Are you like a lot of people in this country — You want to change your broadband provider but you can’t because the only high-speed option in your town is your cable company? Maybe you’ve been holding out hope that Verizon will bring FiOS to your town so that you’ll at least have something that resembles a choice. We’ve got bad news for you, the company says it’s getting to the end of its current plans to build out the FiOS network. [More]
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Verizon: We’re Not Two-Faced, We Just Like To Claim Mutually Exclusive Things Are Both True
By 1.23.15
Verizon has a long history of trying to have it both ways: alternately courting and rejecting regulation, depending on which will most benefit their bottom line. It’s disingenuous, but effective. But now that someone has asked the FCC to investigate Verizon for perjury, Verizon’s fighting back. Their theme? We’re not two-faced. We just like to say a lot of mutually-exclusive things based on who we think is listening. [More]
Verizon E-Mail Vulnerability Left All Users’ Messages At Risk
By 1.19.15
While many people no longer use the free e-mail accounts made available by their Internet service providers, there are still millions of Americans who do. And up until last week, a reported vulnerability in Verizon’s My FiOS app that left all Verizon e-mail users’ messages at risk of being read by complete strangers. [More]
3 Of The Many Times The Big ISPs Have Tried To Have It Both Ways
By 1.15.15
With the prospect of new regulations staring them in the face, big ISPs have been taking every possible opportunity to wail about how doomed they will be if anything changes. But every cable and telecom company that has spent 2014 and 2015 vowing that regulation is the worst thing ever has also spent years benefiting from exactly those regulations. Here are just a few examples. [More]
Verizon Investors Worried Company’s Anti-Neutrality Stance Could Backfire
By 1.15.15
Since 2010, when the FCC introduced its first go at net neutrality rules, Verizon has led the charge to gut the regulations. And Big V ultimately succeeded in early 2014, when a federal appeals court ruled that the FCC didn’t have the statutory authority to enact such strict guidelines. And now that the FCC is taking another stab at neutrality, Verizon is once again dangling the threat of legal action, even though it claims the proposed new rules won’t hurt its business. But what may hurt Verizon’s bottom line, say the company’s investors, is its reputation as a neutrality foe. [More]
Verizon CEO: Reports Of Any “Significant” Acquisition Chats “Not Accurate”
By 1.6.15
Amid reports yesterday indicating that Verizon Communications was toying with the idea of acquiring AOL or entering into some kind of joint venture, the company’s CEO is going on record as saying there’s nothing serious going on. [More]
Verizon Customer Gets Police Involved After Phone Disappears Into FedEx Vortex
By 12.22.14
So Verizon sends you a new phone worth hundreds of dollars. FedEx claims it was delivered and that you signed for it, though that’s impossible because you were miles away from home when the delivery allegedly occurred. Neither company will do anything about the issue and both blame you. What’s a decent human being to do? [More]
Verizon: We Can Basically Charge Netflix For Peering Forever And There’s Nothing The FCC Can Do To Stop It
By 12.18.14
The FCC is facing a lot of opposition this year, but Verizon in particular just really seems to thrive on challenging the agency. The latest move from the telco giant is a message to the FCC that even if they use Title II to regulate net neutrality, there is nothing the commission can do to prevent interconnection fee spats like the one Verizon and Netflix had this year. [More]
Verizon: New Net Neutrality Rules Won’t Actually Hurt Our Network Investment At All (But We’ll Still Sue)
By 12.11.14
All of the big ISPs have been full of bluster about the FCC’s pending new net neutrality rules, but none more so than Verizon. Verizon is the company that sued in the first place to get the 2010 rule overturned, and they are the company that has been most aggressive with promises to sue again when the FCC actually comes up with a rule. Their main argument has been that strong regulation will damage their ability to invest in their networks — but it seems even Verizon’s own top executives don’t fall for that nonsense. [More]
Sprint Exec Admits That “Half-Off” Offer Will Likely Only Result In Savings Of Around 20%
By 12.5.14
Earlier this week, Sprint introduced a new offer for current Verizon and AT&T customers looking to switch service — same amount of data at half the price. We noted at the time that the major catch to this deal is that you have to pay full price for your new phone when you switch (or pay $200), but how much would that cut into your savings? According to one top Sprint exec, quite a lot. [More]
FCC Releases Massive Study On Mobile Phone Theft, Asks Wireless Companies To Start Making Changes
By 12.5.14
Smartphones are amazingly convenient: tiny little hand-sized computers that make it easy to organize our lives on the go. They’re also amazingly good targets for theft: tiny, portable, expensive, and full of personal information. Mobile device theft is on the rise, just as mobile devices are, and the FCC has been trying to find ways to protect consumers when their devices get yanked from their hands. [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 Offers To Cut Verizon, AT&T Customers’ Bills In Half If They Switch
By 12.2.14
Sprint really wants your business. First it tried throwing free data (that you’ll never use and which can be painfully slow) at new customers, but now it’s targeting your wallet, offering to slash the monthly rates of AT&T and Verizon Wireless customers willing to jump ship. [More]
Mobile Companies Leaping To Sell You A New Phone — With A New Contract — On Black Friday
By 11.26.14
Is your phone getting old? Has it met with the unfortunate confluence of liquids, young children, and boisterous pets lately? If you’re in the market for a replacement or upgrade, it looks like Black Friday might be your day… as long as you’re willing to sign a contract. [More]
Verizon Pinky-Swears It Won’t Sue FCC Over Net Neutrality (If It Doesn’t Reclassify Broadband)
By 11.25.14
A few weeks after Verizon made it clear that it would sue to block the FCC’s attempt to enact strong net neutrality rules, and only days after FCC Chair Tom Wheeler shrugged that a lawsuit seems inevitable no matter what he does, the telecom titan is now saying it may not go the legal route if the Commission decides against reclassification. [More]
FCC Expects To Be Sued Over Net Neutrality No Matter What It Does
By 11.24.14
In 2010, the FCC enacted net neutrality rules aimed to prevent Internet service providers from blocking, slowing down, or speeding up access to websites based on how much they pay — and the agency was sued by Verizon for overstepping its authority. Now that the FCC is reconsidering those rules to either make them weaker or possibly reclassify ISPs so that the agency can enforce neutrality. But no matter how it moves forward, the agency expects to be sued. [More]
Verizon Has Made It More Expensive To Get Out Of Your Wireless Plan Early
By 11.14.14
Verizon Wireless has updated its Customer Agreement to change how it handles early termination fees for people who cancel their service while still under contract. But rather than simply jacking up the total amount you would have to pay, Verizon now has an 8-month delay before the total begins to decrease. [More]
