Items tagged "Verizon"
Public Knowledge Responds to Report of Possible AT&T-Verizon Collusion
April 20, 2018 AT&T , collusion , Competition , consumer choice , VerizonToday, reports indicate that the Department of Justice is investigating alleged collusion between AT&T and Verizon at GSMA, a standards-setting body. The alleged collusion would make it more difficult for consumers to move from one carrier to another.
Read MoreVerizon Reportedly Throttling Streaming Services in “Video Optimization” Tests Without Notice
July 21, 2017 FCC , Net Neutrality , Verizon , Zero RatingToday, reports indicate that Verizon Wireless reduced connection speeds for mobile subscribers accessing streaming video services as part of a “video optimization” systems test. The company issued no warnings to consumers prior to testing, but claims “the customer video experience was not affected”.
Read MorePublic Knowledge Urges FCC to Investigate Verizon Customer Data Breach
July 12, 2017 Data Security , FCC , Privacy , VerizonToday, reports indicate that one of Verizon’s business partners, Nice Systems, exposed millions of Verizon customer records.
Read MorePublic Knowledge Says Google-Verizon Proposal Seeks to Strip FCC of Enforcement Powers
August 9, 2010 Broadband , FCC , Network Neutrality , Press Release , VerizonBackground: Today, Verizon and Google announced that they have reached a private agreement on a legislative proposal for Net Neutrality.
The following is attributed to Sherwin Siy, Deputy Legal Director of Public Knowledge:
“We have already expressed our alarm at the extraordinary loopholes present in Verizon and Google’s proposal. However, the proposal also damages open Internet efforts through commission as well as omission. The section on “case-by-case enforcement” directs the FCC to defer to rules set by industry-led advisory groups. Combined with the proposal’s recommendation that the FCC have no rulemaking authority with respect to consumer protection and nondiscrimination, the agreement outsources the FCC’s powers and authorities to the very industries these rules are supposed to oversee.”
Read MorePublic Knowledge Says Verizon-Google Agreement is “Nothing More than A Private Agreement between Two
August 9, 2010 Broadband , Network Neutrality , Press Release , VerizonBackground: Today, Verizon and Google announced that they have reached a private agreement on a legislative proposal for Net Neutrality.
The following is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:
“The agreement between Verizon and Google about how to manage Internet traffic is nothing more than a private agreement between two corporate behemoths, and should not be a template or basis for either Congressional or FCC action. It is unenforceable, and does almost nothing to preserve an open Internet.
Read MoreComcast Shouldn’t Be Able to Stop Verizon from Offering Better TV Plans
April 22, 2015 Comcast-TWC , VerizonPublic Knowledge is on the other side of a lot of public policy issues from Verizon. That said, Verizon’s new “Custom TV” plans are a move in the right direction. It’s great to see a company announce–and then launch–a new approach that is good for viewers, good for the provider, good for competition and ultimately good for programmers, as well.
Read MoreWhat to Take Away from the FCC Settlement with Verizon over CPNI
September 5, 2014 CPNI , FCC , Net Neutrality , Privacy , VerizonOn Wednesday, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it reached a $7.4 million settlement with Verizon over the company’s misuse of its customers’ private information (“customer proprietary network information,” or “CPNI”) for internal marketing, which violated longstanding federal privacy rules.
Read MorePutting the Open Internet Transparency Rule to the Test
August 6, 2014 AT&T , Data Caps , T-Mobile , Transparency , VerizonToday Public Knowledge sent letters to AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon as the first step in the process of filing open internet complaints against each of them at the FCC. The letters address violations of the FCC’s transparency requirements, which are the only part of the open internet rules that survived court challenge.
Read MoreVerizon: Sandy Victims Should Be Customers, Not Guinea Pigs
May 9, 2013 phone transition , Verizon , WirelessVerizon wants to replace copper landlines destroyed by Hurricane Sandy with a new fixed wireless service called Voice Link. But should victims of natural disaster be guinea pigs when fundamental basic services are at stake? Especially when it means losing access to broadband?
Ever since Hurricane Sandy destroyed huge pieces of its
landline network last October, Verizon made
it clear it did not want to rebuild its traditional copper network. Most
folks assumed that meant replacing damaged copper with fiber. While some
consumers have grumbled
about being upgraded to a more expensive service, no one doubts fiber to
the home represents a step up – especially on the broadband side.
But what about those communities where Verizon does not want to spend the money upgrading to FIOS? Turns out, rather than an upgrade to fiber, these communities will play guinea pig for Verizon’s new, cheaper, more limited wireless alternative called “Voice Link.”
Read More“IP” Does Not Mean “Fiber,” “Fiber” Does Not Mean “IP” — Clearing Confusion About the Phone Network
February 4, 2013 AT&T , Broadband Authority , FCC , phone transition , VerizonAs regular readers know, I regard the upgrade of the phone system (aka the “public switched telephone network” or “PSTN”) to an all-IP based network as a majorly huge deal. As I’ve explained at length before, this is a huge deal because of a bunch of decisions the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has made over the years that have fragmented our various policies and regulations about phones into a crazy-quilt of different rules tied sometimes to the technology (IP v. traditional phone (TDM)) and sometimes to the actual medium of transmission (copper v. fiber v. cable v. wireless).
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