The FCC’s ISP privacy rule, which would have limited how your internet service provider could collect and use your data without your permission, is effectively dead. The good news is, you do have some tools you can use. The bad news is, they’re not perfect. [More]
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Cable & Phone Industries Tell Congress To Reverse New Internet Privacy Rule
By 1.27.17
Last fall, the FCC approved a new rule detailing internet service providers can and can’t gather and use your information. The affected industries cried “unfair!” and now, with a new business-friendly FCC Chairman and White House, they are calling on Congress to make this pesky privacy rule go away. [More]
FCC Adopts New Privacy Rule Limiting What ISPs Can Do With Your Personal Data
By 10.27.16 — Updated: 10.28.16
Privacy is a complicated thing, especially online. While we all know companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon — edge providers, in the parlance of regulators — collect and use our data, fewer of us think about how much the owners of the metaphorical pipes can see passing through them. So to that end, the FCC voted today to adopt rules designed to limit how much of internet subscribers’ data ISPs can sell, share, and trade, and to let customers have some more control over the uses of their personal information. [More]
Final FCC Privacy Rule Won’t Ban Pay-For-Privacy, Will Require Some Opt-Ins
By 10.6.16
The FCC certainly is keeping busy this fall. After six months of mulling it over, commission chairman Tom Wheeler announced today that the final version of a privacy rule that would limit what your broadband carrier can do with your personal data is in fact real and on the agenda for the FCC’s October meeting later this month. [More]
Divided FCC Votes To Approve Lifeline Modernization, Consider New ISP Privacy Rules
By 3.31.16
The Federal Communications Commission today in their monthly meeting voted narrowly to move forward with two high-profile, contentious proposals. One is formally adopting a plan to modernize the Lifeline program, and the other is to start considering how to apply stronger consumer privacy protections to ISPs. [More]
FCC To Consider Rules That Would Make ISPs Get Permission To Share Your Personal Info
By 3.10.16
There’s a reason they call this century the information age: everything is data, data, data. And today, the FCC announced a proposal that would regulate how ISPs — over which all that data flows — have to get your permission to collect and share all that juicy, valuable information. [More]
State Attorney General Wants To Know If New Yorkers Are Actually Getting The Broadband They Pay For
By 10.26.15
It’s a pretty basic tenet of American commerce: if someone advertises something to you at a certain price, they actually have to provide you that thing at that price. Like, for example, a broadband internet connection: if a company like Verizon, Cablevision, or Time Warner Cable says it will give you a connection of a certain speed, it’s supposed to make good. But in one sate, the top legal office thinks the ISPs may not be making good on their claims, and wants to know what’s up. [More]
Is Your ISP Not Following Net Neutrality? The FCC’s Got A Complaint Form For That.
By 6.12.15
Hooray! Net neutrality is finally, well and truly, the law. The courts did not uphold industry groups’ requests to press pause on the implementation, and so as of right now, ISPs are common carriers under Title II and are not allowed to mess around with your connections. [More]
Ting Mobile Buys ISP, Will Provide Gigabit Internet To Virginia College Town
By 12.17.14
Charlottesville, Virginia is home to the University of Virginia, and also to Blue Ridge InternetWorks, an independent Internet service provider that has been working to fiber up the college town with gigabit Internet access. Ting, a company that we know as a discount mobile carrier, announced this week that it will buy the small ISP to enter the gigabit-capable broadband biz. [More]
Get Past Executive Customer Service Gatekeepers With Letter-Writing 101
By 10.29.13
As items in our mailbox go, April’s story is pretty mundane. She returned her broadband modem to her Internet service provider five months ago, and they caught up with her and…sent her to a collection company. No one believed April that she had returned the modem. What could she do? Write to the CEO, that’s what. [More]
Are You Okay With Comcast Sharing Your Home Wi-Fi With Everyone?
By 6.18.13
As a child, how were you at sharing your toys with other kids, friends and strangers alike? If you rent Xfinity equipment from Comcast, you’re going to have to share your toys–and by “toys” we mean “wireless router”–with everyone in Kabletown. Understandably, some people do not like this idea. [More]
Here’s The Most Honest Cable Commercial You Will Ever See
By 4.2.13
If you’ve ever felt like cable company ads are leaving something out––so, if you have a functioning brain––this parody ad is for you. At least we assume it’s a parody ad. [More]
Charter Ends Twitter And Facebook Customer Support
By 12.6.12
People who are unable to get help from Charter’s regular customer service have always had another, social media-riffic option: contacting the dedicated Facebook and Twitter representatives. We’ve heard pretty good things about Team Twitter over at Charter, which is why we’re very sad to hear that they’re killing off the helpful accounts and re-assigning all of the team members. [More]
FCC: Internet Service Providers Are Actually Delivering The Speeds They Promise
By 7.20.12
Internet service providers take your money and promise to send you speeding along an information superhighway, dangling the carrot of fast connection times to get your business. And according to an annual report card by the Federal Communications Commission, while Verizon and Cablevision are the leaders in providing advertised speeds, it seems most ISPs are getting better at being more consistent on delivering the goods as well. [More]
If CenturyLink Had Competent Web Developers, They Could Have My Money
By 6.18.12
Daniel has had it with his ISP, CenturyLink. If you don’t live in their service area, you may still recognize the company’s name, since they were a contender for Worst Company in America 2012, knocked out in the first round. But not going all the way in the tournament doesn’t mean that CenturyLink/Qwest customers are all satisfied. Daniel, for one, couldn’t pay his bill online because the company’s website wouldn’t work. Isn’t everyone trying to push customers toward online bill pay, not away from it? [More]
Why Does My Internet Connection Take A Daily Afternoon Siesta?
By 3.20.12
Three hours. That’s how long Nate’s Internet connection goes out for, every day except Saturday. He has no idea why. His Internet service provider, Charter, has no idea why. All Charter is able to do is send technician after technician to check out the problem, replace hardware, and ultimately not solve the problem. [More]
Cosigning Someone's Comcast Account Doesn't Mean Paying Their Bills Instead Of My Own
By 3.7.12
Helpful and supportive person that she is, Isis is a co-signer on her goddaughter’s Comcast account so her goddaughter wouldn’t have to pay a deposit. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem unless the youngster defaulted on her payments or ran off with a half-dozen cable boxes. The problem is that the act somehow tied together her account and Isis’s, and a $435 payment was applied to the goddaughter’s account by mistake. This has led to biweekly disconnections, fruitless promises by Comcast employees to take care of the situation, and an existential question: does Isis have two accounts, or only one? [More]
Cat Naps On Router, ISP Provides Decoy Router In Exchange For Cat Pictures
By 3.2.12
Liam lives in England and has a cat. As all people owned by cats know, warm, feline-posterior-sized electronic devices are irresistible to cats worldwide, and the DSL modem/router thingy provided by his Internet service provider, Be, is no exception. The problem is that this particular router doesn’t work very well with a cat on top of it. He made a joking forum post that featured a photo of his cat communing with the router and pleaded for a decoy router so he could keep his cat happy but also have functional Internet. Astonishingly…. the company complied. But only if he sent them more pictures of his cat. [More]
