broadband

Goodbye network neutrality, hello Internet openness

21 December 2017 by Steve Blum
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A limited resurrection of network neutrality rules is under consideration in the U.S. house of representatives, with emphasis on limited. This effort has a realistic chance of success, unlike most of the political reaction to last week’s Federal Communications Commission decision to scrap network neutrality rules and end broadband’s status as a common carrier service.

Introduced by Marsha Blackburn (R – Tennessee) and co-signed by 15 of her fellow republicans, house resolution 4682 reads like it was written by a Comcast lobbyist.… More

Wet string delivers faster broadband than AT&T or Frontier for 1 million Californians

20 December 2017 by Steve Blum
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The best broadband that AT&T and Frontier Communications offers to more than one million Californians is advertised at a download speed of 3 Mbps or less, if it’s available at all. That’s slower than the 3.5 Mbps that a British techie achieved using a couple of pieces of wet string and some ADSL gear.

He was sitting around the office one day and decided to give it a go. That earned him serious geek cred with his boss, Adrian Kennard, who runs Andrews and Arnold, an ISP in the U.K.… More

Blame game won't stop California broadband subsidy giveaway

19 December 2017 by Steve Blum
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The California legislature intended to protect AT&T’s and Frontier Communications’ rural broadband monopolies and subsidise their low speed service, when it passed assembly bill 1665 earlier this year. In effect, that’s what the California Public Utilities Commission said last week as it approved a resolution that allows the two biggest incumbents to claim exclusive rights to broadband infrastructure subsidies in the rural communities they serve (or not).

Telephone and cable industry lobbyists re-rigged the California Advanced Services Fund program and found enough friends in the legislature – democrat and republican – to approve it by more than a two-thirds majority.… More

California's new broadband cop talks tough but takes cash from telecoms lobbyists

18 December 2017 by Steve Blum
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The end of network neutrality and other common carrier rules throws broadband companies back under general consumer protection laws. Those are enforced, as Federal Communications Commission chair Ajit Pai put it, by “our nation’s premier consumer protection cop”, the Federal Trade Commission, and by state attorneys general.

In California, that’s Xavier Becerra, appointed by governor Jerry Brown when Kamala Harris moved to the U.S. senate. He has sole responsibility for anti-trust law enforcement and shares consumer protection duties with county prosecutors.… More

Frontier's two buck suck tests FCC's consumer protection claims

16 December 2017 by Steve Blum
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Frontier Communication’s broadband customers might want to take up the offer of fierce consumer fraud protection that the Federal Communication Commission made as it issued its network belligerence decision this week. They thought they were getting broadband service at a stated price, but Frontier surprised them by adding a $2 “Internet infrastructure surcharge” to their bills. Because it could.

The charge is an attempt by Frontier to advertise a low price for broadband service, while charging a higher one.… More

The Internet goes from ping to Pong as big cable, telcos take control

15 December 2017 by Steve Blum
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Pay to play.

A brief pause for a bomb threat aside, yesterday’s Federal Communications Commission vote to end broadband’s common carrier status as a telecommunications service, and net neutrality rules with it, went as expected. The three republican commissioners voted in favor of the change, the two democrats voted against and all five made speeches explaining why they were voting the way they always said they would vote (links below). There was no indication that the final order approved yesterday differed significantly – or at all – from the draft published three weeks ago.… More

"The fix was already in": net neutrality ends on party line FCC vote

14 December 2017 by Steve Blum
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By a vote of three republicans to two democrats, the Federal Communications Commission declared that broadband is not a telecommunications service this morning. Broadband’s common carrier status is gone and network neutrality rules have been scrapped. If the FCC follows recent practice, the full text of the decision will be released in the next few days, but the draft was published three weeks ago and there’s no indication at this point that any significant changes were made.… More

No last minute reprieve, no surprises as FCC heads for net neutrality vote

13 December 2017 by Steve Blum
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There seems no stopping the Federal Communications Commission’s republican majority plan to end broadband’s status as a common carrier service and, as a result, kill network neutrality obligations for service providers. The decision is scheduled for tomorrow morning, and FCC chair Ajit Pai has either ignored or explicitly rejected the three main arguments for delaying a vote.

One of those arguments should be ignored. Much has been made about the spam submitted along with substantive comments on the issue.… More

PG&E must put all its fiber on the market, not just the bits it, or others, want sold

12 December 2017 by Steve Blum
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PG&E agrees with many of the restrictions that the California Public Utilities Commission’s office of ratepayer advocates (ORA) wants to put on its proposed telecommunications business plan. Without knowing the details of PG&E’s 2,600 mile fiber network in northern California, it’s impossible to know whether that climb down is a strategic retreat or a concession rendered meaningless by the simple facts of its infrastructure or business plan.

The CPUC is reviewing PG&E’s application for certification as a telephone company.… More

CPUC review of PG&E telecoms plan must focus on big picture, not narrow interests

11 December 2017 by Steve Blum
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Three groups filed testimony with the California Public Utilities Commission opposing PG&E’s plan to put its 2,600 miles of fiber on the market, as dark strands and for lit service (links are below). Caltel, a lobbying group for telecoms resellers – CLECs – offered quibbling and self-interested comments. The two others – the CPUC’s office of ratepayer advocates and TURN, an old school utility consumer advocacy organisation – urged the CPUC to either reject the plan or cripple it with nonsensical restrictions, on the basis of an outdated and narrow view of what utility regulation is all about.… More