Every year, a major customer satisfaction survey comes out with an updated look at how the country’s cable, phone, and pay-TV companies are doing. And every year, it turns out the answer is still: really badly. But while many cable companies continue to suck, one trend is clear — the more competition there is, the higher the satisfaction scores tend to be. [More]
broadband competition
You Still Hate Your Cable Company As Much As Ever, But Think Your Mobile Carrier’s All Right
By 5.23.17
In One Day FCC Voted To Both Streamline Competition And Disregard Competition
By 4.20.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
It was a busy, if confusing, morning for the FCC. The Commission held its monthly open meeting, where it considered more than a half-dozen items, resulting in everything from harmoniously unanimous votes to contentious disputes among the three sitting members. Oh yeah, and Chairman Ajit Pai also got “rickrolled” in person. [More]
Killing Privacy Is Fine Because “Nobody’s Got To Use The Internet,” House Rep Says
By 4.17.17
From a distance, it can often be easy to criticize Congress as being out of touch, no matter what members are actually doing or what policies they’re proposing. But every once in a while, you get a response so staggeringly clueless you wonder if a lawmaker is living on the same planet you are. [More]
FCC: Charter No Longer Required To Provide Competing Service For 1 Million People
By 4.3.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
When the FCC approved the three-way merger of Charter, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House, it did so under the condition that Charter would have to bring broadband competition to 1 million people in markets where consumers only have one choice. Today, the FCC voted to scrap that requirement, instead asking Charter to build its network elsewhere. [More]
Another Set Of Colorado Counties Vote To Toss Restrictive Law, Permit Municipal Broadband
By 11.10.16
Part of the reason broadband competition is so dang hard to come by for millions of us? Protectionist, industry-backed laws that make it either obscenely difficult or outright illegal to start a public network. Colorado is one of the states with such a law on the books, but voters in the Centennial State are once again saying they’d rather municipal networks had a chance. [More]
Google To Fiber Cities: Don’t Freak Out, We’re Not Cancelling Anything
By 11.4.16
When Alphabet joyously announced last week that Google Fiber was so great that they were going to stop expanding it, lay people off, and lose the CEO, some confusion followed. Google Fiber is, after all, still kind of a nascent business — in most cities where it has a presence, it’s still just a toe-hold, with more expansion waiting on the horizon. So are the other towns and neighborhoods who have been waiting for service still going to get it? [More]
FCC: No, Our Rules Are Not An Excuse For AT&T To Block Google Fiber In Louisville
By 11.1.16
Despite recently putting many Fiber plans on hold, there’s still a decent chance Google might bring its high-speed internet service to Louisville. And where there’s the possibility of competition, lawsuits arrive to stop it. Some of those complaints invoke the FCC, but the Commission has now chimed in — and it’s saying, basically: Hey, not so fast! Leave us out of this; you’re on your own. [More]
Comcast Expands Data Caps To Another 23 Markets Starting Nov. 1
By 10.7.16
We’ve all been guessing it was going to happen for months, but that doesn’t make it any more fun when it actually does: data caps are marching across the nation, and coming for millions of Comcast customers from coast to coast. [More]
Nashville Council Adopts Law To Let Google Fiber Come To Town; AT&T Prepares To Sue
By 9.21.16
Google Fiber is one step closer to being physically able to bring their service to Nashville, which is great news for Nashvillians. It’s less good news for Comcast and AT&T, which do not want more competition in town, and which are revving up their legal engines to fight it as much as possible. [More]
Comcast, AT&T Try Again To Stall Google Fiber In Nashville By Writing Law To Slow It Down
By 9.20.16
There’s been a fight a-brewing in local politics in Nashville for weeks. At its most basic, it’s some disagreement about utility regulation. But it’s also, an another level, every fight about broadband competition — and the lack thereof — going on in the U.S. right now, distilled down into one city. Our players? Google, Comcast, AT&T, and the Nashville metro council. [More]
Nashville Advances Proposal To Let Google Fiber In Despite AT&T, Comcast Protests
By 9.8.16
Google Fiber wants to come to Nashville. Nashville wants to let it. But incumbent providers — AT&T and Comcast — really hate letting more competitors horn in on their game. And all of that is the stage upon which this week city politicians advanced their proposal to let Google Fiber come to town. [More]
Comcast Charges Customer $1500 For Data They Didn’t Use, Insists Meter Is Perfect
By 9.6.16
A couple in their early 20s, living in Nashville, subscribed to Comcast home internet service. In their area, that came with a 300 GB data cap. All well and good for these two, since they don’t use much data… except Comcast claimed they did, and billed them for $1500 in overage in less than three months. [More]
Comcast Still Not Quite Sure If Its $70 Gigabit Offer In Chicago Actually Exists
By 8.24.16
One city at a time, Comcast is upgrading its cable internet networks to a fast new high-speed standard, called DOCSIS 3.1. In Chicago, the launch of the tech itself seems to be fine… but finding out how much it costs, if you can sign up for it at all, has proven much harder for consumers. [More]
Nashville Mayor Wants Google, Comcast, AT&T To Sit Down And Make Nice Over Fiber Plans
By 8.16.16
Incumbent cable and telecom companies push back hard when Google wants to come to town with Fiber service. But while corporations file legal challenges and yell at each other by proxy, residents are stuck in the middle without competitive service. [More]
Portland Joins The “Don’t Hold Your Breath Waiting For Google Fiber” List
By 8.15.16
Remember how last week, it turned out Google was temporarily suspending their plan to build out more Google Fiber in their own silicon valley back yard? Well, metro San Jose can feel special about one thing with the delay, at least: it’s not alone. [More]
Google Begins Testing Tech That Could Become Fiberless Fiber Service
By 8.11.16
People like fast internet. Google sells fast internet. People like Google’s fast internet. So far, so good. But Google doesn’t really like building Google’s fast internet, because it costs a lot of money, takes a lot of time, and is logistically complicated to build and maintain. One answer to that problem? Taking the wires out of the equation. [More]
Does Comcast Want To Be Your Mobile Phone Carrier? (Probably, Yeah)
By 7.19.16
They already dominate in home broadband and in cable TV. But Comcast knows as well as anyone else that your attention is increasingly leaving the living room and going on the road — or at least, split between two screens at once. And if you’re going wireless, well, Comcast wants to meet you there so it can keep taking your money. [More]
Small States Win: DC, Delaware, And Rhode Island Have Fastest Average Internet In The U.S.
By 6.30.16
Well, Virginia, we had a good run. The Old Dominion spent a while having the fastest average internet connection in the U.S., but that reign is over. A new report drops Virginia all the way back to 9th place, and puts in a handful of high-achieving newcomers at the top of the heap. [More]
