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junk faxes
Cnet has rounded up a list of free bandwidth monitoring apps for Windows and Mac users who will be facing Comcast's new 250 GB download limit next month. They aren't perfect, but they "should tide you over until Verizon brings some Fios action to your hood." [download.com]
download cap
Comcast: 250 GB Cap Coming October 1st?
Broadband Reports is saying that they've confirmed through several sources that Comcast is going to be instituting a 250GB cap on their high speed internet.More »
att
How To Get ATT Naked DSL (Redux)
When reader Nick tried to sign up for ATT "naked DSL" or "dry loop" service (getting DSL without having paying for a landline), a curious thing happened. More »
dtv
FCC Plans Road Trip To Educate America About Digital TV
The FCC has decided to travel around the country and talk to people about the upcoming digital TV switchover.
...the five FCC Commissioners and other Commission staff will fan out to [selected] markets to raise awareness and educate consumers.
Dear FCC, please please please let these commissioners show up with cheezy t-shirts pulled on over their normal button-and-collar shirts. In fact, t-shirts for everyone! This is America, after all.
More »
And Then The Terrorists Win
FCC Commissioner: Regulating Poor Comcast Compels Us To Regulate All Speech On The Internet. Huh?
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell (R-Obviously) recently warned conservative bloggers that the Commission's decision to repudiate Comcast for crippling Bit Torrent could lead the government to start "dictating content policy" by requiring blogs to give equal time to opposing views. Ha! Of course, this can be avoided if we vote for the *ahem* "right" candidate in November. More »
sprint
Sprint Loses Early Termination Fee Case In California
A California judge has issued a tentative ruling against Sprint regarding early termination fees. Although Sprint has two weeks to respond before the judge issues a final ruling, if the ruling stands then Sprint will have to pay $73 million in refunds to former customers. That Verizon settlement for $21 million earlier this month must be looking pretty sweet to Sprint's investors right about now. More »
Monopolies In Space
FCC Approves Sirius-XM Merger
Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of Sirius-XM. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new anti-consumer practices. To seek out new revenue streams and crowd out new competitors. To boldly safeguard the dangerous monopoly granted last night by the FCC. More »
at&t
AT&T Will Roll Out Tiered Internet Access In October
If you stream movies or other high-bandwidth content and you're an AT&T customer, get ready to pay more later this year. AT&T will introduce tiered Internet access packages this October, said one of their executives yesterday at an FCC hearing.
"When AT&T provides broadband service by speed, it will do so in discrete, non-overlapping tiers," Quinn said in written testimony. "We will strive to provide service within the speed tier purchased by the customer and, if we find that we are not providing service within the ordered speed tier, AT&T will take action either to bring the customer's service within the ordered tier or give the customer an option to move to a different tier."More »
comcast
FCC Chairman Says Comcast "Violated Our Principles" By Arbitrarily Blocking Internet Traffic
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin told the Associated Press yesterday that Comcast had "violated our principles" when it came to managing their network. He accused Comcast of arbitrarily blocking internet traffic and failing to disclose to consumers that it was doing so. More »
Embedded advertising
FCC To Reevaluate "Embedded Advertising" On Television
The FCC has announced that they will be examining the practice of "embedded advertising" on television and will decide on what additional disclosure messages should be provided to protect the audience. This differs from simple product placement in that embedded advertising interweaves products into plot lines and dialogue, essentially, transforming a normal scene into an advertisement. The FCC contends that additional disclosure messages are necessary to protect viewers who may not be aware that advertisers are paying to have their products written into the plots of TV shows. Details, inside... More »
its over verizon
The FCC Says Former Customers Are Off Limits To Verizon
Verizon, who had been using proprietary data to seduce former customers into returning, received a stern message from the FCC to discontinue such practices, according to the Washington Post. Local cable companies complained that Verizon would offer $200 American Express gift cards to keep their customers and send them letters via express mail which promised steep discounts. A majority of members from the FCC said that using this information to contact ex-customers is illegal and infringes on consumers' privacy. Details, inside... More »
news from the swamp
In Early Termination Fee Hearing, FCC Chief Regurgitates Wireless Industry Proposals
The FCC held hearings today to discuss early termination fees (ETF) for wireless carriers, the ~$175 charged if a customer exits contract before the contract is up. FCC Chairman Kevin "Golden Child" Martin's proposals largely mirrored those offered by the carriers themselves last month. Here's what he said today:
More »
competition
Cable: The Worst Deal Of The Decade
The price of everything in the telecom world has fallen over the past decade, except for cable. Cable is now 77% more expensive than it was ten years ago, an increase that dwarfs the rate of inflation and makes telecom executives salivate. The Times looks with pity on all of us who splay our wallets wide for the industry, and asks if there's any salvation other than à la carte pricing. More »
cellphones
To Avoid Billions In Lawsuits, Cellphone Companies Propose Tepid Early Termination Fee Reform
In exchange for amnesty from a series of potentially billions of dollars in class action lawsuits over early termination fees (ETFs), the cellphone companies have proposed some namby-pamby ETF reforms to the FCC. Their ideas:
- Pro-rating early termination fees, so the cancellation fee goes down every month
- Customers can cancel without ETF up to 30 days after singing contract, or 10 days after receiving their first bill
- The overall fee would be slightly reduced
Cellphone companies main justification for early termination fees is that they have to recover the costs of selling cellphones at a discounted rate. True, but why then do I get charged an ETF if even if my cellphone was bought off eBay?
More »
fines
Big Box Retailers Fight Back Against FCC's Recent Fines
Best Buy, Circuit City, and Sears are all contesting the FCC's recent fines against them for not properly following analog transition rules in their stores, reports Ars Technica. Last week, Best Buy submitted a 41-page response (PDF) that claimed among other things that the FCC has no authority to fine them. More »
shady
Azureus: Other ISPs May Also Be Throttling BitTorrent
Azureus has released data that suggests that Comcast may not be the only ISP throttling BitTorrent, says TorrentFreak:A few months ago Azureus petitioned the FCC, which led to a FCC hearing in February. One of the complaints from the commission was that there is little data available on the scope of BitTorrent throttling, a gap Azureus now tries to fill by collecting data on the prevalence of TCP-resets among ISPs worldwide.More »
update
Cablevision responded to our post chastising their attempt to force customer to upgrade to digital service by pointing to an unrelated FCC mandate. Cablevision admits that there is no connection between their unilateral business decision to cut channels and the FCC-mandated transition to digital television, but their statement leaves several questions unanswered. Read Cablevision's statement and our response, after the jump.
More »
Cablevision Claims They Are Not Lying Liars, But Mysteries Remain
Cablevision responded to our post chastising their attempt to force customer to upgrade to digital service by pointing to an unrelated FCC mandate. Cablevision admits that there is no connection between their unilateral business decision to cut channels and the FCC-mandated transition to digital television, but their statement leaves several questions unanswered. Read Cablevision's statement and our response, after the jump.
More »
