For six months now, union workers for Charter in New York and New Jersey have been on strike. Now the cable company has filed a lawsuit against the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3, accusing union members of sabotaging customers’ cable installations to make Charter look bad. [More]
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Today In Streaming TV: Charter Tests Skinny Bundle, CenturyLink Launches $45 Package
By 6.30.17
The trend continues: As consumers increasingly cut the cord and back away from traditional pay-TV, they still want to watch content. And rather than let all the money go to Hulu, PlayStation Vue, and YouTube, cable and satellite companies are cautiously wading into the all-online world. This week, CenturyLink and possibly Charter are joining the fray. [More]
Charter Disconnects Some Former TWC Subscribers Mid-Day, Demands More Money
By 5.19.17
When Charter bought up Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks in 2016, customers who suddenly found themselves paying Charter bills knew they were in for a few big changes. One of those was an inevitable price increase, which for some customers began even before the merger was formally approved or completed. But even though you might expect your cable bill to creep inexorably upward, you probably don’t expect it to happen in the middle of the afternoon with a sudden channel blackout. [More]
Charter Accused Of Charging Fees To Activate Service That Is Already Active
By 2.10.17
It’s been the better part of a year since Charter leapfrogged to the top of the giant cable company pile by gobbling up Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. The transition, though, has been far from effortless for Charter, which now finds itself facing a potential class-action lawsuit brought by a former Bright House subscriber. [More]
FCC Votes To Open Up Super-Speedy Airwaves For Future 5G Wireless Broadband
By 7.14.16
Boy, the future sounds great… at least according to the Federal Communications Commission. From medicine to manufacturing and music, the future’s got a level of autonomy and connected convenience that makes Star Trek look downright pedestrian. And it’s all down to policy that lets tech develop, of course — and so the FCC this morning voted unanimously to take the first step to open up new ultra-fast, super-speedy mobile broadband… for whenever it comes. [More]
What The Heck Is 5G Anyway, And Why Does It Matter?
By 7.13.16 — Updated: 2.22.17
Wireless companies like to throw around a lot of swanky-sounding terms to get you interested in their goods. The new hotness on everyone’s lips is 5G, which does not in fact exist yet. But it will, and the FCC today is going to vote on a proposal that will have a lot to do with getting it off the ground. So here’s everything you need to know about the future of your phone. [More]
Verizon Expands Fiberoptic Reach With $1.8B Purchase Of XO Communications’ Network
By 2.22.16
Verizon’s mission to have the fastest wireless technology among wireless and communication providers got a $1.8 billion boost Monday when the company announced plans to lease spectrum from and acquire XO Communications’ fiberoptic network. [More]
Comcast Could Be The Next Company To Offer Cell Service
By 10.22.15
Everyone’s favorite (or not) cable, internet and telephone provider, Comcast, could soon be handling your cell service, too. [More]
Wireless Companies Have A Plan To Make Your Mobile Data Faster And Better… But It Might Break WiFi
By 10.19.15
Over the last couple of years we’ve all finally gotten used to 4G LTE being the mobile standard our phones use… so of course, the next network tech is already in development. The wireless companies’ plans for expanding LTE networks sound simple: piggyback off spectrum that’s sitting right there, available for anyone to use, so the metaphorical pipes can be bigger. Except that could cause big problems for basically all the wireless tech we already use. [More]
FCC To Dish: No, You Are Not A Small Business, You May Not Use Small Business Discounts
By 8.18.15
The FCC has an auction process to sell spectrum to businesses. The FCC also is charged with promoting competition. So there’s a credit available to small businesses who play in the auction. But this week, the FCC has had to tell one behemoth that small means small, and that no amount of pretending otherwise will actually change that. [More]
Verizon Expanding LTE Networks, Ever-So-Slowly Doing Away With 3G
By 12.4.14
It’s the end of an era! Or at least, the beginning of a process that will eventually lead to the end of an era. 3G was once the great new hotness that made everyone run out and buy an iPhone, but over the years it’s been left in the dust by faster 4G LTE service. Now Verizon, the country’s largest wireless carrier, has started down the road that will eventually kill off the venerable 3G once and for all. [More]
Sprint Scoops Up U.S. Cellular’s Midwestern Airwaves & Its Customers, Too
By 11.7.12
Sprint already explained that even though it’s in third place among U.S. wireless carriers, it meant to get ditched by about 459,000 of its customers in order to move its network from 2G to LTE. And now it’s gained a significant chunk of new customers by buying up a bunch of spectrum and customers from U.S. cellular in a new deal the company just announced. [More]
FCC Approves Transfer Of AT&T Spectrum To Its Former Flame T-Mobile
By 4.25.12
In the telecommunications world, the transfer of spectrum is sort of like alimony for a relationship that didn’t quite work out. The Federal Communications Commission has approved just such a gift from AT&T to T-Mobile, which was a condition of their failed merger. No word on who got the house in Aspen. [More]
Verizon Wireless Wooing Spectrum Regulators With $4.4 Billion Worth Of Airwaves
By 4.19.12
Right now Verizon Wireless is so dang flush with airwaves that everyone else wants, it’s all rolling around on a bed of airwaves being like, “Airwaves? Which airwaves? Oh, you mean these? Don’t need’em!” At least that’s what it says it will do if regulators let the company buy the new chunks of spectrum they want from cable companies. [More]
Verizon Deal To Buy Spectrum From Comcast & Time Warner Cable May Not Be A Cakewalk
By 1.23.12
While AT&T was failing horribly at attempting to amp up its 4G network by buying T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless was busy making deals with cable companies to snap up unused and underused spectrum. And though insiders initially believed VZW’s purchases would glide across regulators’ desks since cable companies are not competitors in the wireless world, a new report claims the spectrum sale may get a more thorough looking-into than had been expected. [More]
Google Thought To Be Out Of The Running In The Wireless Spectrum Auction
By 2.6.08
Analysts are saying that Google is probably out of the running for the “C Block” of wireless spectrum that it had been bidding on.
By 12.12.07
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There’s still no official FCC strategy for the nation’s switchover to digital television in February 2009, reports the General Accounting Office. We guess this will be one of those let-the-private-sector-sort-it-out “initiatives.” [Reuters]
Google Will Bid In The 700Mhz Auction
By 11.30.07
Google announced today that they will be bidding in the 700mhz auction! For real.
