2004 was a landmark year for broadband, from the bells finally moving on their fiber deployment plans, to broadband supposedly passing dial-up as the preferred method of internet connectivity. AOL tried to get a handle on its identity crisis, while BPL supporters and opponents duked it out.

•Bit Torrent became such a popular file distribution method in 2004, it contributed to nearly a third of all internet traffic. We broke the story that some ISP's like Shaw had decided to throttle the application to conserve bandwidth instead of expanding capacity.

•After a year of fairly toothless DMCA warnings, the MPAA embraced the RIAA's scorched earth tactics and began filing lawsuits against on-line film traders. A late year crackdown on Bit Torrent websites likely means 2005 will spawn a new file-trading alternative.

•Internet security dominated much of the year's discourse. Phishing scams exploded, Spyware vendors tried to go legit illegitimately, and lawmakers began shaping plans to craft anti-spyware laws. As worms and spyware got smarter, the general user base apparently didn't: more than half of web users still don't use a firewall.

•This was the year that more web users were accessing the internet via broadband than dial-up, according to Nielson/Netratings. Those numbers are contested, however: Jupiter Research says broadband users still only account for 40% of web users.

•The release of Service Pack 2 for Windows XP brought a shred of credibility to an operating system long slammed for security failures. While the new patch created a long line of headaches, the integrated firewall and automated update system likely kept many less technical users out of trouble.

•DSL and Cable operators remained locked in mortal combat. While DSL providers continually lowered prices, cable executives responded with continued speed increases, whether consumers wanted them or not. 4-5Mbps quickly became a cable industry standard.

•What many customers wanted from their cable companies were lower prices; instead they were met with the traditional late year price-increases. One proposed solution was "a la Carte" cable, an idea quickly shot down by an internal FCC report. The emergence of discount cable tiers also never materialized.

•The bells unveiled price hikes of their own, but were clever enough to dress them up as the hotly debated "regulatory recovery fees" in 2004.

•While Powell called BPL (broadband over power-lines) the "great broadband hope" and passed rules governing its deployment, many remain skeptical that the technology will ever be more than an interference prone niche-technology.

•The non-SP2 Internet Explorer hasn't seen an update in years, primarily because of no serious competition. A huge community effort resulted in the release of Firefox 1.0 and a massive two page spread in the New York Times, celebrating arguably the year's most popular piece of software.

•The cable industry and bells had been pushing bills to ban municipal broadband for years, but it was Philadelphia's Wi-Fi effort that brought the battle center-stage. Towns and cities in Pennsylvania considering developing a broadband network must now seek Verizon's approval, due to the passage of the controversial HB30 in the state. Other states have been fighting such bans for years, something missed by the mainstream media until 2004.

•Verizon began deploying its Fios fiber to the home service, thrilling users in our forums. SBC followed suit with the launch of project Lightspeed, a fiber to the node solution utilizing next-gen DSL for the last mile. BellSouth launched a less ambitious plan to provide 4-6Mbps ADSL2+, while Qwest simply tried to survive market conditions and accounting probes.

•2004 was a significant year for VoIP, with the emergence of ample competition, and an FCC ruling that states couldn't regulate the young technology. 2004 was nothing compared to what we'll see in 2005, when the MSO's and bells finally throw their hat into the ring and the bloodshed begins.

Vote on what you thought was broadband's biggest trend in 2004 via our latest poll.