Jon Brodkin

New York hasn’t followed through on order to kick Charter out of state

New York government officials still haven't followed through on a July 2018 decision to kick Charter Communications out of the state. Negotiations between Charter and the state have dragged on for months past the original deadline, and the sides say they're getting closer to an agreement that would allow Charter to remain in New York. The state Public Service Commission (PSC) voted on July 27, 2018 to revoke its approval of Charter's 2016 purchase of Time Warner Cable (TWC), after accusing Charter of failing to meet merger-related broadband expansion commitments.

Chairman Pai’s rosy broadband deployment claim may be based on gigantic error

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai's latest claim that his deregulatory policies have increased broadband deployment may be based in part on a gigantic error.

Pai FCC Loses in Court -- Judges Overturn Gutting of Tribal Lifeline Program

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit overturned the Federal Communications Commission's attempt to take broadband subsidies away from tribal residents. The Ajit Pai-led FCC voted 3-2 in Nov 2017 to make it much harder for tribal residents to obtain a $25-per-month Lifeline subsidy that reduces the cost of Internet or phone service. The change didn't take effect because in Aug 2018, the court stayed the FCC decision pending appeal.

Net neutrality court case preview: Did FCC mess up by redefining broadband?

Oral arguments in the case against Ajit Pai's net neutrality repeal are scheduled for Feb 1, and net neutrality advocates are confident that they will be victorious. Courts generally give deference to FCC classifications, so Pai's opponents will have the burden of proving that the FCC's reasoning wasn't legally sound. Net neutrality proponents spoke to reporters about the upcoming oral arguments in a press conference on Jan 30. 

Verizon blames school text provider in dispute over “spam” fee

After being criticized for charging a new fee that could kill a free texting service for teachers and students, Verizon is trying to deflect blame. Now Verizon is offering to reverse the fee for K-12 users of the free Remind service. "Verizon will not charge Remind fees as long as they don't begin charging K-12 schools, educators, parents, and students using its free text message service," Verizon said.

Verizon charges new “spam” fee for texts sent from teachers to students

A free texting service used by teachers, students, and parents may stop working on the Verizon Wireless network because of a dispute over texting fees that Verizon demanded from the company that operates the service. As a result, teachers that use the service have been expressing their displeasure with Verizon. Remind—the company that offers the classroom communication service—criticized Verizon for charging the new fee.

Minnesota AG seeks refunds from Comcast, alleging company lied to hide full cost of service

A new lawsuit filed against Comcast details an extensive list of lies the cable company allegedly told customers in order to hide the full cost of service. Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson sued Comcast in Hennepin County District Court on Dec 21, seeking refunds for all customers who were harmed by Comcast's alleged violations of the state's Prevention of Consumer Fraud Act and Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

CenturyLink blocked its customers’ Internet access in order to show an ad

CenturyLink briefly disabled the Internet connections of customers in UT recently and allowed them back online only after they acknowledged an offer to purchase filtering software.

Rural Wireless Association: T-Mobile lied to the FCC about its 4G coverage

The Rural Wireless Association (RWA) claims T-Mobile lied to the Federal Communications Commission about the extent of its 4G LTE coverage. T-Mobile claimed—under penalty of perjury—to have coverage in areas where it hadn't yet installed 4G equipment. As part of the FCC's Mobility Fund challenge process, RWA members have conducted millions of speed tests at their own expense to determine whether the major carriers' coverage claims are correct. Those speed tests previously found that Verizon didn't cover the entire Oklahoma Panhandle as the carrier claimed.

At AT&T’s urging, FCC panel proposes tax on businesses that use the Internet

The Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) has proposed a new tax on Netflix, Google, Facebook, and many other businesses that require Internet access to operate. If adopted by states, the recommended tax would apply to subscription-based retail services that require Internet access, such as Netflix, and to advertising-supported services that use the Internet, such as Google and Facebook. The tax would also apply to any small- or medium-sized business that charges subscription fees for online services or uses online advertising.

Comcast rejected by small town—residents vote for municipal fiber instead

Charlemont, a small MA town, has rejected an offer from Comcast and instead plans to build a municipal fiber broadband network. Comcast offered to bring cable Internet to up to 96 percent of households in Charlemont in exchange for the town paying $462,123 plus interest toward infrastructure costs over 15 years.

AT&T/Verizon lobby misunderstands arrow of time, makes impossible claim

USTelecom, the telecommunication industry lobby group that represents AT&T and Verizon, has consistently claimed that network neutrality rules hurt broadband investment. Yet the same lobby group has released data showing that fiber deployment grew significantly while net neutrality rules were in effect. Even more surprising is that USTelecom also recently claimed that an increase in broadband network investment that happened before the net neutrality repeal was somehow caused by the repeal that hadn't yet taken effect.

Chairman Pai buries 2-year-old speed test data in appendix of 762-page report

On Nov 4, the Federal Communications Commission released broadband speed test data for the first time in two years, after ignoring months of inquiries about why the annual speed test reports hadn't been released since Ajit Pai became chairman. The FCC's Measuring Broadband Program hadn't issued a new report since December 1, 2016. Now, the FCC has released a draft of two Measuring Broadband America reports, one for 2017 and one for 2018.

“What is the FCC hiding?” Chairman Pai still won’t release net neutrality server logs

The Federal Communications Commission has once again refused a New York Times request for records that the Times believes might shed light on Russian interference in the net neutrality repeal proceeding. The Times made a Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) request in June 2017 for FCC server logs and sued the FCC in September 2018 over the agency's ongoing refusal to release the records. The court case is still pending, but the Times had also appealed directly to the FCC to reverse its FoIA decision.

Chairman Pai wants to raise rural broadband speeds from 10Mbps to 25Mbps

The Federal Communications Commission is planning to raise the rural broadband standard from 10Mbps to 25Mbps in a move that would require faster Internet speeds in certain government-subsidized networks. The FCC's Connect America Fund (CAF) distributes more than $1.5 billion a year to AT&T, CenturyLink, and other carriers to bring broadband to sparsely populated areas. Carriers that use CAF money to build networks must provide speeds of at least 10Mbps for downloads and 1Mbps for uploads. The minimum speed requirement was last raised in Dec 2014.

Chairman Pai isn’t saying whether ISPs deliver the broadband speeds you pay for

Nearly two years have passed since the Federal Communications Commission reported on whether broadband customers are getting the Internet speeds they pay for. In 2011, the Obama-era FCC began measuring broadband speeds in nearly 7,000 consumer homes as part of the then-new Measuring Broadband America program. Each year from 2011 to 2016, the FCC released an annual report comparing the actual speeds customers received to the advertised speeds customers were promised by Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, AT&T, and other large Internet service providers (ISPs).

AT&T CEO: State net neutrality and privacy laws are a “total disaster”

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson urged Congress to pass network neutrality and consumer data privacy laws that would prevent states from issuing their own stricter laws. "There are a number of states that are now passing their own legislation around privacy and, by the way, net neutrality," Stephenson said.

Verizon won’t speed up 5G buildout despite FCC preempting local fees

Verizon Wireless says it will not move faster on building its 5G cellular network despite a Federal Communications Commission decision that erased $2 billion dollars' worth of fees for the purpose of spurring faster 5G deployment. The FCC's controversial decision in Sept angered both large and small municipalities because it limits the amount they can charge carriers for deployment of wireless equipment such as small cells on public rights-of-way.

Attorneys General of Texas, Arkansas, and Nebraska help FCC kill net neutrality and preempt state laws

The Federal Communications Commission's repeal of network neutrality rules has received support from the Republican attorneys general of TX, AR, and NE. The three states filed a brief Oct 19 in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, urging judges to reject a lawsuit filed against the FCC by 22 other states.

Verizon declares success, says Florida network is back up after hurricane

Verizon Wireless service is back up and running "essentially everywhere" throughout the area hit by Hurricane Michael, the company said. "Verizon engineers and fiber crews have been working around the clock after unprecedented damage to our fiber infrastructure caused by the most intense storm in history to make landfall in the Panhandle," Verizon's announcement said.

Comcast complains it will make less money under California net neutrality law

California's network neutrality law will cause "significant lost revenues" for Comcast, the nation's largest cable company said in a court filing. Comcast described the net neutrality law's potential impact on its ability to charge online service providers and network operators for network interconnection.

Robocallers “evolved” to sidestep new call blocking rules, AGs tell FCC

The Federal Communications Commission should let phone companies get more aggressive in blocking robocalls, 35 state attorneys general told the commission Oct 9. The FCC in 2017 authorized voice service providers to block more types of calls in which the Caller ID has been spoofed or in which the number on the Caller ID is invalid. But the FCC did not go far enough, and robocallers have "evolved" to evade the new rules, the 35 attorneys general wrote in an FCC filing.

Chairman Pai's 5G plans make it harder for small ISPs to deploy broadband

The Federal Communications Commission is changing the rules for an upcoming spectrum auction in a way that will make it harder for small carriers to buy spectrum for deploying rural broadband. The change—requested by T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon—will help the big carriers deploy nationwide 5G networks, according to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's proposal.

After throttling firefighters, Verizon praises itself for saving lives

Verizon is touting its commitment to firefighters and public safety in a new ad, released weeks after Verizon throttled the Santa Clara County fire department while it was fighting California's largest-ever wildfire. "From coast to coast and everywhere in between, people rely on us to ensure they can communicate when they need it most," Verizon said in an introduction to the new ad. "Our innovations and technology allow first responders to do their jobs.