Were the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing a Tipping Point for Streaming?
The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are in the books and, if you listen to the general consensus in some circles, they were a total bust for networks. Ratings were down—way down—and that’s prompting many to conclude viewers were disinterested for …
Opportunities to Meet Demands of 4K Streaming
In the world of home entertainment, there are a pair of persistent trends that telco professionals should be leveraging to their advantage. One is the now long-running trend of people cutting the cord on cable and relying solely on streaming …
Resolution Confusion, Part 1: The Road to High Definition
It might be early days for 8K television, but one thing is already clear: The bandwidth demands it’s going to put on the smart homes of tomorrow will be extreme. And tomorrow is closer than most people think — some …
How BNGs can ease internet traffic congestion
Over the years, Broadband Network Gateways (BNGs) have had to evolve to support new functionalities. Management of multiple types of access, transmission of data encapsulations, and customers have challenged the effectiveness, speed and delivery of gateways. These are management systems …
Is it time to upgrade to Wi-Fi 6?
With the increase in devices connecting to wireless local area networks (WLAN), customers are demanding more bandwidth and faster throughput. The introduction this year of more products adopting the latest Wi-Fi 802.11ax standard aims to answer this demand. This new …
When Cable Broadband Leads to Underwhelming Wi-Fi
With the recent expansion of high-speed broadband and fiber internet into the residential space, more cable ISP customers are channeling their inner Tom Cruise and feeling the need for speed. They’re connecting more devices to their cable internet and streaming …
Why structured wiring needs to be on your radar as a builder or installer
From appliances to lights to blinds to thermostats, smart home devices are finding their way into every nook and cranny in the modern household. In many ways, these devices are making our homes more efficient and user-friendly than ever before. …
Cat5, Cat6, and Cat6a: Is it Finally Time to Start Future-Proofing?
For most of the past few decades, new Ethernet installations have been dominated by Cat5, Cat5e, and Cat6 cabling. Cat5 saw its stock rise in the mid-to -late 90s, Cat5e had its heyday in the 2000s, and Cat6 has been …
802.11ax: What You Need to Know About the Next Generation of Wi-Fi
If you’re a broadband installer or technician who’s ever had to troubleshoot interference or bandwidth problems with your customer’s WLAN, you know this reality all too well: It’s an ultra-crowded wireless world out there, and only the strongest network signals …
Twisted light and the blazing fast future of fiber optic — is your network ready?
Compared with conventional internet networks, fiber is fast. Blazing fast. But a group of Australian researchers are convinced it’s about to get a whole lot faster. More than 100 times faster, in fact. “We can potentially achieve ultra-wide bandwidth,” explains …