Jon Brodkin

AT&T sues Nashville in bid to stall Google Fiber

AT&T has sued Nashville (TN) to stop a new ordinance designed to accelerate the deployment of Google Fiber. The lawsuit was filed in US District Court in Nashville Sept 22, only two days after the Nashville Metro Council passed a “One Touch Make Ready” rule that gives new Internet service providers faster access to utility poles. The ordinance lets a single company make all of the necessary wire adjustments on utility poles itself, instead of having to wait for incumbent providers like AT&T and Comcast to send work crews to move their own wires. Google Fiber says it is waiting on AT&T and Comcast to move wires on nearly 8,000 poles. AT&T’s lawsuit claims that the ordinance is preempted by Federal Communications Commission pole attachment regulations and violates AT&T’s 58-year-old pole attachment contract with Nashville. The company seeks a declaration that the ordinance is unlawful and a permanent injunction preventing the local government from enforcing it.

Charter fights FCC’s attempt to uncover “hidden” cable modem fees

Charter is trying to convince the Federal Communications Commission to backtrack on a plan that would force cable providers to charge a separate fee for cable modems.

Charter is unusual compared to other cable companies in that it doesn’t tack on a cable modem rental fee when offering Internet service. But FCC officials don’t think that’s good for consumers, because the price of Charter Internet service is the same whether a customer uses a Charter modem or buys their own. Charter argues that it doesn’t pass the cost of the modem on to consumers. “Our pricing is competitive and comparable to other providers,” Charter told Ars. In addition to the base price, other providers "charge a modem fee of around $10. Our service isn’t $10 more expensive. We don’t bake in a modem fee, we include it for free with the service." Charter said, "If transparency is the ultimate goal of the FCC’s provision, we would be more than happy to specifically note on our customers’ bills that our modems are free."

Verizon Wireless data meter accuracy questioned after $9,100 bill

Verizon Wireless is facing questions about the accuracy of its data meter after a series of newspaper stories on customers who were charged big overage fees after unexplained data usage increases. The Plain Dealer of Cleveland detailed a $9,100 bill charged to a customer named Valarie Gerbus. “For months, the mother of two from suburban Tampa paid $118 a month for her cellphone package that included 4 gigabytes of data, which she says she never exceeded,” the article said. “That changed last month when Verizon charged her with using an eye-gouging 569 gigabytes for a whopping $8,535.” Verizon added $600 to the bill when she dropped her plan. Gerbus refused to pay and asked Verizon “repeatedly” to explain how her bill soared, but she got no answer, the article said. "I told them that I won't pay the bill,'' Gerbus said to the Plain Dealer. "I can either wait until they take it to a collection agency or when they take it to court. Either way, my credit history will be ruined. I can go bankrupt here.'' Gerbus was planning to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, but then Verizon agreed to waive the $9,100 bill after the article ran. Gerbus still has to pay a cancellation fee.

Plain Dealer reporter Teresa Dixon Murray described her own "mysterious" increase in Verizon data usage in a story on September 2 and was then flooded with similar stories from customers around the country. In a followup article last week, Dixon Murray wrote that "thousands of people, mostly Verizon customers,” said they had “seen their data use jump significantly—doubling or tripling since the spring in many cases, even though their cell phone habits haven't changed.”

AT&T and Comcast helped elected official write plan to stall Google Fiber

As the Nashville (TN) Metro Council prepares for a final vote to give Google Fiber faster access to utility poles, one council member is sponsoring an alternative plan that comes from AT&T and Comcast. The council has tentatively approved a One Touch Make Ready (OTMR) ordinance that would let a single company—Google Fiber in this case—make all of the necessary wire adjustments on utility poles itself. Ordinarily, Google Fiber must wait for incumbent providers like AT&T and Comcast to send construction crews to move their own wires, requiring multiple visits and delaying Google Fiber's broadband deployment.

The pro-Google Fiber ordinance was approved in a 32-7 preliminary vote, but one of the dissenters asked AT&T and Comcast to put forth a competing proposal before a final vote is taken. The new proposal from council member Sheri Weiner calls for Google, AT&T, Comcast and Nashville Electric Service to create a system that improves the current process for making utility poles ready for new cables. Weiner said AT&T and Comcast helped draft the resolution she proposes. Weiner said that she asked AT&T and Comcast to propose a resolution.

Muni ISP forced to shut off fiber-to-the-home Internet after court ruling

The city council in Wilson (NC) has reluctantly voted to turn off the fiber Internet service it provides to a nearby town because of a court ruling that prevents expansion of municipal broadband services. The Federal Communications Commission in February 2015 voted to block laws in North Carolina and Tennessee that prevent municipal broadband providers from expanding outside their territories. After that vote, Wilson's Greenlight fiber Internet service expanded to the nearby town of Pinetops (NC). But the states of North Carolina and Tennessee sued the FCC to keep their anti-municipal broadband laws in place, and in August they won a federal appeals court ruling that reinstated the law that prevents Wilson from offering Internet service to nearby municipalities.

At Sept 15's city council meeting, Wilson decided not to appeal the court decision and voted to terminate the service agreement with the town of Pinetops, Wilson's city spokesperson, Rebecca Agner said. About 200 home Internet customers in Pinetops will thus lose their Internet service on October 28, Agner said. The nearby Vick Family Farms that employs about 250 people will also lose its service, she said. "We must comply with our state law," Agner said. But city council members were very vocal in their opposition to the law and regret having to disconnect the service, she said.

After “lewd acts,” NYC’s free Internet kiosks disable Web browsing

The operators of free Internet kiosks in New York City plan to disable Web browsing on publicly available tablets after reports of "lewd acts," such as people watching porn and masturbating. LinkNYC kiosks have been replacing New York pay phones, offering free Wi-Fi access and a tablet that can be used by anyone who doesn't have their own mobile device. But LinkNYC announced that it "will be removing Web browsing on all Link tablets while we work with the City and community to explore potential solutions, like time limits." The tablets will still offer free phone calls, maps, and access to emergency services. New Yorkers can also continue to connect their own devices to LinkNYC Wi-Fi hotspots. But browsing on the publicly accessible tablets is being restricted after some disturbing reports.

Google Fiber hits North Carolina Research Triangle, its 8th metro area, despite rumors of layoffs

Google Fiber is about to start connecting homes and businesses in the North Carolina Research Triangle, despite rumors of layoffs and disappointing subscriber totals. The Triangle is Google Fiber's 8th metro area. The Triangle rollout may happen slowly. The service is going live first in Morrisville, (NC) which has about 23,000 residents, instead of the larger cities of Raleigh and Durham.

The expansion into Morrisville comes at a turbulent time for Google Fiber. The company delayed construction in San Jose (CA) and Portland (OR) while it considers whether to do future deployments with wireless technology instead of fiber.

Verizon exempts its own NFL video app from mobile data caps

Verizon Wireless's "FreeBee" program that exempts online services from data caps is proving to be pretty popular, at least among services that are either owned by Verizon or affiliated with the company. Two of the first online services to "pay" Verizon for data cap exemptions were Verizon's own Go90 streaming video service and the Verizon-owned AOL. Now Verizon is also zero-rating the "NFL Mobile from Verizon" application.

NFL Mobile is owned by the NFL rather than Verizon, but premium features such as live game video for phones work only on the Verizon network. The app's name is displayed as "NFL Mobile from Verizon" even when you open it on a phone connected to another network, such as T-Mobile's.

AT&T, owner of DirecTV, exempts DirecTV from mobile data caps

AT&T is now exempting DirecTV streaming video from data caps on AT&T's mobile Internet service. AT&T purchased DirecTV in July 2015 and on Sept 7 pushed an update to the DirecTV iPhone app to implement the data cap exemption. "Now you can stream DirecTV on your devices, anywhere—without using your data. Now with AT&T," the app's update notes say under the heading "Data Free TV." This feature requires subscriptions to DirecTV and AT&T wireless data services. It sounds like the data cap exemption may not apply to all data downloaded by the app, as the update notes further say that "Exclusions apply & may incur data usage." The service is also "Subject to network management, including speed reduction." The iPhone update also lets customers download shows from their home DVR to mobile devices. The DirecTV apps for Android and iPad have not yet received the update.

Data cap exemptions—also known as zero-rating—are controversial and are being reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC's network neutrality rules prevent Internet service providers and mobile carriers from speeding up online services in exchange for payment, but they don't include a specific ban on zero-rating. Instead, the net neutrality regime has the FCC review zero-rating on a case-by-case basis to determine whether specific implementations harm customers or competitors.

FCC admits defeat in municipal broadband, won’t appeal court loss

The Federal Communications Commission has decided not to appeal a court decision that allows states to impose laws restricting the growth of municipal broadband. The FCC in February 2015 voted to block laws in North Carolina and Tennessee that prevent municipal broadband providers from expanding outside their territories, but the states convinced a federal appeals court to keep the laws in place. The FCC could have asked for another appeals court review or gone to the Supreme Court but will instead let the matter drop.

"The FCC will not seek further review of the [US Court of Appeals for the] Sixth Circuit's decision on municipal broadband after determining that doing so would not be the best use of Commission resources," an FCC spokesperson said. The cities that were seeking to expand municipal broadband networks—Chattanooga (TN) and Wilson (NC)—were also involved in the case. The cities have not yet said whether they will appeal. The FCC relied on a novel legal argument in the case. Congress authorizes the FCC to promote competition in local telecommunications markets and to remove barriers that prevent infrastructure investment, and the FCC said that this authority allows it to preempt the state laws. But Congress never specifically authorized the FCC to preempt state laws, a fact that judges cited in overturning the FCC decision.