fcc

FCC to test mobile broadband performance for consumers

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced a new measurement program focused on mobile broadband.

According to the government agency (PDF), its first step will be to hold an open meeting "with interested parties" on September 21 to discuss the ways in which it will measure mobile broadband performance and compare that to claims made by providers, such as Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and others.

"The statistically sound methodology of the program allows comparisons and analyses that are valuable to consumers and spur competition among service providers," the agency said yesterday in a statement.

The … Read more

Why Net neutrality is incompatible with 'Internet freedom'

commentary These two words -- "Internet freedom" -- are ricocheting around cyberspace almost as fast as neutrons and protons bouncing around inside an atom's nucleus. Well, almost as fast.

Both Republicans and Democrats -- and most everyone else -- proclaim to be in favor of Internet freedom. Here's a Fox News article, "The 2012 Political Tug of War for the Internet," that describes the political effort to capture the "Internet Freedom" flag. The article points out that the Republican Party platform has a plank expressly headed, "Protecting Internet Freedom," and … Read more

What $3.9 billion Verizon/cable spectrum deal means to you (FAQ)

The Federal Communications Commission just gave the final approval for Verizon Wireless to purchase the biggest hunk of spectrum outside of a full company merger in U.S. history. So what's it all mean?

In December, Verizon proposed buying 20 MHz of wireless spectrum from a consortium of cable operators known as SpectrumCo, which included Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Communications. It also struck a separate but similar deal to buy spectrum from cable operator Cox Communications.

The deal was controversial for two main reasons. First, it would have allowed Verizon to effectively double its spectrum holdings … Read more

The ugly truth behind the FCC's Verizon-spectrum approval

(Note: This is a guest column by Geoffrey Manne and Berin Szoka. See below for their bios.)

commentary Yesterday was seemingly a good day for users of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. The Federal Communications Commission approved, with conditions, Verizon's purchase of wireless spectrum from SpectrumCo, a consortium of cable companies. The more spectrum that's put to use, the more we'll ease the coming "spectrum crunch" as exploding data demands outstrip supply. This particular spectrum has sat unused for years, and the FCC's approval of the deal (following on the Department of Justice's approval … Read more

Verizon wins FCC approval for spectrum deals -- with caveats

The Federal Communications Commission has approved four separate deals that will transfer wireless spectrum to Verizon Wireless, including the $3.9 billion deal between Verizon and a group of cable operators.

The approved deals will allow Verizon to get nearly 20 megahertz of Advanced Wireless Service spectrum from SpectrumCo, a joint venture that includes cable operators Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and BrightHouse, as well as AWS spectrum from cable operator Cox Communications.

The agency also gave the green light to transfer spectrum licenses from prepaid provider Leap Wireless. In addition, it OK'd the transfer of wireless spectrum licenses between … Read more

Do AT&T's FaceTime limits break FCC rules?

Tuesday's tech news roundup honors our future robot overlords:

AT&T is being accused of data-plan discrimination and breaking FCC rules regarding new iPhone FaceTime options. AT&T recently announced that iPhone customers could use FaceTime video chat service over a cellular network if they have the new shared data plan. (Previously, FaceTime was limited to Wi-Fi.) But several groups have spoken out about the limit and questioned if it follows FCC guidelines. AT&T responded saying it does not believe this breaks any FCC rules, since FaceTime was offered to all customers over Wi-Fi and … Read more

FCC report finds broadband deployments still too slow

Roughly 19 million Americans still don't have broadband Internet, according to a report released Tuesday by the Federal Communications Commission.

This is the eighth year that the FCC has issued the report, which is a requirement of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. And for the third year in a row, the agency has found that broadband service is not being rolled out in a "reasonable and timely fashion." Still, the report sees an improvement over the year before, when the FCC found that 26 million Americans lacked broadband.

About 14.5 million of the 19 million Americans without … Read more

AT&T's FaceTime limits might conflict with FCC rules

Some people have raised red flags regarding AT&T's limits on the use of FaceTime on the upcoming iOS, alleging the restrictions could go against Federal Communications Commission rules.

"Over-the-top communications services like FaceTime are a threat to carriers' revenue, but they should respond by competing with these services and not by engaging in discriminatory behavior," senior staff attorney at Public Knowledge John Bergmayer said in a statement. Public Knowledge is a nonprofit organization that works on Internet law.

The "discriminatory behavior" that Bergmayer is alluding to is AT&T's newly announced … Read more

Verizon faces final regulatory hurdle in cable deal

Verizon Wireless faces one last regulatory hurdle in its bid to buy cable spectrum in a deal valued at $3.9 billion: the Federal Communications Commission.

Earlier this week, Verizon and the cable companies involved in the deal won approval from the Department of Justice. But the approval didn't come without strings. Verizon and the cable companies were required to scale back certain parts of their commercial agreements in an effort to satisfy anticompetitive concerns that the DOJ and the FCC had with the deal.

Verizon has also already agreed to sell some spectrum to competitor T-Mobile USA in … Read more