While some cable companies, like Comcast and Cox, continue to run regional tests of data caps for their broadband services, at least one major industry analyst is egging the industry to establish harder data caps before the FCC’s new net neutrality rules go into effect in mid-June, even though the new rules don’t actually set any hard and clear guidelines about the Commission’s authority to intervene on the issue of data caps. [More]
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AT&T CEO: We Can Invest In Our Company Despite Net Neutrality Because It’ll Lose In Court Anyway
By 5.19.15
All of the big ISPs hate the FCCs new net neutrality rule. They’ve been protesting the agency’s decision since before it was even made. And yet the top executives at the cable ISPs have all by now explained why net neutrality is not actually a threat to their businesses, and this week was AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson’s turn. [More]
North Carolina Sues FCC To Keep Limits On Municipal Broadband
By 5.18.15
It’s been a big year for North Carolina in terms of improving the Internet connections for many of its residents. Google Fiber will bring new options to multiple markets in the state, and the FCC acted against a state law that limits municipal broadband providers from expanding their services. But rather than acknowledge that maybe it shouldn’t let Time Warner Cable dictate state laws, North Carolina has sued the FCC. [More]
Why Is It So Dang Difficult To Get Accurate Information About Broadband Speeds?
By 5.15.15
Your cable company sells you a broadband plan advertising download speeds of “up to 25Mbps.” But it feels sluggish to you so you check out an online speed test site and it tells you you’re only getting a fraction of that speed. Then the FCC comes out with its Measuring Broadband America report which — if you can even make heads or tails of it — says your ISP is actually exceeding its advertised download speeds. Why don’t all of these things agree? [More]
Report: FCC May Look Into Comcast’s Don’t-Call-Them-Data-Caps If Implemented Nationwide
By 5.13.15
For more than two years, Comcast has been testing data caps — sorry, “data thresholds” — in various markets around the country. With the possibility of this usage-based pricing model being rolled out on a nationwide basis, a new report claims that the FCC could use its new authority to scrutinize the data limitations. [More]
Verizon, Sprint To Pay $158 Million To Settle Wireless Bill-Cramming Allegations
By 5.12.15
Several months after AT&T and T-Mobile reached multimillion-dollar settlements with federal regulators to close the books on allegations of bill-cramming — illegal, unauthorized third-party charges for services like premium text message subscriptions — both Sprint and Verizon have also decided to pay the regulatory piper. Combined, the two wireless companies will pay $158 million to settle cramming claims with the FCC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. [More]
FCC Chair: Comcast Made Right Decision Scrapping Merger; Plan For Net Neutrality Is “Not To Lose”
By 5.4.15
We’re barely into May, and it’s already been an incredibly busy year for the FCC. Even major issues like a spectrum auction and a ruling on municipal broadband were overshadowed by the two huge proceedings around net neutrality and the Comcast/TWC merger. And so when FCC chairman Tom Wheeler sat down for a “fireside chat” at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York this week, he had a lot to say. [More]
Net Neutrality Is Already Improving Internet Connections And It Hasn’t Even Gone Into Effect
By 5.1.15
Though the FCC narrowly voted to approve the new Open Internet Order (AKA net neutrality) several months ago, the rules don’t actually kick in until June 12. Yet with those new guidelines looming, some Internet service providers are already beginning to play nice with the companies that do most of the heavy lifting for the web. [More]
Anatomy Of A Comcastrophe: A Look Back At How Comcast Failed To Buy Time Warner Cable For $45B
By 4.24.15
We were skeptical from the start, but obviously someone at Comcast believed that the company would eventually be allowed to acquire Time Warner Cable for the massive sum of $45 billion. Yet this morning the nation’s largest pay-TV and Internet provider walked away from the mega-merger that would have given it unprecedented market share in both of these industries and control over cable and broadband service for the two largest cities in the U.S. So how did we get here? [More]
There Are Two Things That Could Stop The Comcast/TWC Merger, And We Might Get Both
By 4.23.15
Update: Comcast is reportedly planning to back out from the merger deal as early as tomorrow in the face of the likely opposition from both the FCC and Justice Department. [More]
Possible FCC Hearing Could Signal End Of Comcast, Time Warner Cable Merger
By 4.22.15
While it’s already been reported that antitrust lawyers at the Dept. of Justice are leaning toward moving to block the $45 billion merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, staffers at the FCC — the other regulatory body reviewing the merger — are recommending a move that could signal opposition to the deal from both agencies. [More]
Top Cable Lobbyist Just Doesn’t See Why You Hate Your Cable Company When Google, Facebook Are Big Too
By 4.22.15
The NCTA is big cable’s big lobbying group. Right now, they’re trying their hardest to make sure the FCC can’t protect consumers and businesses from the largest ISPs with a lawsuit trying to block the FCC’s net neutrality rule. At the organization’s head head is former FCC chairman Michael Powell, who loves terrible internet speeds and data caps for all. [More]
Netflix Changes Tune About Seeking Data Cap Exemptions For Service
By 4.16.15
In recent years, Netflix has been a vocal proponent of net neutrality and an outspoken critic of ISP business models that would allow certain deep-pocketed companies to gain a competitive edge over smaller players in the streaming video market. Thus the company was heavily criticized in March when it made deals with Australian ISPs that would exempt Netflix from users’ monthly data caps. This morning, the company announced that it regrets this decision and will no longer seek exemptions going forward. [More]
The Long-Awaited Net Neutrality Lawsuits Are Finally Here
By 4.14.15
As it was foretold, so it has come to pass: with the Open Internet Rule finally entering the Federal Register yesterday, lawsuit season is now officially open. And as promised, threatened, and endlessly discussed, the trade groups representing all of the big broadband providers have vaulted into action right on cue, asking the courts to stop this piece of consumer protection before it can happen. [More]
14 House Members Sign On To Resolution To Block Net Neutrality
By 4.14.15
While the telecom and broadband industries move to fight net neutrality in court, lawmakers — at least one of whom has received substantial financial backing by neutrality opponents — are moving forward with their plans to strike down the FCC’s new regulations. Yesterday, more than a dozen members of Congress all signed on to a new resolution that would block the new neutrality rules from taking effect. [More]
FCC Looking Into Verizon “Supercookies” That Track Wireless Users’ Behavior
By 4.10.15
For years, the Internet behavior of all Verizon Wireless smartphone customers was being tracked by “supercookies” on their devices that they could not opt out of. After the tracking became public knowledge, the company recently gave its customers a way to shake off the invasive snooping, but that isn’t stopping the FCC from looking into whether the program violated federal guidelines. [More]
Countdown Clock For Real Net Neutrality Lawsuits Starts Monday
By 4.10.15
The Net Neutrality rules narrowly approved by the FCC in February and made public in March will finally become part of the Federal Register on Monday, kicking off a 60-day countdown clock for everyone and their Aunt Peg to file a lawsuit to try to block, neuter, or gut the new regulations. [More]
AT&T To Pay $25M To Settle FCC Investigation Into Call Center ID Theft
By 4.8.15
FCC investigators have found that AT&T call center employees in Mexico, Colombia, and the Philippines illegally accessed and sold personal data — including names and (mostly partial) Social Security numbers — for around 280,000 customers. Thus, the telecom giant has agreed to settle with the Federal Communications Commission for $25 million, the Commission’s largest privacy and data security enforcement ever (at least until the next mammoth, inevitable cock-up). [More]
