Odds are that your wireless provider’s 4G LTE service is nearly as fast — and maybe faster — than the wired Internet service to your home (if only it weren’t so expensive on a per-gigabyte basis). But Verizon says it’s getting ready to test 5G service that could blow all current wireless — and most wireline — broadband out of the water. [More]
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North Carolina City Is First To Offer Internet Service That’s 10 Times Faster Than Google Fiber
By 9.3.15
While Google is in the process of deploying high-speed gigabit Internet service in North Carolina’s major metro areas of Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, the folks in the much smaller city of Salisbury, NC, are being offered access to broadband that’s several times faster. [More]
Verizon Stops Throttling Data For Unlimited Wireless Data Plans, Doesn’t Tell Anyone
By 8.14.15
For four years, Verizon has been throttling 3G data speeds for its few remaining “unlimited” data plan holders who dared try to take advantage of having access to supposedly unlimited data on their wireless devices. But earlier this summer, the nation’s largest wireless carrier quietly put an end to this supposed “network management,” but only because it has done such a good job of driving customers away from their unlimited plans. [More]
Experimental Verizon FiOS Service Would Be 10X Speed Of Google Fiber
By 8.13.15
With Google Fiber continuing to expand, offering gigabit broadband service for a reasonable price, some Internet service providers are feeling the heat and beginning to test networks that would blow the pants of Google. [More]
Judge Says Cablevision Must Stop Running Ads Calling Verizon A “Liar”
By 8.12.15
It’s not uncommon to see a cable provider commercial that pokes fun at or attempt to disprove a competitor for their claims of being the faster, less expensive, or just plain better option. But there’s one less lineup of such ads you’ll be seeing on your TV, as a judge ruled this week that Cablevision must stop running its ads that essentially call Verizon a “liar” regarding claims that it had the fastest wireless network. [More]
Verizon: “People Are Going To Look Back And Laugh” At NJ Customers Worried About Their Copper Landlines
By 8.11.15
Copper wire might seem old-fashioned now, but after a hundred-year run of it being the way to get telephone service, you can imagine why consumers are attached to it. But still, there are indeed many good reasons for upgrades to be taking place. There are good arguments to be made for explaining to anxious consumers how change can benefit them — but mocking them simply for wanting their needs met is not one of those. [More]
Verizon Gets Rid Of Contracts, Cheap Phones (For New Customers Only, Of Course)
By 8.7.15
T-Mobile may have a fraction of the customer base of industry-leader Verizon Wireless, but the little magenta company’s decision to do away with contracts continues to influence its bigger competition. Today, Verizon announced that new customers will no longer have to sign up for contracts, which also means they will have to start paying full price for their phones. [More]
What Can You Do If Your Mobile Carrier Sends You An Update That Breaks Your Phone?
By 8.5.15
When you buy a new phone or tablet, you’re not just buying it as-is in its current state. Software is dynamic, and constantly updated. In a sense, then, you’re also making a bet that your device will keep working into the future, after countless rounds of mandatory system updates. And usually, it does! But every once in a while, something goes wrong. And for that small handful of consumers, that’s where the real trouble begins. [More]
Cable Companies Refuse To Reveal How Much They Make Off Of Set-Top Boxes
By 7.31.15
Sen. Ed Markey of Massachussetts and Sen. Dick Blumenthal of Connecticut recently posed a handful of questions to the nation’s cable and satellite providers about their set-top boxes — Are they required? How many customers have them? Is there an option for customers to purchase their own? etc. While some providers were more transparent in their responses than others, there was one thing they all agreed on: We’re not telling you how much we make from leasing these devices. [More]
Verizon’s Refusal To Repair Landline Service Leaves Elderly Man Without Phone For Months
By 7.30.15
While plenty of Americans rush to acquire the latest and greatest in new telecom technology, there are some that only need the basic phone service they’ve had for decades. But as we’ve seen on multiple occasions recently, a number of traditional landline users are being left out in the cold as Verizon tries to transition customers away from copper line service and to fiberoptic phone lines. And for one elderly New Yorker, Verizon’s apparent inflexibility resulted in months of having absolutely no service at all. [More]
Verizon Makes HBO Now Available To FiOS Customers
By 7.29.15
Since the spring launch of HBO Now, the streaming service that allows you to get HBO content without having to pay for a cable TV package, New York-based Cablevision was the only pay-TV/broadband provider selling subscriptions directly to its customers. Now the folks at Verizon have seen that there’s money to be made from people who want TV but don’t want cable, and is making HBO Now available for its FiOS and other broadband customers. [More]
Verizon’s Go90 Mobile Streaming TV Service To Launch With Tiny Beta Test
By 7.28.15
It’s been almost a year since Verizon first announced it would launch a streaming TV service and the company is just now getting around to naming it — Go90 — and providing details on its eventual launch.
[More]
City Asks For Fiber Network Help, 5 Years After Being Left At Altar By Verizon FiOS
By 7.23.15
Back in 2009, it looked liked Alexandria, VA, residents would get a new high-speed Internet option in the form of Verizon FiOS. The city even went through the bureaucratic process of issuing Verizon a franchise. Then the D.C.-area community got dumped at the altar by Big V and has been looking for someone, anyone to step in ever since. [More]
45 Attorneys General Agree: Phone Companies Should Give Consumers Ability To Block Robocalls
By 7.22.15
While the FCC tries to allow consumers to take a more active role in which calls they do or don’t receive, a group of 45 state attorneys general (well, 44 states and the AG for the District of Columbia) are calling on the phone companies to just stop dilly dallying and start offering call-blocking services already. [More]
Verizon Tells Another Customer To Switch To Fiber Or Lose Landline Service
By 7.9.15
Even though his landline service was working fine, a man in Virginia was recently told by Verizon that he had two weeks to switch to the company’s fiberoptic service or lose his account altogether. [More]
Verizon Threatens To Disconnect NJ Landline Customer Unless They Switch To Fiber
By 7.1.15
Copper wire is expensive and old-fashioned. Phone companies don’t want to maintain or use it anymore. Still, some customers like their reliable old land-lines, and the law creates certain obligations for phone companies to provide and maintain them. But Verizon is apparently so sick and tired of providing plain old telephone service that they’re threatening to disconnect customers who don’t “voluntarily” upgrade to fiber A.S.A.P. [More]
Verizon Completes $4.4B Acquisition Of AOL
By 6.23.15
It’s not often you hear about a shotgun wedding between two tech companies, but that’s apparently what happened for Verizon and AOL, as the recently betrothed said today that they had officially completed a $4.4 billion acquisition proposed just a month ago. [More]
New York City Audit Calls Out Verizon For Failure To Build Out FiOS Network As Promised
By 6.19.15
Verizon is pretty much over this whole “FiOS” thing. They still support their existing networks, of course, but they’re pretty much done building out new ones. That, however, does not sit well with the city of New York, which is still waiting for Verizon to finish the city-wide build they promised to have done by last year. [More]
