Comcast NBC/Universal Recognized by DiversityInc

Comcast/NBCUniversal moved up 12 slots in DiversityInc's 2018 list, making it into the top 10 companies. Comcast/NBCUniversal owns Internet and cable provider Comcast Cable as well as content provider NBCUniversal.

Comcast has 150 Employee Resource Groups with over 25 thousand active employees.

DiversityInc’s survey ranks companies every year, based on things like recruitment policies, senior leadership commitment, talent development, and supplier diversity.

Comcast started its Diversity & Inclusion program in 2011 to focus on hiring, retaining and promoting women, veterans, minorities, Gay/Lesbian, and people with disabilities.

Comcast Cable is the largest cable company in the United States and is a broadband communications and entertainment company, providing Comcast cable video, high-speed Internet, telephone and home security services. NBC Universal owns television stations as well as movie studios and theme parks.

Top Ten Internet Providers in the United States

Comcast provides Cable and Internet and is the largest cable provider in the U.S, with over 25 million Internet customers. Comcast also owns NBC/Universal.

Cable and Internet provider, Charter Communications recently bought Time Warner Cable and BrightHouse to take them to number two in Cable Internet. They have almost 24 million Internet customers

AT&T provides DSL and dial-up, and fiber optic Internet connections with its U-Verse service, with almost 16 million customers. AT&T also owns DirecTV satellite TV service. AT&T is trying to buy Time Warner Studios at this time. The US Department of Just is suing to prevent this from happening.

Verizon services almost 7  million Internet customers. They are one of the descendentsof Bell Telephone. The were formed as a result of the merging of GTE and some of the Baby Bell companies.

CenturyLink, with over 5 million subscribers using their Internet services brings them to number five. Services they provide include CenturyLink DSL and fiber optic video services. They are the third largest landline company.

Cable and Internet company, Cox Communications is a family owned cable company that provides High Speed Internet to almost 5 million customers. They started out as a cable company and now also provide Internet. The parent company, Cox Enterprises also owns Kelly Bluebook, Autotrader.com and Valpak.

Altice USA is the United States arm of Netherlands based Altice. Altice USA provides cable Internet to a subscriber base of more than 4 million. It is a combination of Suddenlink and Cablevision. Altice operates under the Suddenlink and Optimum brands.

Frontier provides Internet and phone access to people in rural areas with not quite 4 million customers accessing the Internet through Frontier. They are the fourth largest DSL provider and the eighth largest Internet provider overall. They bought a large number of Fios customers from Verizon.

Mediacom provides Internet and video to a bit more than 1.2 million subscribers. It is a private company owned and founded by Rocco Commisso. It serves mostly the South and the Midwest.

TDS Telecom has a little less than 1.2 million Internet customers, mostly in rural areas. TDS owns a bunch of small rural and suburban telephone companies across the United States, from Maine to California and Washington State to Florida.

Windstream has a little over 1 million customers with their recent purchase of Earthlink. Earthlink was an early leader in dial up Internet service. Windstream provides phone and Internet and was formed in 2006 as a result of the merger of Alltel's landlines with Valor Communications Group.

Cox's answer to the smart home

You might know that Cox Communications is the third largest cable company and Internet provider in the United States. You might not know that Cox has been testing its smart home service in San Diego, California and across Rhode Island. Cox plans to offer their connected home service to all Cox customers  across their footprint.

The Homelife platform helps Cox cable and Internet customers connect smart devices like locks, lights, thermostats, and security cameras from around the home. It is licensed from the number one Internet and cable company in the US (Comcast) after they bought iControl Networks in 2016.

Smart home technology allows customers to lock and unlock their doors, adjust the temperature of different rooms in the house and they can even turn lights on and off.

Cox cable and Internet also offers an app for its smart home solution so you can control your different devices from your phone. How convenient is that?

Budget Bill to Expand Rural Broadband

Getting fast broadband at your address should be easler soon as a result of the new budget recently passed by Congress and signed by President Trump.

At the Mobile World Congress earlier this year, Federal Communications Commissioner Ajit Pai said that Congress that needed to do something soon or “America’s 5G future will be delayed.” Part of the new $1.3 billion US Federal budget passed last month is something called the Ray Baum Act (Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services Act), which is supposed to make it easier to hold the frequency spectrum auction. They just love it when they can make an acronym don't they?

The auction basically sells wireless spectrum to Internet and mobile phone providers so that they, in turn, can provide wireless Internet connection to people throughout the United States.

One rule that goes along with the funding bill is that 90% of the households that get Internet connection from the program must currently either not have Internet or must have Internet below 10 Mbps.

The budget also designates up to 600 million dollars for the US Department of Agriculture to use for grants and loans to build out rural broadband.

Throttled Traffic and Fast Lanes at FCC Building in DC

Maybe he just wanted to get fast high-speed Internet service at home.

Innovative net neutrality protester and video producer Rob Bliss used his bicycle and some traffic cones to stage a protest on the street outside the Federal Communications Commission building in Washington DC. Not sure if Ajit Pai was there or not.

Internet Service Providers have long opposed net neutrality so last year FCC Chairman Ajit Pai passed his "Restoring Internet Freedom" order. It probably has nothing to do with his former employer being Verizon. He is probably not planning to go back to work there after his time with the FCC. The Restoring Internet Freedom order was basically just a repeal of net neutrality rules passed in 2015.

Bliss video taped as he rode his bicycle slowly around the building to "throttle" traffic. Drivers who wanted to, could gain access to the fast lane around the building for a monthly $5 fee. Kind of what Internet service providers might do as a result of the Restoring Internet Freedom order. Bliss had to abandon his new endeavor after the Department of Homeland Security and the DC police showed up and told him to stop.

Montana Set to Enforce Net Neutrality Their Own Way

Internet service providers in Montana might have some explaining to do if they violate net neutrality rules. At least if they do business with the state.

As you probably know, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai seems determined to undo everything accomplished by the previous FCC chairman. Does it seem like he is looking for a well-paid job at an Internet Service Provider when his time with the government is up? He is about the most unpopular "public servant" in the United States right now.

After Ajit Pai’s FCC repealed the net neutrality rules last year the legislatures of 22 states started looking at laws to enforce net neutrality in their own state. Montana Governor Steve Bullock, however, has issued an executive order to ensure Internet Service Providers in Montana that are doing business with the state government do not violate net neutrality rules.

The Montana governor's executive order specifically bans Internet providers in Montana from getting state contracts if they violate net neutrality.

Some state governments have decided to go the legislative route but that risks being overturned on the national level but rules about what businesses the state can do business with, may circumvent this. Montana's solution might help if you get Internet Service in Montana.

Finding the Best Internet Deal

One of the first things you probably want to do when you move is to find the best high-speed broadband Internet available in your area. It is a good thing to know before you move in but usually you don't think of that. This is the United States so it should be easy to find high-speed Internet, right?

Looking for the best grocery store can take some time and you can check them all out. And usually you only get one choice for electric, water and other utilities but it isn't always so easy with finding high-speed Internet in your area.

Depending on where you live it might be tricky. Luckily there is a website to find best Internet provider in your town.

Unfortunately some places only have one choice for Internet and that one isn't always a good choice. It is a good idea to search for the best Internet in your zip code. As more and more Internet infrastructure gets built it should get better ove rtime but you just need to make the best withwhat you have.