FCC Says Cablevision Can't Withhold HD Sports Nets

AT&T, Verizon, Others Finally Win the Fight

by Karl Bode 58 minutes ago tags: competition business bandwidth consumers Verizon FiOS AT&T U-Verse Cablevision

Last January the FCC issued an order (pdf) designed to put an end to cable operators preventing competitors from accessing local sports channels owned by the cable company. In June of last year those rules went into effect, and Dish, Verizon, DirecTV and AT&T began the complaint process as they attempted to get access to Cablevision's MSG HD in New York, and Comcast's SportsNet Philadelphia. More than a year later and the FCC's Media Bureau has ruled that Cablevision and MSG violated the agency's new rules by withholding HD versions of MSG and MSG-Plus from Verizon and AT&T.

Cablevision offered this statement:

"Today's disappointing rulings do not appear to be based on the facts," said Cablevison in a statement. "The data clearly demonstrates that there has been no competitive harm to the nation's two largest phone companies as a result of not having two HD channels they already receive in SD. New York is the most competitive market in the country and this decision only hurts fair competition and consumers. Instead of competing on the merits in the marketplace, Verizon and AT&T are manipulating federal law to gain an unfair advantage and we have every intention of pursuing relief in the courts."

While AT&T and Verizon certainly are no strangers to "manipulating federal law to gain an unfair advantage," this particular situation was fairly cut and dry. It's more than a little disingenuous for Cablevision to claim that withholding exclusive content they own to prevent customers from fleeing to competitors isn't anti-competitive. It's nice to see the FCC finally act on the issue, even if it took them several years to actually do so.

Android Tops iPhone In Browsing Speed

52% Faster Than Apple iPhone On Average

by Karl Bode 3 hours ago tags: business wireless hardware software consumers wireless

Forget for a moment EVDO, HSPA+, Mobile WiMax or LTE. When it comes to just plan old browsing speed, Ottowa-based Blaze Software claims that Android is fastest. In a press release, the company says they conducted 45,000 tests pitching Androids mobile Web browser against the Apple iPhone Safari browser, the company found that Android was 52% faster than iPhone on average, and finished loading a Web page faster on 84% of the 1000 sites tested by Blaze. "We assumed that it would be closer race and that the latest JavaScript speed improvements would have a more material impact on performance," says the company. "The fact that Android beat iPhone by such a large margin was not expected." The company's blog discusses their methodology in more detail, noting the tests were largely done over Wi-Fi.

Verizon Wireless Files Lawsuit To Stop Premium SMS Fraud

Customers Affected by Text Messaging Fraud Can Visit www.premiumsmsrefunds.com for Information on Filing Claim for Refund

Customer Inquiries

For customer inquiries, please call 800-922-0204 or go to
Contact Us

Media Contact Info

Debra Lewis
Debra.Lewis@VerizonWireless.com
908-559-7512

Jeffrey Nelson
Jeffrey.Nelson@VerizonWireless.com
917-968-9175

03/09/2011

BASKING RIDGE, NJ Verizon Wireless said that it filed a lawsuit Monday in federal district court in Phoenix outlining an ongoing scheme that used Premium SMS campaigns to defraud Verizon Wireless and its customers, and asked the Court for an injunction to put an immediate stop to the activities.

The Texas Attorney General also filed a similar suit against the same defendants on Monday. Verizon Wireless assisted and supported the Texas prosecutors in their investigation.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has been a strong partner in shutting down this fraudulent activity. Verizon Wireless also is suing Jason Hope and his associates and co-conspirators who established this intricate fraudulent enterprise, said Steve Zipperstein, general counsel and vice president of legal and external affairs, Verizon Wireless. As our work in the judicial system continues, I urge our competitors to quickly follow and put a stop to this fraud and ensure all mobile customers are protected.

Customers who believe they have been affected by this scheme and think they are due a refund can visit www.premiumsmsrefunds.com to learn how to submit a claim. The website provides full names of all the Premium SMS campaigns and associated short codes Verizon Wireless has been able to trace back to the defendants in the lawsuit. The campaign names would appear in the Data Charges section of detailed wireless bills; customers can use MyVerizon online to get detailed bills going back one year.

Verizon Wireless recently became aware of the possible fraud and immediately launched an investigation. Among the things the company discovered and that are explained in detail in the lawsuit include the fact that the defendants defrauded Verizon Wireless by misappropriating approved short codes for unapproved shadow campaigns that did not comply with Verizon Wireless consumer protection and disclosure policies.

The lawsuit further shows the defendants were blocking certain IP addresses from accessing the websites associated with these shadow campaigns or were re-directing visitors to shell websites, preventing Verizon Wireless and its auditors from finding the shadow campaign websites in the normal course of monitoring Premium SMS campaigns for compliance.

The suit names Jason Hope and Wayne P. DeStefano and companies they own, including Cylon, Jawa and EyeLevel Holdings among others, and asks for an immediate injunction to stop these companies from further defrauding Verizon Wireless and its customers as well as monetary relief.

Since 2004, Verizon Wireless has brought more than 20 lawsuits against wireless spammers, telemarketers and pretexters, and the companys record of protecting customer privacy puts it at the forefront of the U.S. wireless industry. Verizon Wireless has won permanent injunctions against individuals and companies that have engaged in illegal activity and Verizon Wireless has donated tens of thousands of dollars on behalf of its customers to domestic violence prevention and law enforcement organizations as a result of these settlements.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nations fastest and most advanced 4G network and largest and most reliable 3G network, and serves more than 94 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 82,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

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Why Is Google Collecting the Last Four Digits of Kids’ Social Security Numbers?

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Adrian Covert — Google has an annual contest for kids called Doodle-4-Google. But for submissions to be accepted this year, Google required parents to submit their child's city of birth, date of birth and the last four digits of their Social Security number. In an article for the Huffington Post, Bob Bowden, who directed a documentary on the public school system, explained why this is disconcerting:

You see what Google knows and many parents don't know is that a person's city of birth and year of birth can be used to make a statistical guess about the first five digits of his/her social security number. Then, if you can somehow obtain those last four SSN digits explicitly - voila, you've unlocked countless troves of personal information from someone who didn't even understand that such a disclosure was happening.

NY Mag's Daily Intel blog has an official comment from Google explaining their motives:

This year we started accepting doodles from kids even if their school hadn't registered for the contest. To help us keep entries distinct and remove duplicate entries from any particular student, we asked parents for limited information, including the last 4 digits of a student's social security number. We later updated our forms when we recognized that we could sufficiently separate legitimate contest entries while requesting less information. To be clear, these last 4 digits were not entered into our records and will be safely discarded.

Either way, it smells fishy. I don't like it one bit. [Huffington Post via NY Mag via SAI]

Air Force Concerned About Lightsquared Interference

General Suggests Company's Licenses Should Be Pulled

by Karl Bode 2 hours ago tags: business wireless bandwidth

Tipped by Transmaster

The Lightsquared hybrid satellite/LTE network being built by Nokia and Harbinger Capital Partners could potentially shake up the competitive landscape by offering new players wholesale access to an entirely new LTE network. However, the project is facing several obstacles including funding and interference concerns with GPS. In a letter last January, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration told the agency that Lightsquared's hybrid LTE/satellite network may interfere with global satellite systems for navigation, aeronautical emergency communications systems and receivers used by Federal agencies. US Air Force Space Command and General William Shelton this week also expressed concern about interference, going so far as to call potential problems "unbelievable" while suggesting the FCC should "do the right thing" and pull Lightsquared's licenses.

InStat: Average U.S. Connection 9.54 Mbps

Up From 3.8 Mbps In 2007 And 7.12 Mbps In 2009

by Karl Bode 83 minutes ago tags: business bandwidth

According to the latest data from Instat, the average connection in the United States is now 9.54 Mbps downstream, about two-and-a-half times faster than the 3.8 Mbps average measured in 2007, and 34 percent faster than the 7.12 Mbps average measured in 2009. According to the firm, the average broadband connection increased in cost by roughly four percent between 2009 and 2010 -- not of course factoring in all the fees and assorted other charges that have become popular across the industry. The average downstream speed across all access technologies increased by 71% over the course of the past two years, notes the firm. Cable and fiber downstream speeds were the obvious primary drivers in the speed bump, in turn driven predominately by Comcast DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades and Verizon FiOS. Akamai estimates of average speed trend significantly lower.

Corning Helping Build Upstate NY Fiber Ring Will Provide $10 Million Of $12 Million Projected Cost by Karl Bode 40 minutes ago tags: Fiber · business · bandwidth Tipped by Tcomp Telecompetitor directs our attention to the fact that fiber optic vendor Corning plans to foot the bill for a new 235-mile fiber optic ring in upstate New York (pdf). The effort is being led by the Southern Tier Central Regional Planning and Development Board (STC), which failed to get broadband funding from the NTIA during broadband stimulus proposals (perhaps they can have Wisconsin's unwanted funds). A new not-for-profit local development corporation called Southern Tier Network will own, build and manage the New York network with Corning contributing $10 million toward the $12.2 million project's estimated construction cost. The open access network will then lease connectivity to other carriers across the largely under-served portion of NY State, and provide much-needed emergency and municipal connectivity.

Verizon pushed out a significant FiOS TV DVR Manager iPhone app update this morning, bring us up to version 1.5.

Most notable upon first launch is that the previous horrid graphics have been replaced with a polished UI that mirrors what’s found in their latest DVR update (IMG 1.9, slowly rolling out). Remote scheduling and DVR recording management are still present… but much more attractive. Also, in the interface category, the grid guide can now be viewed in landscape orientation.

In terms of new functionality, Verizon has ported my favorite iPad feature down to the iPhone (or iPod Touch) in allowing you to see what other folks in your region are watching — nice to have if you’re still a channel surfer, as I am. Lastly, the app now allows you to register multiple DVRs. And it looks like this is accomplished by replacing the kludgy challenge response PIN system with one’s My Verizon web credentials.

All in all, the updated FiOS DVR Manager app looks quite sharp and I welcome the improvements. But Verizon stills needs to integrate their virtual remote set-top control into it, rather than requiring a separate app as they do now.

Click to enlarge:

You might like:

A Few FiOS TV DVR Notes (versus TiVo) (this site)

The Best of CES: FiOS TV, Motorola Atrix (this site)

Paid Distribution

Rumor Watch: Don't Buy That iPhone or iPad Yet… (Tech Goes Strong)

Rumor Watch: Don't Buy That iPhone or iPad Yet… (Tech Goes Strong)

The Best of CES: FiOS TV, Motorola Atrix (this site)

A Few FiOS TV DVR Notes (versus TiVo) (this site)

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The Verizon iPhone: It Can Actually Make Phone Calls

Though You'll Take A Hit On Data Speeds

by Karl Bode 2 hours ago tags: business wireless hardware bandwidth consumers Verizon Wireless Broadband

Reviews are now rolling in for the new Verizon iPhone, and given the hardware is mostly the same as the AT&T version aside from the CDMA radio and SIM card -- all the reviews of course focus on the phone's new found ability to actually make a phone call. Walt Mossberg at the Wall Street Journal insists the Verizon iPhone does "much, much better with voice calls" though as you'd expect sees considerably slower data speeds over Verizon's EVDO network (something that may or may not be true based on local congestion). A review at Engadget largely agrees on the improve voice bit, the gadget blog noting that "after a couple of days of use, the fear that normally sets in about five minutes into a connected call with an AT&T iPhone all but disappeared." Wired's Brian Chen "forgot what it was like to have a reliable, working phone," and concurs about improved voice functionality.

Verizon Buys Terremark For $1.4 Billion

Making Verizon One Of the Largest Global Hosting And Colo Providers

by Karl Bode 46 minutes ago tags: business hardware networking consumers

Tipped by MMH

Verizon has struck a deal to acquire San Francisco colocation and cloud hosting provider Terremark for $1.4 billion. According to a Verizon press statement, the deal "will accelerate Verizon's "everything-as-a-service" cloud strategy by delivering a powerful portfolio of highly secure, scalable on-demand solutions to business and government customers globally through a unified enterprise IT platform and unique business cloud offerings that leverage the companies' collective strengths" (say that fifty times fast). The deal makes Verizon suddenly one of the largest hosting and cloud providers in the world, and you could see more acquisitions of this type by incumbent ISPs of operators such as Savvis, Rackspace, Cogent Communications Group, Level 3 and Limelight Networks.