Best Broadband

Time Warner open to idea of WiMAX voice service fiercewireless.com
Duke Law professor: FCC Isn’t Forcing Broadcasters Off Spectrum multichannel.com
Roaming Agreements Could Expand the Wi-Fi Renaissance gigaom.com
DirecTV explores Wi-Fi, G.hn networks eetimes.com
Google Says Nexus One Service Outage Fixed internetnews.com
Southwest to install Wi-Fi on planes chicagotribune.com
Nexus One for AT&T’s 3G bands likely in the works engadget.com
BitTorrent census: about 99% of files copyright infringing arstechnica.com
Google mystery server runs 13% of active websites theregister.co.uk
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The weekend has arrived. Enjoy yourselves in the comment section below.
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Law enforcement has ramped up their assault on the cable modem and hacking community, taking aim specifically at those who operate websites that sell modified cable modems designed to help users steal service. Last January the FBI arrested Pennsylvania resident Thomas Swingler, operator of CableHack.net. Last October the FBI arrested Ryan Harris, head of the TCNiSO modding community. This week saw the FBI set their sights on Matthew Delorey, who operated a now-defunct website called Massmodz. Says The FBI:

Whoops. Cable modem uncapping and hacking has gotten more difficult over the years as cable network security has gotten more sophisticated. While cable hackers and modders have existed for a very long time, they’re usually allowed to fly under the radar and play provided they don’t explicitly advocate and/or offer aid in service theft, something all three of the above individuals allegedly did. Delorey’s decision to post videos to YouTube titled “How to Get Free Internet” didn’t help.
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Incumbent phone and cable companies have spent years successfully lobbying state lawmakers to pass laws banning towns and cities from wiring themselves — even in cases where incumbents wouldn’t. The laws, usually written by incumbent lawyers, were passed in more than a dozen states without much public debate — though momentum slowed in recent years due to media attention and consumer advocacy opposition.

But last year they started popping up again in North Carolina, due to a number of fiber to the home municipal developments that have been taking off in the state. Wilson, North Carolina launched a $28 million municipal broadband operation named Greenlight last year, offering symmetrical speeds up to 100Mbps. Other cities like Salisbury began exploring the option too.

That of course riled up local incumbents Time Warner Cable and AT&T, given fiber to the home would provide faster service than either carrier is willing to provide in the region. Fortunately for locals, Time Warner Cable’s bungled attempt to force high broadband overages on customers last year directed extra attention Time Warner Cable’s way — and several efforts to derail fiber projects in Salisbury and Wilson were met by some angry and informed grass roots consumer opposition.

While details remain murky, Salisbury today announced they’re moving forward with their fiber to the home build, and have selected Ericsson hardware for their IPTV offerings, and Zhone for next-gen PON hardware. “Salisbury officials conducted an exhaustive feasibility study, including case studies, user satisfaction surveys and a thorough business case analysis before commencement of the project,” insists Ericsson’s press release.

For locals, hopefully that “exhaustive feasibility study” involved a decent business plan. It’s usually very difficult to set up and operate a financially successful smaller town fiber network, but it’s made infinitely more difficult by the legislative and legal assaults such projects face from regional incumbent operators. Wilson, North Carolina runs an interesting blog that highlights how Wilson is engaged in constant battle with incumbents like Time Warner Cable. They also frequently highlight how Wilson amazingly doesn’t see the same cable rate hikes (pdf) seen elsewhere in North Carolina.

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Earlier this week we discussed how Verizon executives are completely reshaping their company, shifting the focus from DSL and copper phone service, to more profitable wireless and selective fiber deployments. While the plan is obvious from a business perspective, the shift has some serious downsides, including hanging up on huge numbers of rural Americans, who are still on taxpayer-subsidized copper networks. It also involves laying off a significant number of workers — which conveniently for Verizon can be blamed on a sour economy.

In addition, Verizon’s use of Reverse Morris Trusts to offload these networks has resulted in buyers taking on too much debt, then falling into bankruptcy (see: Hawaii Telcom and Fairpoint Communications). The only real winner in these deals so far has been Verizon, who also gets huge tax breaks, big debt reductions, and eliminates networks (and the union workers) they want nothing to do with.

Unfortunately for consumers in these markets, they go from a company who didn’t want to upgrade or expand broadband, to carriers who can’t afford to upgrade or expand broadband.

But there’s a wild card in this equation that might turn out to be good news for both consumers in these markets and Verizon: LTE (Long Term Evolution). Verizon will launch LTE in twenty five to thirty markets this year, with plans to have their entire wireless network upgraded by the end of 2014. An individual involved in Verizon’s LTE deployment tells us that Verizon is eager to use LTE to not only take aim at slower DSL subscribers (hello, AT&T, Qwest) but also subscribers in the markets they just got done offloading.

“I am very much involved with Verizon s LTE deployment, and they plan to have ubiquitous service in 48 states – if they can get sufficient backhaul,” says the source. “Ethernet is required at every site, not too much of a problem in downtown Atlanta but a major nightmare in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania,” they say. “I think Verizon will be going after not only AT&T s customers but the customer s they are selling to Frontier and Fairpoint as well.”

Though it raises an ocean of ethical questions, it’s masterful from a business perspective. Verizon offloads old taxpayer-subsidized copper they didn’t want to support, to companies willing to soak up Verizon debt. Then Verizon uses LTE to return to those areas at a later date and pluck up customers looking for something more than aging DSL service. In the process they get rid of the union workers and regulators complaining the company isn’t spending enough on DSL and landline support. Verizon spent $9.36 billion on 700 MHz licenses for all 48 lower states, and they’re several years ahead of AT&T in the LTE deployment race.

“700 MHz works very well, penetrates walls without difficulty and is not affected by trees, the enemy of most all wireless transmissions,” says the source. “Verizon will compete with AT&T and the companies that bought their antiquated copper plant by offering a superior voice product (VOIP over LTE), excellent data speeds and they won t have to bear the incredible expense of maintaining a copper plant.”

Verizon has already stated that they’re going to launch LTE at somewhere between 5 and 12 Mbps downstream. There’s still no word on pricing and caps. Verizon keeps making hints that they’re interested in a metered model for LTE, but potential DSL converts won’t be lured by LTE if caps are too low, and monthly rate and overage pricing is too high. LTE theoretically is capable of speeds up to 80 Mbps. Assuming Verizon’s able to get backhaul to these fringe markets, LTE is going to be Verizon’s ace in the hole over the next ten years.
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Earlier this week we discussed how Verizon executives are completely reshaping their company, shifting the focus from DSL and copper phone service, to more profitable wireless and selective fiber deployments. While the plan is obvious from a business perspective, the shift has some serious downsides, including hanging up on huge numbers of rural Americans, who are still on taxpayer-subsidized copper networks. It also involves laying off a significant number of workers — which conveniently for Verizon can be blamed on a sour economy.

In addition, Verizon’s use of Reverse Morris Trusts to offload these networks has resulted in buyers taking on too much debt, then falling into bankruptcy (see: Hawaii Telcom and Fairpoint Communications). The only real winner in these deals so far has been Verizon, who also gets huge tax breaks, big debt reductions, and eliminates networks (and the union workers) they want nothing to do with.

Unfortunately for consumers in these markets, they go from a company who didn’t want to upgrade or expand broadband, to carriers who can’t afford to upgrade or expand broadband.

But there’s a wild card in this equation that might turn out to be good news for both consumers in these markets and Verizon: LTE (Long Term Evolution). Verizon will launch LTE in twenty five to thirty markets this year, with plans to have their entire wireless network upgraded by the end of 2014. An individual involved in Verizon’s LTE deployment tells us that Verizon is eager to use LTE to not only take aim at slower DSL subscribers (hello, AT&T, Qwest) but also subscribers in the markets they just got done offloading.

“I am very much involved with Verizon s LTE deployment, and they plan to have ubiquitous service in 48 states – if they can get sufficient backhaul,” says the source. “Ethernet is required at every site, not too much of a problem in downtown Atlanta but a major nightmare in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania,” they say. “I think Verizon will be going after not only AT&T s customers but the customer s they are selling to Frontier and Fairpoint as well.”

Though it raises an ocean of ethical questions, it’s masterful from a business perspective. Verizon offloads old taxpayer-subsidized copper they didn’t want to support, to companies willing to soak up Verizon debt. Then Verizon uses LTE to return to those areas at a later date and pluck up customers looking for something more than aging DSL service. In the process they get rid of the union workers and regulators complaining the company isn’t spending enough on DSL and landline support. Verizon spent $9.36 billion on 700 MHz licenses for all 48 lower states, and they’re several years ahead of AT&T in the LTE deployment race.

“700 MHz works very well, penetrates walls without difficulty and is not affected by trees, the enemy of most all wireless transmissions,” says the source. “Verizon will compete with AT&T and the companies that bought their antiquated copper plant by offering a superior voice product (VOIP over LTE), excellent data speeds and they won t have to bear the incredible expense of maintaining a copper plant.”

Verizon has already stated that they’re going to launch LTE at somewhere between 5 and 12 Mbps downstream. There’s still no word on pricing and caps. Verizon keeps making hints that they’re interested in a metered model for LTE, but potential DSL converts won’t be lured by LTE if caps are too low, and monthly rate and overage pricing is too high. LTE theoretically is capable of speeds up to 80 Mbps. Assuming Verizon’s able to get backhaul to these fringe markets, LTE is going to be Verizon’s ace in the hole over the next ten years.
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Last week Verizon informed customers that if they wanted to buy certain types of phones customers had to buy a data plan. Previously, both AT&T and Verizon had only made data mandatory for smartphones. Apparently, neither carrier wants you buying an Internet-enabled phone, then only using free Wi-Fi instead of their pricey 3G networks. From the sound of things, now carriers don’t want you using free IM services instead of SMS, either. The Boy Genius Report indicates that messaging plans are mandatory for feature phones:

To add insult to injury, the leaked AT&T leaflet assumes you’re an idiot, informing customers that the decision is being made to bring users the “best possible experience” with their phone. There appears to be two lessons to be learned here. One, don’t try to save money if you’re a Verizon or AT&T customer, because they’ll just outsmart you. Two, don’t try to save money if you’re a Verizon or AT&T customer, because they’ll just outsmart you. In the wireless industry, it sometimes feels like for every step forward toward openness, there’s a corresponding two steps back in terms of pricing.

Update: AT&T offered this comment to their plan changes:

We’ve asked AT&T for a definition of what exactly distinguishes a “quick messaging device” from a “feature phone.” We’re also inquiring (again) why it’s necessary to force any users into an SMS or 3G plan if they simply want to use Wi-Fi and free IM services. If it’s to simply make additional revenue, it shouldn’t be dressed up as an “experience enhancement.”
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Comcast started down the long and winding road of regulatory approval for their merger with NBC Universal this week, filing a public interest statement with the FCC. The statement, as you might expect, lays out Comcast’s argument for why the merger would be in the public interest. Among a litany of arguments, Comcast suggests that the merger would not pose a threat to Internet video — despite the fact that such a deal would give Comcast (who runs their own Internet video service dubbed “Xfinity“) some degree of control over industry-leading Internet video company Hulu. Says Comcast:

Much of the statement takes the position that the newly formed company won’t really be all that huge, if you stop for a moment and realize just how huge many other — some completely unrelated to telecom or broadcast — companies are.

The filing argues that those worried about the deal should see the transaction as “simply a transfer of ownership” and not the creation of a corporate juggernaut that will unfairly dominate both content and distribution. Comcast says they’ll create a “buffer” between distribution and content in the hopes of easing worried regulators.

As you might imagine, Comcast’s promise that the merger would be good for consumers didn’t go over well among consumer advocates. Advocacy group Free Press dubbed Comcast’s promises “positively Orwellian,” adding that Comcast “gives little evidence beyond assertions that this merger will produce anything other than job cuts, higher cable bills, fewer independent programmers, and a retreat from public service media.”

In a blog entry, Comcast welcomed discussion of the merger’s impact on the media landscape, but warned that discussion should be restricted to “legitimate merger-specific issues.” “A transaction review process is not the appropriate forum to air general industry issues or to ventilate imagined or contrived grievances,” says the company. The first Senate hearing to debate the merger has been scheduled for February 4.
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Comcast started down the long and winding road of regulatory approval for their merger with NBC Universal this week, filing a public interest statement with the FCC. The statement, as you might expect, lays out Comcast’s argument for why the merger would be in the public interest. Among a litany of arguments, Comcast suggests that the merger would not pose a threat to Internet video — despite the fact that such a deal would give Comcast (who runs their own Internet video service dubbed “Xfinity“) some degree of control over industry-leading Internet video company Hulu. Says Comcast:

Much of the statement takes the position that the newly formed company won’t really be all that huge, if you stop for a moment and realize just how huge many other — some completely unrelated to telecom or broadcast — companies are.

The filing argues that those worried about the deal should see the transaction as “simply a transfer of ownership” and not the creation of a corporate juggernaut that will unfairly dominate both content and distribution. Comcast says they’ll create a “buffer” between distribution and content in the hopes of easing worried regulators.

As you might imagine, Comcast’s promise that the merger would be good for consumers didn’t go over well among consumer advocates. Advocacy group Free Press dubbed Comcast’s promises “positively Orwellian,” adding that Comcast “gives little evidence beyond assertions that this merger will produce anything other than job cuts, higher cable bills, fewer independent programmers, and a retreat from public service media.”

In a blog entry, Comcast welcomed discussion of the merger’s impact on the media landscape, but warned that discussion should be restricted to “legitimate merger-specific issues.” “A transaction review process is not the appropriate forum to air general industry issues or to ventilate imagined or contrived grievances,” says the company. The first Senate hearing to debate the merger has been scheduled for February 4.
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After acquiring Verizon’s Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont DSL and landline networks for $2.3 billion, Fairpoint Communications subsequently imploded under the debt load, created a multi-state crisis by bungling 911 service for months, missed all agreed to broadband expansion promises, could barely provide dial tone or broadband service to thousands of customers, couldn’t answer the phone when they called, and then stumbled into bankruptcy. The company’s CEO then tried to pretend that the real problem was bloggers and perception. As a nice follow up, consumers and Fairpoint business customers saw neither refunds or money owed.

Despite bankruptcy and their own incompetence at providing service, Fairpoint still found the time and funds to lobby Maine lawmakers to try and derail a public-private partnership between the University of Maine and Biddleford Internet Corporation (also known as GWI) aimed at trying to shore up broadband coverage gaps across Maine. Despite Maine’s abysmal broadband penetration, Fairpoint continues to convince lawmakers they should pass bills that ban this partnership from expanding broadband across the State, according to Bangor Daily News:

Of course while busy riling up the locals about the evil dangers of a University expanding broadband into places Fairpoint won’t (which as we all know is just a hop and a skip from Communism and bread lines), Fairpoint lobbyists continue to forget to mention that the effort their fighting is a public-private partnership — the kind free marketeers and ISPs usually praise as a viable alternative to pure government involvement. Fairpoint also strangely forgets to mention they themselves have failed miserably at broadband expansion.

So again: why exactly does Fairpoint have any say in how Maine wires itself for broadband service?
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