Amazon Web Services completed its first 16 AWS Local Zones in the U.S. and plans to launch in 32 new metropolitan areas in 26 countries, it said Wednesday. Local Zones are an “infrastructure deployment” putting compute, storage, database and other services at the edge of the cloud near large population, industry and information technology centers. They allow customers to use AWS services locally while connecting to the rest of their workloads running in AWS regions with “the same elasticity, pay-as-you-go model, application programming interfaces and toolsets," it said. Customers with applications that require ultra-low latency, such as remote real-time gaming, media and entertainment content creation, live video streaming, engineering simulations, augmented and virtual reality and machine learning inference at the edge want AWS infrastructure “closer to their end users to support a seamless experience,” it said. Customers in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Ore., and Seattle can use Local Zones to deliver applications requiring “single-digit millisecond latency,” AWS said. The company is rolling it out to metro areas in other parts of the world over the next two years so that customers can meet data residency requirements in regulated sectors like health care and life sciences, financial services and government, it said. AWS manages and supports Local Zones; customers won’t have to incur the expense and effort of procuring, operating, and maintaining infrastructure to support low-latency applications, it said.

The COVID-19 pandemic put more pressure on Wi-Fi to grow quickly, but expanding home and business networks raised complications for all users, speakers said at the Fierce Wi-Fi Summit Tuesday. “The pandemic has just put pressure points on areas that we didn’t even realize we would have pressure points,” said Patricia Kellaghan, senior director-products at Breezeline, which offers a managed Wi-Fi service. “We’ve had these massive lifestyle shifts, and they’re not temporary, they’re going to be permanent, and they’re going to continue to evolve,” she said. Customers are demanding better in-home connectivity, she said. “We really need key, strategic, forward-leaning partners who are pushing on the product road map so we can continue to keep up with demand and stay relevant,” she said. Breezeline had to move to more self-installation by customers, she said. Its products “have to be easy to use, they have to be easy to install, they have to put control in the customers’ hands,” she said. “The pandemic certainly has accelerated our deployment,” said Richard Squire, Liberty Global director-connectivity strategy. The company had a 30%-40% jump in connected devices when the pandemic started two years ago, he said. Wi-Fi needs to be simple for customers, he said: “This is really complex stuff, and ... we want to make it as simple as possible for our customers to use.” Because of regulatory and technical limits, no single access point (AP), “no matter how strong,” can cover the whole of many homes, said Bill McFarland, chief technology officer at gear-maker Plume. That means most need Wi-Fi extenders, but that “greatly complicates the problem of Wi-Fi management,” he said. “We need to make decisions about the frequency channels and channel bandwidths that will be used, how the APs will be connected to each other, which is effectively the routes and topologies, and to which AP and which on frequency band each client device in the home should connect,” he said: The Wi-Fi system needs to consider traffic loads, signal strengths, data rates, interference and the effect of Wi-Fi congestion.

Amazon extended its Sidewalk network to businesses, municipalities, universities and public services through two pilot programs, it blogged Thursday. Amazon Sidewalk Bridge Pro by Ring enables organizations to address problems created by limited connectivity, the company said. A pilot with Arizona State University will address smart cities research; a second with Thingy is designed to help first responders fight wildfires. The Pro version will provide Sidewalk connectivity to sunlight sensors, air quality indicators and moisture sensors in places like commercial centers, parks and wilderness areas, Amazon said. It has longer range and more capacity than the home version and has been ruggedized for outdoor conditions. The bridge, which has multiple layers of privacy and security protection built in, can be installed inside or outside and can connect to hundreds of devices more than 5 miles away, it said.

T-Mobile representatives sought changes to rules for the FCC affordable connectivity program, in conversations with aides to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and others at the commission. T-Mobile “expressed support” for FCC “efforts to implement ACP, which promises to bring the transformative benefits of broadband service to millions of households on a sustained basis,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 21-450. “To maximize consumer choice and innovation, the Commission should allow different brands or lines of businesses within the same legal entity -- not just different legal entities within the same corporate family -- to file separate election notices,” T-Mobile said. “Allow states to opt out of the National Lifeline Accountability Database for the purposes of ACP.” T-Mobile urged the FCC to allow enrollees in the emergency broadband benefit program to continue receiving benefits of up to $50 a month “until EBB funds are expended or March 1” and to “address the issue of what notification is required when an EBB provider decides not to participate in ACP.”

Median Starlink download speeds in the U.S. in Q3 were 87.25 Mbps, down roughly 10 Mbps from Q2, which could be a function of additional customers, Ookla blogged Monday. It said HughesNet and Viasat median download speeds, each less than 20 Mbps, were essentially flat. Starlink median upload speed was 13.54 Mbps, while Viasat and HughesNet at around 3 Mbps were flat, it said. Ookla said there's adequate Q3 data to analyze SpaceX's Starlink performance in 304 U.S. counties, with the fastest in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, at 146.6 Mbps and slowest in Drummond Township, Michigan, at 46.63 Mbps.

Comcast doesn't plan to institute data usage plans in its Northeast markets in 2022, it told us Friday. The 1.2 TB monthly limit has been delayed more than once in the face of criticism (see 2102040024). Massachusetts State Rep. Andy Vargas (D) tweeted that he's "thrilled about this outcome. ... Ensuring fair competition and consumer choice is next."

Regulations intended to rein in large internet platforms moved forward Tuesday as EU lawmakers debated the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and a key committee approved its report on the Digital Services Act (DSA). The measures appear to be generally popular, but some lawmakers and stakeholders said they don't go far enough. The DMA seeks to create a level playing field in the digital sector by regulating "gatekeepers" that control core platform services to the detriment of competition. The DSA aims to protect users from illegal goods, services or content by, among other things, imposing due diligence requirements on online intermediaries (see 2012150022). Amendments to the report were to be voted Tuesday, with a final vote scheduled Wednesday. That will set parliament's negotiating position for talks with governments in the council, who agreed on their approach in November (see 2111260016). The DMA would put Europe in the leadership of the digital space, said Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton. He noted criticism from across the Atlantic but said the DMA isn't against any country or company, but rather an effort to regulate that space. Lawmakers generally supported the DMA subject to several changes, including ensuring that social media platforms and messaging services are interoperable, that they're safe and protective of personal data, and banning personalized kids advertising. Some members worried that the parliamentary version weakens the EC proposal by, for example, reducing companies that will fall within its scope. The lead committee vetting the DSA, the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee, OK'd its report. The approach taken by IMCO rapporteur Christel Schaldemose, of the Party of Socialists and Democrats and Denmark, got backing from other committees that reviewed the proposal, she told a Tuesday briefing. Compromises included: It safeguards intermediary liability provisions in the EU e-commerce directive, and opens the "black box of algorithms," forcing large platforms to disclose such things as content that may breach their terms. Members of European Parliament introduced a right for consumers and businesses to seek compensation for DSA violations. Asked which changes might be controversial in talks with governments, Schaldemose said that the council wants to finish work quickly could be problematic. Targeted ads and the black box of algorithms might be tricky, she said. The European Consumer Organisation urged MEPs to "aim for a stronger liability regime for marketplaces when consumers are harmed, a ban on surveillance advertising altogether, and for all platforms to have to verify the legality of sellers and their products, not just the large ones." "Further work is needed on marketplace obligations, user redress, and data disclosure to law enforcement and researchers," emailed the Computer & Communications Industry Association. Parliament votes on the amended DSA proposal in January.

About four in 10 U.S. broadband households with a security system bought it through a security dealer, said Parks Associates Thursday. About 85% of security dealers offer interactive services that generate monthly revenue, it said. Some 36% of homes have a security system. Parks plans a webinar on home security expansion Monday.

Wi-Fi 6 orders went “through the roof” in Q3, but supply constraints hampered wireless LAN sales in the quarter, reported the Dell'Oro Group Thursday. “The appetite for the shiny new technology clearly has shifted en masse to Wi-Fi 6,” said the company. It estimates supply chain woes impeded the ability of U.S.-based manufacturers to ship product for three to six months.

Wi-Fi 6 will reach more than 1.5 billion chipset shipments in 2022, said ABI Research, with Wi-Fi 6E component shipments to nearly triple shipments from this year. Ultra-wideband devices are expected to reach nearly 500,000 units as adoption rises in smartphones, wearables, speakers and personal trackers, said the research firm. Wi-Fi 6 grew in 2021 on adoption in smartphones from Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, Oppo and Vivo, while growing availability of mobile Wi-Fi 6E chipsets and platforms from chipset vendors Qualcomm, Broadcom and MediaTek will accelerate the transition to 6-GHz capable devices, it said. Tablets and PCs are also transitioning to Wi-Fi 6 and 6E technology, it said.