Even though Netflix and Verizon supposedly made a deal — in April — that was supposed to result in improved streaming speeds for FiOS users, Verizon customers are still seeing sub-DSL speeds, which have only gotten worse in recent months. For one user, who pays extra to Verizon for faster service, it was actually faster to stream Netflix by connecting through a VPN. [More]
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Verizon Trying To Twitter-Snipe Mildly Annoyed Customers Of Other Carriers
By 7.14.14
Having written about every major wireless carrier over the last 4+ years, I’ve come to realize one thing: Just about everyone hates their current wireless provider and is constantly talking about switching. So it makes sense that these competitors would scour the competition’s social media feeds and try to lure away disgruntled customers. Yet only Verizon, by far the largest carrier in the U.S., seems to be making a go of it. [More]
Verizon, Netflix Stepping Up Battle To Blame Each Other For Poor Streaming Service
By 7.11.14
The heat of high summer is a great time to stay inside and marathon a million hours of TV. But for some Netflix customers who use Verizon as their ISP, the summer streaming season is a slow and choppy dud. Even though the two companies came to a paid peering arrangement earlier this year, service is still going from bad to worse. Netflix blames Verizon, Verizon blames Netflix, and while service is still cooling down, their very public fight is heating up. [More]
Verizon Realizes 2 Years And 12 Months Are Not The Same Thing
By 6.26.14
Months after Chromebook Pixel owners began complaining that they had been shortchanged on the free Verizon Wireless data that was supposed to be included in the purchase price of their laptops, and days after national news reports called out Big V for its failure to understand how calendars and contracts work, the company has finally admitted that it screwed up and will be doing something vaguely nice to make up for it. [More]
900 Stolen Cellphones = $270K Profit + 27 Months Behind Bars For Verizon Employee
By 6.26.14
I’ll admit that when I worked at Dairy Queen in high school, I might have helped myself to the occasional Blizzard or Hot Fudge Brownie Delight, but I wasn’t stockpiling these soft-serve desserts and selling them for a profit. Alas, I lacked the entrepreneurial spirit of the Verizon Wireless employee who saw the potential for big bucks in pilfered hardware. [More]
Google Makes Up For Verizon’s Bad Math, Offers $150 To Screwed-Over Chromebook Owners
By 6.25.14
Earlier this week, the mathletes at Verizon were caught once again making up their own rules about the meaning of the quantity “2 years.” People who had bought Chromebook Pixel laptops under the illusion that the promised two years of free 100MB/month of wireless data were suddenly finding out that Verizon was only giving them one year. So far, Verizon hasn’t explained its idiocy, leaving the Chromebook’s maker, Google, to do damage control. [More]
Verizon Decides “2 Years Of Free Data” Actually Means 1 Year
By 6.23.14
When Google released its LTE-enabled Chromebook Pixel in the spring of 2013, it was advertised as coming with two years of 100MB/month in data from Verizon. But as Pixel owners cross the one-year threshold, they are suddenly finding out that this relatively meager amount of gratis data is no longer free. [More]
ISPs Are Mostly Delivering The Speeds They Advertise, Just Not Consistently
By 6.18.14
What does it mean when a cable company advertises “blazing fast Internet” or download speeds “up to 15 Mbps”? Does that mean all the time for everyone, or just an average? And how far from those “up to” speeds can an Internet service provider be before they have some explaining to do? [More]
FCC To Look Into Data Bottlenecks And Pay-For-Access Deals With ISPs
By 6.13.14
The whole point of net neutrality is that Internet Service Providers like Comcast and Verizon shouldn’t be allowed to actively prioritize or degrade the data they help to deliver; it should all be treated equally. But as we’ve seen with Netflix speeds over the last year, ISPs can passively allow downstream data to bottleneck, effectively telling the largest content providers that they have to pay for more direct access. After omitting this latter issue in his controversial net neutrality proposal, FCC Chair Tom Wheeler announced today that it’s time for his commission to consider it. [More]
Netflix Speeds On Verizon Do Not Improve Even After Agreeing To Pay Up
By 6.9.14
When Netflix agreed to pay Comcast earlier this year for better access to the Comcast network, the streaming video service’s downstream speeds bounced back almost instantaneously and are now faster than they were a year ago. Netflix and Verizon announced a similar deal in late April, but the latest data shows no signs of improvement just yet. [More]
Verizon Sends Netflix Cease & Desist Notice About Buffering Message
By 6.5.14
Yesterday we told you about Netflix using on-screen messages to point the finger at ISPs like Verizon for problems with customers’ streaming video feeds. Looks like Big V didn’t take so well to being called out in front of the rest of the playground and has called in the lawyers to fight back. [More]
Netflix Tests Passive-Aggressive Buffering Messages To Call Out Slow ISPs
By 6.4.14
When your streaming video of Charles In Charge comes in pixelated and is regularly interrupted by pauses for buffering, is it the streaming service or your ISP? New messages being tested by Netflix attempt to point the finger straight at the other guy. [More]
Verizon FiOS Gets Benefits Of Being A Public Utility Without The Regulations
By 5.28.14
As you probably know, Verizon was the company behind the lawsuit that gutted the FCC’s net neutrality rules. The telecom titan successfully argued that the FCC lacked the authority to regulate broadband providers like Verizon FiOS. What was lost in this discussion is the fact that all the while Verizon was saying FiOS should not face the same level of regulation placed on landline phone service, it was enjoying all the perks of being associated with a public utility. [More]
Federal Appeals Court Tells Porn Copyright Trolls To Just Stop It Already
By 5.28.14
While you may — and probably do — hate your cable and Internet provider, a number of these companies have been doing one thing right over the last few years, by refusing to hand over user information to copyright troll lawyers looking to extort money out of people for allegedly sharing porn over the Internet. Yesterday, a federal appeals court handed down a ruling that could send a number of these trolls back under the bridges whence they came. [More]
No, You Won’t Get A $59 Credit On Your Verizon Bill For Responding To A Robocall
By 5.21.14
Except in very limited circumstances, such as an emergency or when you’re waiting for an appliance delivery, it’s generally not a good idea to follow the instructions of a robocall. Many Verizon customers have done just that, handing over their wireless account information to phishers. [More]
AT&T Can Walk Away From DirecTV Deal If NFL Sunday Ticket Not Renewed
By 5.20.14
Over the weekend, AT&T and DirecTV announced a huge $49 billion merger deal to make the nation’s largest satellite provider even larger and bolster the second-largest wireless provider’s efforts to compete with Verizon. But this merger could all fall to pieces if DirecTV doesn’t renew its exclusive deal with the NFL. [More]
What A Difference A Payoff Makes: Comcast Customers Now Seeing Decent Netflix Speeds
By 5.12.14
Nearly three months ago, Comcast and Netflix revealed that after months of rapidly degrading data speeds for Netflix subscribers on Comcast’s network, the streaming video company and the country’s largest ISP had reached a deal where Netflix would pay for more direct access to the Comcast network. In the short time since, Comcast has jumped from the rear of the pack to near the front. [More]
Why Starting A Competitor To Comcast Is Basically Impossible
By 5.10.14
The mega-rich can dabble in pretty much any business they want to. Warren Buffet owns everything from furniture stores to ice cream chains. Richard Branson started a commercial spaceflight company, for crying out loud. And yet with demand for high-speed, affordable internet access going only up, up, and up, no new business or venture capitalist seems to be stepping into the fray to provide it. People passionately hate their current cable companies — so what’s stopping an enterprising entrepreneur from making a giant wad of cash entering the telecom game? [More]
