• news from the swamp

    Senate Committee Votes To Rollback FCC's Media Consolidation Plan

    Poor Kevin Martin. The Senate is well on its way towards killing his proposal to let newspapers get all freaky and consolidate with television and radio stations. Martin shouldn't be too surprised: this is exactly what happened the last time a FCC Chairman tried to ram media consolidation down our throats. More »

    9:20 AM on Sat Apr 26 2008
    By Carey
    1,263 views, 6 comments

    Latest by bobblack555: Aww - Bush vetoing a bill that protects the public in order to bolster big businesses? That's a surprise. What an asshole. more »

  • early termination fees

    AT&T Says It Will Begin Prorating Termination Fees

    Maybe the T-Mobile lawsuit has scared AT&T a bit, because they've announced that they're changing their early termination policy: they will now prorate termination fees instead of charging a flat fee. They're also removing the policy that required existing customers to extend a current agreement or sign up for a new one when changing their level of service. No word on when these changes will go into effect, but there's nothing on their website yet. More »

    8:48 PM on Tue Oct 16 2007
    By Chris Walters
    1,834 views, 11 comments

    Latest by suedehead4: I just had a really good experience with AT&T re. this (it will take hours to recover from the shock). more »

  • audio

    Ted Stevens Wants To Switch Between Phones "As I Ride My Motorcycle"

    Carey has a hot new Ted Stevens bon mot, gleaned from his liveblogging of the Senate Commerce Committee Hearing On Number Portability, coming from the same crazy-old-man-stratosphere as his infamous "series of tubes" remark.

    Listen to the clip

    Transcript inside... More »

    11:18 AM on Thu Jul 12 2007
    By Ben Popken
    21,696 views, 34 comments

  • news from the swamp

    Liveblogging The Senate Commerce Committee Hearing On Number Portability

    Join us today at 10 am Eastern as we liveblog the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on telephone number portability. These are the laws and procedures governing your ability to take a phone number started with one carrier to another. Historically, telephone companies have sought to limit customer's portability rights.

    The full committee will hear testimony from both industry representatives, and from a spunky former Eagle Scout representing the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. Telcos have spent over $18 million in the past two years lobbying Congress; let's see what their money has bought.

    Keep hitting refresh for up-to-the-minute analysis and breaking off-the-cuff remarks!

    10:00: Quoth C-SPAN: "Hearing on telephone number portability. Coverage being momentarily." Exciting!
    10:07: And we're off! To watch the hearing, click this link, which will open in Real Player.
    10:08: Chairman Inouye didn't bother to show up for his own hearing. How odd. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) gets to run the show
    10:09: Senator Stevens is making his opening remarks. There was a notable, worried stumble as he said "internet, internet services."
    10:10: Today will be all about expanding number portability not just between wireless and wireline services, but to all voice services, including VoIP. We now have dreams of porting our number to GrandCentral. More »

    Feature

    9:28 AM on Thu Jul 12 2007
    By Carey
    1,959 views, 11 comments

    Latest by Nick: Ah, the joys of LNP... [not!] I work at a small telecomunications company that offers voice, video, and data. We have more »

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