After three days of Worst Company In America voting, nine big businesses lie battered and bloody on the sandpaper mat of the WCIA Dodecahedron of Doom. But we are not here to mourn the fallen, but to hurl rotting fruit at the victors who survive to fight another day. [More]
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Bank Of America, Monsanto, Verizon Move On To Next Round Of Worst Company Competition
March 21, 2014
Have Fun Breaking Down This Year’s Worst Company In America Bracket
March 18, 2014
The above bracket will be updated at the end of each day of WCIA competition to reflect that day’s results.
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After going through all of your nominations, then having y’all rank the contenders and eliminate the chaff from the wheat, we’re proud to present the first round match-ups for this year’s Worst Company in America tournament! [More]
Here Are Your Worst Company Contenders For 2014 — Help Us Seed The Brackets!
March 17, 2014
After sorting through a mountain of nomination e-mails, we’ve whittled down the field of competitors for this year’s Worst Company In America tournament to 40 bad businesses. Here’s your chance to have your say on how these players will square off in the bracket, and which bubble teams will get left out in the cold. [More]
Don’t Count On Verizon FiOS Coming To Your Town Anytime Soon
By 3.12.14
While supporters of the Comcast and Time Warner Cable merger have pointed to the existence of competing Verizon FiOS service in certain markets as proof that there is indeed competition for broadband service (which there isn’t), the fact is that this fiber service isn’t going to be popping up in new markets in the foreseeable future. [More]
Verizon CFO: Getting Rid Of Phone Subsidies Is A Mistake
By 3.10.14
While T-Mobile and AT&T have, to different degrees, begun to acknowledge that a growing number of consumers want pricing transparency and affordable ways to buy phones that could be taken from one carrier’s network to another, Verizon remains set in its old-school ways. [More]
Beware Of Fake Verizon “Tech Support” Scammers Calling From Actual Verizon Tech Support Number
By 2.26.14
There have been variations on the “tech support” cold-call scam for years, with the scammers attempting to take advantage of some consumers’ naivete about electronics. But a new version of the scam appears to go a step further, by making it appear like the person is actually calling from a legitimate tech support number. [More]
Netflix Also Talking Deals With AT&T, Verizon
By 2.25.14
Following Sunday’s announcement that Netflix had agreed to start paying Comcast for a better, more direct connection to the cable company’s broadband network, both AT&T and Verizon said they are working on a similar deal with the streaming video service. [More]
Netflix Agrees To Pay Comcast To End Slowdown
By 2.23.14
For the last several months, Comcast Internet customers have complained about a drop in quality of the Netflix streams being delivered to their homes, and Netflix’s own data showed a massive decline in connection speeds starting in October. But today, the two companies announced they have reached a “mutually beneficial” agreement that will hopefully turn that trend around. [More]
Why Even A Net Neutrality Rewrite Wouldn’t Alleviate Slow Netflix Service
By 2.19.14
While today’s announcement from FCC Chair Tom Wheeler that the commission would take another stab at writing net neutrality rules — thus preventing ISPs like Verizon, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable from blocking or throttling access to certain sites for its customers — the re-establishment of the Open Internet guidelines still wouldn’t do much to end some of the current Netflix-related hiccups customers are seeing. [More]
Verizon Raises Some Data Caps, Finally Gives $10/Month Discount For Early Upgrade Program
By 2.13.14
T-Mobile gave up on phone subsidies altogether last spring, and in December AT&T finally dipped its toe into those waters by offering discounts to people who own their phones or are part of its AT&T Next early upgrade program. Verizon, the wireless industry’s most expensive carrier, had refused to budge, but today showed the first signs that it might be open to change. [More]
Netflix Streaming Speeds Getting Worse For Comcast and Verizon FiOS Customers
By 2.11.14
Do you have broadband internet? Do you like to watch streaming movies and TV on Netflix? If so, great news: your connection to Netflix is getting faster! Unless, of course, you happen to be one of the tens of millions of Americans who use Comcast or Verizon FiOS for internet access at home, in which case it’s completely the opposite. [More]
FCC OKs Tests That Would Replace Copper Landlines
By 1.30.14
We told you earlier today that the FCC was scheduled to vote on whether or not to allow landline telephone service providers to initiate regional tests that would replace existing landline networks with Internet-based VoIP phone service. The Commission has met and agreed that it will permit regional tests to move forward. [More]
FCC To Consider Move Toward Ditching Existing Landline Networks
By 1.30.14
UPDATE: The FCC has met and voted unanimously to approve the tests. Telecoms now have until Feb. 20 to submit proposals and a final decision will be made in May. [More]
Feds To Allow Tech Companies To Provide More Transparent Info On Data Requests
By 1.27.14
While a number of the largest websites and telecom companies have recently published transparency data detailing the number of data requests made about consumers, these companies have been very limited with regard to what they could say about federal requests that fall under the header of national security. In response to a call for more transparency from several major Internet businesses, the government is changing its restrictions. [More]
Netflix Would Ask Consumers To Protest If ISPs Try Blocking Or Throttling Service
By 1.23.14
The upshot of last week’s federal appeals court ruling that tossed out the core of the FCC’s net neutrality rule is that Internet Service Providers can now impede access to competing or data-hogging websites by downgrading or blocking these content providers. Netflix, the country’s single largest devourer of bandwidth, had been relatively quiet on this ruling, until yesterday, when it shared its view of the future of net neutrality with investors. [More]
Verizon Received More Than 320,000 Law Enforcement Requests In 2013
By 1.22.14
Verizon has finally gotten around to publishing a transparency report detailing the various requests for customer information made by local, state, and federal authorities during the last year. Over the course of the year, the company says it received more then 320,000 such requests including more than 1,000 queries related to national security issues. [More]
Curious Which Mobile Phone Bills Are Highest? Survey Says: Verizon!
By 1.16.14
Ever wonder how your phone bill stacks up against the average? Sometimes it’s hard to know if you’re actually getting a decent deal, or if you’re being suckered into something ridiculous. Thanks to some newly published survey data, now you can see how your own bill compares to everyone else’s. [More]
New Nickelodeon Channel Will Let Parents Customize TV Programming
By 1.15.14
Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime owe a good deal of their success to parents of young children, who love that they can dial up one of their kids’ favorite shows or movies instantly and without commercials. The folks at Viacom and Verizon are hoping to replicate some of that experience with a new customizable cable TV channel aimed at youngsters. [More]
