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What Took So Long — Comcast?
2008-04-22 00:34:00
Note to readers! If you are a Comcast customer and are having a problem, blog on Twitter. It might get you resolution to the problem. Your Mileage May Vary of course but what can it hurt? – The company has to “materially and significantly” improve, he said, noting it could take several years. “We’re playing catch-up.” On Twitter, where users write blurbs on what they’re doing or thinking at the moment, a passing complaint can be an early warning signal to Comcast. The site, said Biz Stone, a Twitter cofounder, is the sort of forum that Comcast should monitor. “If Comcast can get to those influencers, the complaints will not grow to a full blog post,” he said. Eliason has posted about 600 messages, or “tweets,” on Twitter. Comcast is “waking up to the fact that a bad rap in the social-networking space could spread like crazy,” said Shel Holtz, a public-relations consultant in the San Francisco area. &ldquo...
More About: Long

When You are the Biggest Gorilla, Do You Care What People Think?
2008-04-21 20:08:00
Consumerist has a very interesting set of internal memos regarding the handling the discounts and offers that were provided by Verizon as an inducement to consumers to buy into FIOS. It appears that at best Verizon marketing does not get the word to the Retail Operations side as to when/where/what is available to offer consumers. That is compounded by the fact in many markets Verizon is using 3rd party door to door representation to get sales. Those 3rd parties are making offers in many cases that are not even valid the moment they are uttered. Details here. I wish to call attention to one item in the Consumerist article. – ‘ Mr Bonomo also said that there were ‘a number of inaccuracies’, but failed to identify any. All he did was state that customers entitled to the tv will get them, and acknowledges that delivering the set would take some time, and we said that as a part of the promotion.’ Let me tell you how easy it is for Verizon to solve this. Ver...
More About: People , Care , Gorilla

FCC, Public Hearing, Watch & Critique
2008-04-21 19:32:00
You couldn’t make it to the Stanford FCC public hearing. Hey same here, as I could not justify the $700 for a RT airfare. But there is a next best thing. Lets hear what they said using our broadband connection. Compliments of VONTV.com the hearings are available on line for viewing here. Here’s the money related question — Why isn’t the FCC doing live videocasts? Heck its the 21st century and they ARE the FCC.
More About: Watch , Public , Critique , Hearing

And Yet Sprint Redeems Itself
2008-04-21 18:46:00
It what we view as a positive move by Sprint , they are clamping down on mobile service partners who have very high return rates. At the same time Sprint will be providing good partners up to a 10% discount. Who is this directed at? Folks like Jamster and Buongiornos Blinko. – Sprint Nextel Corp. hopes to clean up the direct-to-consumer content business by hitting wayward partners where it hurts. The carrier last month told off-deck content aggregators that it will be strictly enforcing new revenue-share penalties for vendors who violate Mobile Marketing Association guidelines. Partners who repeatedly stray out of bounds " by incurring high refund rates, for instance, or not reporting billing errors to the carrier " can forfeit every dime and lose their short codes, while those who play by the rules can see as much as a 10% bump in revenue splits. Non-compliant short code campaigns will receive penalties up to and including program termination from Sprint Nextel Boost networks...

More Trouble for Sprint
2008-04-21 18:37:00
It seems Sprint has determined that being in trouble is the way to success. Or at least that is the way it seems. Their latest is the following – Verizon Communications Inc. sued Sprint Nextel Corp. in Delaware federal court, accusing the No. 3 mobile-phone operator of failing to pay nearly $10 million in interconnection charges. A lot of money, but the Verizon-Sprint Nextel spat actually pales in comparison to bigger interconnection controversy playing out at the Federal Communications Commission and in the states " one with an unexpected twist. Verizon has repeatedly attempted to resolve this dispute short of litigation, the lawsuit stated. Yet these attempts, made over many months and through both written and personal communications, have been fruitless. Accordingly, Verizon has been forced to seek relief from this court. Verizon said the money owed by Sprint Nextel is for services in mostly eastern states that are subject to tariffs filed with the FCC. Because Verizons cla...

Is CableVision a Useful Idiot for TVoIP?
2008-04-21 17:54:00
Consumerist has an interesting expose here on the BS that CableVision is dishing out to its customers that they will lose services if they don’t upgrade to digital cable and they are blaming the FCC for the reason why. What I think of these kind of dealings I can’t print. – Cablevision is lying to customers by claiming that the FCC will require all subscribers to upgrade to digital cable boxes in 2009. Digital cable boxes cost $6.50 per month, plus an extra $10.95 for digital service. Cablevision recently sent a letter to all boxless subscribers threatening to cut several channels unless they forked out a bundle of extra cash for digital service. When one of our family member called for an explanation, Cablevision shirked responsibility and placed the blame squarely on some crazy new FCC mandate. We called shenanigans and decided to call back and record our chats with several customer service representatives. Inside, the recordings of Cablevision lies and the FCC&r...
More About: Idiot

Intel to spend $500 million on Wimax deployment ….. in Taiwan
2008-04-21 15:00:00
Channeling Intel : Dear Americans, we conceived and largely developed Wimax here, and believe that there is a ready market. While the builders of the first nationwide Wimax networks are strapped for cash and looking for investors we are handing Tiawan a load of cash to build out there instead. INTEL ANNOUNCED bright and early on Monday morning that theyll be chucking $500 million Taiwan s way, spread out over the next half a decade to develop the Islands WiMax infrastructure. The agreement will also apparently try to promote a greater level of WiMax congruency among gear developers. (The Inquirer) Unfortunately for Americans, the developers of Laptops and other portable technology are in Taiwan, so they get first dibbs. It makes sense when you consider there is nary a single PC manufacturer in the LTE camp today and Wimax has a time to market advantage over competing technologies. Could it also be that Intel would rather not do battle with the US telcos who now have a lock on the maj...
More About: Million , Deployment

Acer announces Wimax Laptop
2008-04-21 14:47:00
Despite all of the bad press you have been reading about Wimax , some deserved and some FUD, the Wimax devices are coming. Acer is the first mainstream notebook maker to announce a laptop with built in Wimax capability. The Acer Aspire 5920 is already being manufactured by notebook PC contract maker Quanta Computer and could be available by the end of this year. The notebook will be sold along with WiMax service in a manner similar to the way mobile phones are sold along with service packages, said Trisha Pan, a product marketing manager at Acer, on the sidelines of a WiMax news conference in Taipei. Intel is also buying some of the laptops for testing, said Pan. The laptops will be made available to all WiMax network operators. They won’t be out until Sprint or other companies start selling the devices with their WiMax services. (Yahoo) This is only the first of many to come. There are small pockets of successful Wimax deployments in the US and extensive success stories world ...
More About: Laptop

AT&T claims their network will be maxed out in 2 years
2008-04-20 18:03:00
Whenever AT&T talks up a network utilization crisis, they’re usually up to no good. Recent comments by AT&T VP for legislative affairs Jim Cicconi point to more trouble ahead for consumers at the hands of the death star. Watch your wallet! “The surge in online content is at the center of the most dramatic ...
More About: Network , Years , Claims , Maxed Out

T Mobile?s wireless broadband strategy: 3G and Wifi
2008-04-19 16:22:00
Late to the 3G party and with no stated 4G plans, T Mobile may add a bit of real competiton to the wireless market leveraging new 3G networks combined with Wifi hotspots. Soon to be released devices will functrion on both networks. While rivals such as AT&T, Verizon Wireless , and Sprint Nextel have been talking recently ...
More About: Broadband , Strategy , T-Mobile

Pols want to counter auction outcome with?.another auction!
2008-04-18 20:00:00
Even a great idea can turn into an impractical nightmare when implement by politicians. Now crying foul about the outcome of the recent 700MHz auction that they did nothing to change when they might have, the pols have yet another ill conceived and unworkable idea to improve broadband competition. Something in the politicos gene ...
More About: Regulation , Auction , Counter , Pols

Amazon?s Werner Vogels dicusees cloud computing
2008-04-18 19:33:00
New coud computing services with greater frequency with more innovation and variety. The could promises to put fully scalable computing power and storage in the hands of even the the individual as well as the corporation. Werner Vogels recencty described Amazon ’s cloud services suite on IT Conversations. These problems affect companies of all sizes and ...
More About: Computing , Cloud , Cloud Computing

Its Ok Veronica?
2008-04-18 17:09:00
…Google had a good 1Q. Yep Google posted a 30% increase in profit. Share value rose 17% on the news. But Google has a long way to go to climb to the heady $800 days. – The stock still has a long way to go to fully recover the $75 billion in shareholder wealth that ...
More About: Veronica

Network Readiness Index: US ranks 4th
2008-04-18 14:25:00
In a bit of a surprise, US government and business networks rank much higher than US broadband penetration. At leas that’s the opinion of the Global Information Technology Report. The Network ed Readiness Index (NRI) looks at the general business climate and governmental infrastructure for computer networks, how prepared individuals, businesses, and governments are to leverage ...
More About: Ranks

NY Times Posts Major Loss
2008-04-18 00:49:00
NYT posts a $335k loss for Q1. The biggest in the last 2 years. Some is attributed to charge offs and a change in calendar reporting. – The company did break even on a per-share basis, compared with the average analyst forecast of earnings of 14 cents, down from 17 cents in the first quarter ...
More About: Loss , Times , Posts , Major

Life is as Life Does?
2008-04-17 23:22:00
In a interesting South Park snippet, the travails of ordinary life are revealed in just how utility broadband has become for many. Especially for the piece on the news segment. Even the Media are dependent on it. Media might be able to cover the story but the underlying tool that permits things like cable ...
More About: Life , Content

Comcast titles new network micro management policy ?P2P Bill of Rights?
2008-04-17 04:35:00
This is comic relief at it’s best. The suits at Comcast have worked up a new clown suit to put around a new batch of network management policies that sound both ambiguous and theatening at the same time. “We’re going to formally create a DCIA working group and it will be open to any peer-to-peer ...
More About: Management , Rights , Network , Policy , Net Neutrality

Sprint Does it Again, Again?
2008-04-16 23:16:00
Sprint nickel and dimes a customer. Sadly the customer was a deployed serviceman. Were not talking a lot of money here. But principle is involved. The various telcos had told Congress they would take matters seriously about contractual matters for deployed service personnel. All of course was a hand shake. Which brings us to ...
More About: Sprint

Patent troll Rebrandt Inc. wants your DTV dollars
2008-04-16 22:55:00
A recent trend that has become a national embarrassment is the formation of companies whose sole purpose is to collect outdated patents and try to apply them to new technology and sue the makers and users of that technology. It’s called a legalized protection racket. They produce nothing, clog the courts, raise the cost of ...
More About: Rants , Regulation , Dollars , Patent , Garry

Analysts think Sprint?s Xohm Wimax service will launch by summer
2008-04-16 22:40:00
It’s hard to trust analyst’s motives, but it’s also hard to ignore their predictions even though they are often dead wrong. In this case we have a respected firm declaring that Sprint ’s long awaited Wimax service is on target for a summer launch. ThinkEquity Partners is claiming that Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: ...
More About: Summer , Wall Street , Service

How to Win a Customer
2008-04-16 18:17:00
Verizon pushes FIOS hard. Maybe too hard. It looks like to the exclusion of losing an entire sale because they are greedy. — I tried to order Verizon FIOS this evening. Their salesman came to my door and spent 1 1/2 hours convincing me that it was a good idea. He did a great ...
More About: Customer

Google / Salesforce team up: a Third Pipe perspective
2008-04-15 23:40:00
While the tech media seems infatuated with a Google / Microsoft cage fight, there’s more to this story than another battle between the tech titans. Salesforce .com upped the ante this week in its battle against traditional software vendors with the announcement of Salesforce for Google Apps. CEO Marc Benioff all but declared packaged software ...
More About: Team , Perspective , Pipe

700mhz Auction Considered a Failure?
2008-04-15 22:13:00
The House Telecom SubComittee convened today and the considered opinon by some was that the recent auction though resourceful and not a complete winner. The lack of a sale of the ‘D’ block was on the lips of many. – The FCC must revisit these policy decisions in light of the recently-completed auction and take ...
More About: Auction , Failure

You Can Float, But You Can?t Hide
2008-04-15 21:36:00
Remember this story that we covered about Middle East cable cuts? All 5 of them? Well it appears that there were 2 ships involved in the incidents. Dubai authorities have impounded two ships suspected of damaging undersea telecom cables in the Middle East earlier this year. One of the ships has reportedly been released ...
More About: Net Neutrality , Overseas , Hide

Activity on Telecomunicaciones de Puerto Rico, Inc?
2008-04-15 20:38:00
There appears to be activity of possible transfer of control of Verizon property in the Dominican Republic. There is a posting by the Wireline Competition Bureau of the FCC of a protective order. This Protective Order is intended to facilitate and expedite the review of confidential information submitted by parties to this proceeding, including ...
More About: Puerto Rico , Puerto , Rico

Papers Please!!
2008-04-15 18:15:00
Well it looks like Putin is helping out a lot on the freedom front on his way out the door. They are now requiring Russians to register WiFi devices. – When WiFi was first becoming popular a few years back, there were occasional stories about countries that hadn’t opened up the spectrum necessary for WiFi ...
More About: Wifi , Papers , Overseas

New York intends to do away with the tax free net
2008-04-15 14:39:00
A state that will never be known fro low taxes or careful government spending may also be known for the state that killed the internet tax free zone. Most states require sales tax to be collected if the etailer has a physical presence in the state. As it is proposed, not in New York . If ...
More About: Regulation , Free , Net Neutrality

700MHz aftermath: did the FCC ignore thier own guidelines?
2008-04-15 03:03:00
In a recent decision to permit the merger of AT&T and Dobson communications, the FCC raised the limit on the spectrum that a single company can hold in any location to 95Mhz. In the recent 700MHz spectrum auctions, it seems that the FCC has exceeded their own limits again. It’s important to remember that the ...
More About: Guidelines

Verizon Wireless Turns up the Heat
2008-04-14 22:28:00
Verizon Wireless is making changes. They are adding more services for use in their wireless network and cutting a deal with AOL. The carrier introduced a $30-per-month plan that gives smartphone users an unlimited data allowance for e-mail and the mobile Internet. The plan supports as many as 10 personal e-mail accounts from providers ...
More About: Yahoo , Verizon , Verizon Wireless , Heat

A First Responder? Time for Some Input
2008-04-14 22:14:00
Has your organization been burned by bad 911 calls? Wanted to get your 2c in? Well here’s your chance. The FCC is looking for input on issues related to 911 calls. – Washington, D.C. " The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted a Petition for a Notice of Inquiry filed by the public safety ...
More About: Time , Input