Apple announced a couple of new phones yesterday, triggering a Pavlovian response in some consumers that can only be eased by the acquisition of one of these new phones. It also pits the four national wireless carriers against each other in a battle for Apple-hungry customers. [More]
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AT&T and Verizon: Your Home Network Doesn’t Actually Need To Be As Fast As Your Phone
By 9.9.14
The FCC has been all about broadband this year. In the mix with net neutrality and the Comcast/TWC merger, they’re also taking on the dearth of broadband competition consumers face and even thinking about redefining the meaning of the term to a higher minimum network speed. But AT&T and Verizon aren’t having it: according to comments they’ve filed with the FCC, a wired network connection too slow for a solid Netflix connection, and slower than the 4G your phone uses, should be perfectly satisfactory for a bandwidth-hungry nation. [More]
FCC: Verizon To Pay $7.4M To Settle Consumer Privacy Investigation
By 9.3.14
Verizon is the now the owner of a title it probably would rather not have: the largest settlement related to the privacy of telephone customers’ personal information in Federal Communications Commission history. The not-so-great distinction comes as the company agreed to pay $7.4 million to settle allegations that it failed to notify millions of customers of their privacy rights before marketing services to them. [More]
Netflix Is Also Paying A Toll To Time Warner Cable To Improve Speeds To Users
By 8.19.14
Months after Comcast and Verizon allowed Netflix data to bottleneck so badly that the streaming video company had no other option but to pay for a more direct connection to end-users, Time Warner Cable has confirmed that it too is now collecting a toll from Netflix. [More]
Comcast Says that Mobile Data is Competitive, but it Costs $2k to Stream ‘Breaking Bad’ Over LTE
By 8.18.14
Comcast keeps on claiming that mobile broadband is real competition for wired home broadband. But for most users, it’s just plain not. Not only is the speed and reliability of mobile broadband still hugely variable depending on location and time of day, but also mobile data is still clearly not competitive on price. [More]
Sprint Is Prepping To Start A Price War, But Will Competitors Take The Bet?
By 8.8.14
Earlier this week, Sprint abandoned months of planning for a takeover of T-Mobile and fired CEO Dan Hesse after seven years of failing to make the company competitive with Verizon or AT&T. Now Sprint’s Chairman says the new CEO is prepping to start a price war to win over customers, but is Sprint really in a position to pick that fight? [More]
Verizon’s “All Kids Do It” Excuse For Throttling Isn’t Good Enough For FCC Chair
By 8.8.14
First, Verizon announced it would start throttling LTE users who devour the most data, but only those with grandfathered-in unlimited plans. Then FCC Chair Tom Wheeler said he was “deeply troubled” that Verizon may be trying to force users into more expensive plans under the guise of “network optimization.” Verizon tried to get Wheeler to back off with its “everyone’s doing it” defense, but that didn’t seem to work. [More]
T-Mobile, Where Second Place = “Undisputed” Champ
By 8.7.14
Yesterday, T-Mobile sent out a press release claiming that it is now the industry leader in prepaid wireless (we’ll get to that later). The statement from the magenta mobile provider also included the boast that T-Mobile “has maintained the undisputed title of America’s fastest nationwide 4G LTE network” and links to a recent test as evidence. Problem is, the results of that test don’t seem to back up T-Mobile’s horn-tooting. [More]
All Four National Wireless Companies Accused Of Breaking FCC Rules By Hiding Information About Data Throttling
By 8.7.14
Just over two weeks ago, the FCC not-so-gently reminded all four big wireless carriers that although true “net neutrality” might not apply to them, there are still rules about transparency and disclosures that they have to follow. At the time, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said that companies had no excuse to think the FCC wasn’t watching them — and the FCC isn’t the only group putting wireless companies on notice over their lack of transparency. [More]
Verizon’s Defense For LTE Throttling: We’re Not Going After Unlimited Users; They’re Just Data Hogs
By 8.5.14
Verizon Wireless recently announced that it will soon expand its data-throttling “Network Optimization” program to include users of its high-speed LTE network. FCC Chair Tom Wheeler then wrote the company, saying he was “deeply troubled” that Verizon might be trying to pass off a cash-grab as legitimate network management. Verizon has responded to Wheeler, defending the program and asking why the FCC is picking on them. [More]
Why Is Verizon Misleading Consumers With The Charts In These FiOS Ads?
By 8.1.14
If you live near one of the few areas in the country in which Verizon actually operates its FiOS network, you might have seen one of the ads where a Verizon FiOS shill asks “America” to look at a charts claiming to show customer satisfaction results for the nation’s largest Internet and pay-TV providers. Looking at those chart, it appears that Verizon is blowing the competition smithereens. The reality is not as dramatic, graphically speaking. [More]
Wireless Carriers Are Victims Of Phone Cramming Too, They Just Make Billions Of Dollars Instead Of Losing It
By 7.31.14
Opening your monthly mobile phone bill to find it significantly more expensive than it’s supposed to be can be infuriating. Finding out that it’s more expensive because you were charged for products you never requested is even worse. But wireless cramming is a practice that more and more consumers – and wireless providers (huh?) – are finding themselves victims of. [More]
Verizon’s Plan To Throttle Heavy LTE Users Is “Deeply Troubling” To FCC’s Wheeler
By 7.30.14
Last week, Verizon announced that it was extending its “Network Optimization” policy, which throttles speeds for the top 5% of data users, to include LTE data for the first time. This move didn’t sit well with the few remaining Verizon customers with “unlimited” data plans, nor did it thrill FCC Chair Tom Wheeler (who is apparently in a letter-writing mood this week). [More]
T-Mobile Unveils $100, 10GB Family Plan. Is It Any Good?
By 7.28.14
Family plans are all the rage with wireless companies. Get groups of customers to buy a bucket of data together for a discounted price. This morning, T-Mobile announced a new plan that it hopes will lure customers in from AT&T, but the company isn’t making a big deal out a major restriction that could make the offer unattractive to some families. [More]
Verizon To Start Throttling Speeds For LTE Data Hogs
By 7.25.14
Back in 2011, Verizon started throttling 3G data speeds for the 5% of its smartphone customers who used the most data every month, even if those customers had so-called “unlimited” data plans. The company then killed off unlimited data in 2012, but existing plans were conditionally grandfathered in. In what appears to be an attempt to weed out the few remaining unlimited plans, Big V will soon start throttling 4G LTE data speeds for that top 5% of users. [More]
Verizon Sends $3,020 Phone Bill To Website That Doesn’t Use Verizon
By 7.23.14
It’s always frustrating when you receive a bill that, without even having to break down the numbers, you know right away is too high. It’s even more frustrating when you know the bill is too high because you are not a customer of the company that sent you the bill. [More]
FiOS Goes Symmetrical: Verizon To Offer Same Upload, Download Speeds
By 7.21.14
FiOS users who get annoyed over how long it takes to upload your stuff to YouTube, rejoice! Verizon announced today that they’re upping their upload speeds to match their download speeds. It’ll take a few months, but eventually subscribers will be able to put stuff on the internet at the same speed they pull stuff down from the internet. [More]
From AT&T To Verizon: What The Web’s Biggest Players Told The FCC About Net Neutrality
By 7.18.14
The FCC originally planned to stop taking comments about their net neutrality proposal on Tuesday. But after demand overwhelmed and crashed their antique IT system, they extended the deadline to 11:59 p.m. (EDT) tonight. As of yesterday, well over one million comments had been entered, and that number’s still going up. Clearly, the public cares — but what is the public saying? [More]
