It’s no secret that consumers’ online habits influence the advertisements they’re shown while surfing the internet. But Verizon Wireless just upped the ante when it comes to sharing your online activities with marketers. [More]
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T-Mobile Added More New Customers Than AT&T, Verizon Combined
By 5.1.14
Here’s some further evidence that breaking up AT&T’s plan to buy T-Mobile was the right decision: In the last quarter, the little magenta wireless provider added 1.3 million new subscribers, nearly 200,000 more than AT&T and Verizon combined during the same time period. [More]
FCC Chairman: I’d Rather Give In To Verizon’s Definition Of Net Neutrality Than Fight
By 4.30.14
With every word he writes, recently installed FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler shows he has little interest or belief in net neutrality as most consumers understand it. In another flimsy attempt at defending his position on “fast lanes” — i.e., allowing Internet service providers to charge more to content companies seeking priority access to end-users — Wheeler contends that consumers should do what Verizon and other telecoms want because well, it could take a while to do it correctly. [More]
Netflix Will Also Pay Verizon To End Streaming Bottleneck
By 4.29.14
The months-long game of chicken between Netflix and Verizon has come to an end, with the streaming video company agreeing to pay off the ISP for a more direct connection to its network. For Netflix users with FiOS accounts, it means you will finally be able to watch streamed reruns of Mad Men without having to guess which character you’re looking at, but it continues to demonstrate that ISPs can passive-aggressively compel data-heavy content companies to ante up in order to reach their users. [More]
Don’t Believe Comcast… Mobile Broadband Is Not Competition For Cable Internet
By 4.24.14
Merger-mad Comcast and Time Warner Cable would have you believe that they are in direct competition with mobile broadband. And Verizon has successfully misled the state of New Jersey into thinking that accessing the web on your phone is the same as having a high-speed data connection to your home. Both of these conceits may someday be accurate, but the reality of the here-and-now is quite different. [More]
New Jersey Thinks 4G And Wired Broadband Are The Same, Lets Verizon Off The Hook
By 4.24.14
Someone at Verizon is wearing a party hat and celebrating this week, as the telecom titan convinced the state of New Jersey to let it wriggle out of a decades-old obligation to provide broadband throughout the entire Garden State, because apparently 4G wireless broadband is the same as a to-the-home wired connection, and broadband competition is completely unnecessary. [More]
Stories You Might Have Missed Because You Were Too Busy Being Awesome
April 19, 2014
We post a lot of stories during the week, and we know that most of you have jobs, families, lives, hobbies, nagging itches and other more important things to do than read every single thing we write. So for those who might be playing catch-up on the weekend, here are some of the things you might have missed… [More]
Verizon Brings Fake Grassroots Campaign To New Jersey To Claim Support For Not Bringing Real Broadband
By 4.17.14
New Jersey might not be that large a state, but its geography and its dense population make it easy to understand how running a broadband connection to 100% of residents could be a cumbersome and expensive project. So what’s a corporation stuck with a twenty-year-old public interest obligation to provide those broadband connections to do? Create a fake tidal wave of public support for their attempt to weasel out of it, of course! [More]
Anti-Theft Tools Coming To A Smartphone Near You In 2015
By 4.16.14
Last month we told you that a proposed anti-theft kill switch feature for smartphones could save the 1.6 million consumers who are victims of phone theft billions of dollars each year. Well, it looks like that technology is closer than we could have anticipated now that major U.S. wireless carriers and smartphone manufacturers have agreed to introduce similar tools to their products. [More]
Now That Netflix Is Paying Comcast, Users Finally Get Decent Speeds… But At What Cost?
By 4.14.14
The good news: Netflix’s deal to pay Comcast for better access to its network is working. The bad news: This will now set a precedent that Internet service providers can hold content companies hostage with complete disregard to net neutrality. [More]
AT&T, Verizon, Sprint Disabling Samsung Galaxy S5’s “Download Booster” Feature
By 4.11.14
Isn’t it awesome when a smartphone manufacturer comes up with a really interesting feature, only to have it crippled by your wireless provider? That’s what has happened to the Samsung Galaxy S5’s “download booster” functionality that simultaneously pairs available WiFi and LTE service for more rapid downloads. It’s an interesting feature, but one to which AT&T, Verizon and Sprint customers won’t have access, at least at launch. [More]
Comcast Officially Files for TWC Merger, Claims Broadband Competition Is Fine Because You Have A Smartphone
By 4.8.14
It’s a big day for Comcast: not only did they win a big old golden poo this morning, but also they formally took the first step in the regulatory dance that stands between them and their purchase of Time Warner Cable by filing a mountain of paperwork with the FCC. The massive document contains all of Comcast’s explanations for why the merger is the best idea ever… and it’s a doozy. Let’s take a closer look at their arguments, shall we? [More]
Comcast Cruises Past Verizon, Walmart Upsets Bank Of America In Worst Company Quarterfinal Action!
April 2, 2014
Worst Company In America Quarterfinal action kicked off this morning with a doozy of a double-header, one resulting in one of the tournament’s most decisive victories and the other going down to the wire in this year’s latest buzzer-beater bout. [More]
Comcast, Verizon March On To Worst Company Quarterfinals
March 31, 2014
Today, four of the biggest names in Consumerist news, including one former champ, fought it out in the Worst Company Sandbox of… Sand. Each member of this cruddy quartet may be deserving of the Golden Poo, but only two could move on the next round. [More]
Will Netflix Speeds Improve For Verizon, AT&T Internet Customers Anytime Soon?
By 3.31.14
Starting in the second half of 2013, Netflix speeds on several major Internet service providers began to sink drastically as the ISPs allowed Netflix downstream traffic to bottleneck, resulting in slow, fitful delivery to consumers who had paid Netflix for the service and the ISPs for broadband access. Earlier this year, Comcast speeds turned up out of their nosedive when the company made a profitable deal with Netflix, but what about everyone else? [More]
Verizon: Everything Is Great, Let’s Not Mess It Up By Fixing Net Neutrality
By 3.27.14
Ah, Verizon, those well-known lovers of net neutrality. They love it so much that they sued the FCC to get net neutrality tossed out — a move that succeeded earlier this year. And now, Verizon’s showing their deep and abiding fondness for internet openness by telling the FCC just how much we don’t need to protect it at all. [More]
Facebook Gets The Thumbs-Up From Haters, Takes Final Spot In Worst Company Not-So-Sweet 16
March 26, 2014
After more than a week of bloodshed, half of the contenders that dared to dip their toes into the Worst Company wading pool (stocked with laser-equipped piranha and some ill-tempered guppies) have been carried out in Consumerist-branded body bags. The 16 fighters that remain are bruised, but not broken, and one of them will soon be crowned with the coveted Golden Poo. [More]
Verizon Accused Of Deliberately Neglecting Landline Service To Push Customers To FiOS
By 3.24.14
It’s no secret that companies like AT&T and Verizon look at their aging copper landline networks as expensive dinosaurs of a pre-Internet age. But one advocacy group alleges that Verizon has allowed its copper lines to fall into disrepair in the hopes of pushing landline customers to Internet-based phone service. [More]
