Yesterday, President Obama came out in favor of reclassifying broadband as a telecommunications infrastructure, meaning that the FCC could regulate it in the same ways it regulates landline telephone service. Immediately, cable companies began shouting that such regulation would cripple investment in broadband. Alas, this is just pure nonsense intended to instill fear and raise the hackles of those who bristle at any form of government regulation. [More]
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ISPs to FCC: No, Seriously, We Will Sue If You Use Title II Like The White House Just Asked
By 11.10.14
Earlier today, the battle over new net neutrality regulations took a surprising shift as the White House very publicly recommended the FCC take the Title II reclassification approach. And while consumer advocates are thrilled, the businesses that make their money charging you for internet access are about as pleased as you’d expect. Which is to say: even if the FCC somehow jumped on Title II tomorrow, there’s a long, ugly legal fight brewing. [More]
Verizon: Rally All You Want, We’re Not Bringing FiOS To Your Town
By 11.6.14
Don’t be fooled by Verizon’s commercials for FiOS (and not just because they’re full of misleading charts). If they haven’t already started building out the network in your immediate area, the odds of you ever getting service are slim to none. Just ask the residents of one Long Island town who hoped that a public rally could convince Big V to bring even a hint of broadband competition to their burg. [More]
Verizon: We Will Sue FCC Again If “Hybrid” Net Neutrality Happens
By 11.5.14
Verizon really does not care for net neutrality rules. They successfully sued to get net neutrality overturned, but it just won’t stay dead enough for them. They’ve tried firmly insisting that everything is fine as is, and yet the FCC keeps actually moving toward enacting some new regulation in the few remaining weeks of the year. So now Verizon is making it very clear: if the FCC tries to make any part of the internet a common carrier, Verizon will drag them through court. Again. [More]
Study Finds Internet Congestion Really Is About Business, Not Technology
By 10.30.14
Various enormous corporations have this year been at each other’s throats over how well or how poorly internet traffic travels through their systems. A new report indicates that some of the mud-slinging this year is true: interconnection, or peering, between ISPs is why end-users are getting terrible internet traffic. But, they say, it’s business, and not technology, that’s making your Netflix buffer. [More]
Why AT&T Is Being Sued Over Data Throttling But Verizon Isn’t (Yet)
By 10.29.14
The glory days of unlimited mobile data plans are long behind us. For years, even the owners of “unlimited” plans have been subject to mysterious and inconsistent limits from their mobile providers. Yesterday, the poorly communicated limits of unlimited data became the core issue of a large lawsuit the FTC filed against AT&T. It’s the first time the agency has tackled data throttling at all, but if many companies are doing it, why target AT&T and not everyone else? [More]
Verizon To Pay $64M For Overcharging Family SharePlan Customers
By 10.29.14
Plaintiffs in a class-action suit against Verizon Wireless have long claimed that the company over-billed customers in its former Family SharePlan tier, and it looks like the telecom titan is ready to pay up, to the tune of around $64.2 million. [More]
Surprise: Verizon FiOS Now Offering Free Netflix Subscription To Some New Customers
By 10.28.14
Netflix and Verizon haven’t exactly been the best of friends this year. As the quality of the streaming video service got progressively worse for Verizon FiOS customers, the two companies spent months taking pot-shots at each other before finally resolving the problems in recent weeks. And so it comes as particularly surprising news that Verizon FiOS, of all the broadband and pay-TV companies out there, has become the first of the big players to offer Netflix subscriptions to new customers as part of their subscription bundles. [More]
T-Mobile CEO: Apple SIM That Should Let Users Switch Mobile Carriers Is Crippled By Mobile Carriers
By 10.27.14
Apple included a very consumer-friendly item in their new iPad Air 2: the Apple SIM. As designed, the Apple SIM lets iPad owners switch cellular carriers without going into phone stores or having to get any new parts. But in reality, mobile carriers are doing their best to prevent any actual real-world consumers from doing so. [More]
Netflix-Verizon Connection Agreement Finally Pays Off: FiOS Users Seeing Fastest Streaming Speeds
By 10.14.14
Netflix and Verizon have done a lot of very public verbal poo-flinging at each other this year over the abysmal connection speeds FiOS customers have had when trying to stream video from Netflix. Last mongh, FiOS customers finally started to see some relief (and some smoothly playing TV). It looks like the paid interconnection agreement between the two, though, has finally led to some cooperation and is bearing fruit, as Verizon FiOS customers are now seeing faster average Netflix streaming speeds than from any other large ISP in the country. [More]
Redbox Instant Streaming Service Is Dead
By 10.6.14
Redbox Instant seemed like a great idea when it launched at the beginning of 2013. A partnership between Redbox and Verizon, the service planned to compete with Netflix while offering one thing that Netflix couldn’t: bonus instant DVD rentals from Redbox’s in-person kiosks. It seemed like the two services could coexist happily. They couldn’t. Redbox Instant will shut down tomorrow night, at 11:59 PM Pacific time. [More]
Verizon Realizes Throttling LTE Users Is A Stupid, Stupid Idea; Decides Not To
By 10.1.14
Back in July, Verizon Wireless ticked off its few remaining unlimited data subscribers and caught the unwanted attention of the FCC Chairman, when it announced that it would begin throttling data speeds for its users with the highest level of wireless broadband consumption under the guise of “network optimization.” That plan was supposed to kick in this morning, but Verizon has decided that maybe it’s not such a good idea. [More]
Authorities Claim Alleged Thieves Used Drones To Case Victims Before Robbery
By 9.30.14
So far we know that drones can be used for any number of activities from delivering medicine in Germany to improving sight-seeing near the Space Needle. Now we’re learning they’ve been used for more sinister extra curricular activities, specifically by alleged criminals to case prospective targets. [More]
AT&T, Where “Congestion” & Data Caps Only Apply To Existing Users
By 9.30.14
Ever since AT&T and Verizon got rid of unlimited wireless plans, both companies have used the questionable excuse of “congestion,” claiming that throttling data after remaining unlimited users pass an arbitrary threshold was necessary to keep data flowing. But in plans announced over the weekend, AT&T is effectively once again offering unlimited data (for a limited time) to new customers, which makes one wonder — what happened to all that congestion? [More]
You Are Now Watching 93 Minutes Of Netflix A Day, You Lazy Bum
By 9.25.14
Cable companies hate Netflix. They pretend it’s because the streaming video service puts up a fuss about having to pay a toll just to be carried that last mile of the Internet to customers’ homes. But really, as new data shows, it’s because people are now spending an awful lot of time watching Netflix instead of watching TV. [More]
AT&T and Verizon: Data Caps On Home Internet Service Are Great For Everyone (Especially Us)
By 9.24.14
Verizon and AT&T are big players (and getting bigger) in broadband landline service, but they seem to take a mobile phone mindset with them everywhere they go. Not only do they think that home broadband doesn’t need to be faster than your phone, but also now they’re saying that data caps on your home internet use are perfectly reasonable, too. [More]
Verizon Allowing Some Early Upgrades During iPhone 6 Frenzy
By 9.15.14
Verizon is trying to sweeten the pot in its bid to retain customers looking to upgrade to one of the new iPhones. The nation’s wireless company has confirmed that it will allow customers who are on the precipice of upgrade eligibility to take advantage a couple months earlier than their contracts allow. [More]
The Only Way To Avoid Paying A Fee For iPhone Upgrade Is To Pay Full Price
By 9.12.14
Earlier this week, we looked at the various offers being thrown out by the four major wireless carriers in their attempts to attract people switching to the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus. What was left out of that discussion — and which seems to be catching a number of customers by surprise today — is that some of them must pay a fee to upgrade. [More]
