn that placing your router near a lamp slows down internet speeds

Few people would argue against the idea that router placement -- particularly when it comes to maximizing Wi-Fi footprint -- is important. But it is not just the location that's key; broadband speeds could also be affected by seemingly innocuous objects in the home.

The head of the UK's communications regulator Ofcom warns that numerous electrical goods in the home can interfere with signals and slow down the internet. It's a problem that affects around 20 percent of households, and while there are some obvious culprits on the list of web-killers such as stereos and baby monitors, there are also some surprises.

Ofcom's chief executive Sharon White says that many people who suffer with slow internet speeds actually have a fast connection delivered to their house. She blames people placing their router on a coffee table next to things like cordless phones and other electrical products.

source: betanews

By Mark Wilson

Bell Canada on pace to bring 1 Gbps FTTH service to 2.2M homes by the end of 2015

Bell Canada has extended the reach of its 1 Gbps FTTH service Gigabit Fibe to over 2 million homes across Quebec, Ontario, and the Atlantic region of Canada, with plans to extend it to a total of 2.2 million homes by the end of the year.

With four to five years of experience in rolling out FTTH via other subsidiaries like Bell Aliant, Bell Canada also has built a foundation to deliver speeds higher than 1 Gbps.

Speaking to investors during its third quarter earnings call, George Cope, president and CEO of BCE, said that it will be able to deliver 10 Gbps by 2017.

"FTTH technology also provides a clear path to -- significantly to support other speeds beyond one gig over time," Cope said during the earnings call, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript. "And by way of example ... by 2017 we'd have the ability to do 10 gig speeds."

Cope added that it could achieve the 10G speeds "without requiring any upgrade to our network" and unlike its cable competitors "any segmentation capital."

BCE, Bell Canada's parent, touted its ability to reach nearly 20 percent of its footprint with FTTH services while maintaining capital spending intensity of about 4 percent below its cable competition over the past three years.

"We anticipate that BCE's overall capex intensity in 2016 will again be in the range of 16% to 17%, as we continue our fiber build out throughout Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada," Cope said.  

Although rolling out FTTH requires a large amount of upfront capital to fund builds in the markets it is targeting, Bell Canada is finding that the infrastructure requires less maintenance than traditional copper.

Bell's experience is not uncommon. Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) has continued to migrate more of what it calls "chronic" copper customers, or those that have required three or four truck rolls in a year, onto fiber.

Read More: Fierce Telecom

By Sean Buckley