CPUC considers topping up broadband subsidy fund, but money will still fall short

22 September 2020 by Steve Blum
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Sick piggy bank

California’s primary broadband infrastructure subsidy fund will grow by about $70 million, if the California Public Utilities Commission approves a proposal to nearly double the tax that pays for it.

The California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) gets its money from a tax on phone calls made within California. That’s source of revenue is on the decline. The CPUC can collect up to $66 million a year for the fund (more, under certain circumstances), and sets the tax rate accordingly.… More

AT&T delivers low quality service to low income Californians, but lavishes fiber on the rich

21 September 2020 by Steve Blum
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Att outages by hh income

AT&T provides the highest quality service in the highest income neighborhoods of California, and the lowest quality in communities with the least income, according to a network quality study done by the California Public Utilities Commission.

The study’s initial findings were released last year. The top line conclusion was that AT&T and Frontier Communications are deliberately choking off investment in ageing copper phone systems, particularly in rural areas – now-bankrupt Frontier because it had no money for upgrades; AT&T because it could get away with it.… More

Tired of 5G hype? Refresh yourself with 6G speculation

18 September 2020 by Steve Blum
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Samsung 6g

While AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile squabble over each other’s claims of 5G dominance and their theories of 5G Evolution, it’s a good time to pause and reflect on how nothing changes in the mobile business. They had the same fights over 4G and they will do it all over again when 6G arrives.

Yes, 6G.

Expect to hear more about it in the not too distant future. 6G is undefined now, but there’s an assumption that it will be developed over the next 10 years, and that it will be something like total immersion in a sea of data.… More

Mobile carriers use arbitration board to debunk each other’s ads

17 September 2020 by Steve Blum
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The three major U.S. mobile carriers are fighting each other’s advertising claims via an arbitration process run by the Better Business Bureau. First, it was T-Mobile who successfully challenged AT&T’s 5GEvolution scam. The BBB’s National Advertising Division (NAD) said that putting a 5G label on 4G service was misleading, and the appeals board run by BBB agreed.

Verizon objected to T-Mobile’s wide-ranging claims of wide ranging 5G coverage and NAD agreed, albeit while blessing verbiage about the superior building penetration ability of the low band spectrum it’s using.… More

Phone service is phone service and emergency obligations apply regardless of technology, CPUC decides

16 September 2020 by Steve Blum
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Telephone companies have to follow disaster readiness and response rules laid down by the California Public Utilities Commission, regardless of the technology they use. That’s the CPUC’s opinion anyway. In a sharply written unanimous decision published yesterday, commissioners rejected challenges to telephone (but not broadband) emergency response obligations that they imposed on incumbent telcos, cable companies, mobile carriers and VoIP providers alike last year.

The regulatory logic that underpin those obligations also formed the basis for the CPUC’s initial response to the covid–19 emergency and the disaster resiliency standards for communications services that it recently adopted.… More

Meaningless fines lead to AT&T’s, Frontier’s deplorable quality in California

15 September 2020 by Steve Blum
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Verizon taft 2dec2014

A study of AT&T’s, Verizon’s and Frontier Communications’ telephone network quality conducted by the California Public Utilities Commission shows that overall performance is poor across California. Low income communities have worse service and more outages than high income ones, but it’s not particularly good anywhere…

Maximum Customer Trouble Report Rates of 6%, 8% or 10% of switched access lines per month (based on wire center size) are unduely generous because failure rates as high as these can hardly constitute acceptable service quality.

… More

CPUC confronts California’s “monopolised” broadband market, despite “imaginary” and “perverse” federal policy

14 September 2020 by Steve Blum
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Cpuc 10sep2020

With the intent to “effectively deploy quality, affordable, and reliable broadband to all Californians”, the California Public Utilities Commission voted on Thursday to break the grip of telecommunications monopolies and change the way the industry is structured, incentivised and regulated.

It’s the CPUC’s response to governor Gavin Newsom’s executive order directing state agencies to fix California’s broadband deficit.

Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves, who is leading the effort, explained the reasoning behind it in stark terms…

It’s not really focused on how we are improving our current failed system, but it’s really asking what the different ways and approaches we can take to systemically change our current system around providing the critical service of Internet.

… More

The best way for cities to prepare for 5G is to get 4G right

11 September 2020 by Steve Blum
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Burlingame poles

There are differences between 4G and 5G facilities, but not necessarily meaningful ones from a policy perspective. For most people, the two will look the same, except the 5G facility might be smaller and is likelier to look more integrated, without so many obvious components and visible wires, although there will be no shortage of exceptions. Mostly it’s because 5G technology is newer and they’ve had more time to work on it. In theory (there aren’t a lot of actual small 5G installations to go by yet) 5G facilities should be smaller than 4G, and easier to integrate into a street light or utility pole.… More

Broadband and other hot, unfinished business might send the California legislature into overtime. But don’t bet on it

10 September 2020 by Steve Blum
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Chp horses capitol 3feb2016

The California legislature might not be done with broadband for the year. Or with other major issues it failed to address as the regular session collapsed into inter-house and partisan acrimony last week. Governor Gavin Newson is being asked to call the legislature back into topic-focused special sessions and broadband is on the list, along with housing, policing and other disputes. It’s also possible that the legislature will come back on its own. They can do that for particular kinds of bills, mostly ones that need a two-thirds majority such as “urgency” legislature or tax measures.… More

Low income home broadband subsidies proposed by CPUC, but cable and telco cooperation needed

9 September 2020 by Steve Blum
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Tanimura and antle housing 13jul2016

Wireline broadband service for low income Californians will be subsidised by the state’s telephone “lifeline” program, if a draft decision released last week is approved by the California Public Utilities Commission. The plan depends on California’s ability to “exercise its bulk purchasing power to secure volume discounts for participants”, rather than on pure regulatory muscle.

Qualifying households would pay a discounted rate for broadband and phone service. Current voice-only wireline lifeline service typically runs between $7 and $11 per month.… More