att

AT&T blows off net neutrality as it zero rates HBO Max

12 June 2020 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Marvin fire

AT&T is giving its HBO Max streaming service a free ride on its mobile broadband network. The bandwidth consumed by AT&T mobile customers while watching HBO Max programming won’t be counted against their monthly data caps. According to a story in The Verge by Nilay Patel, AT&T’s streaming competition won’t get the same zero rating treatment…

HBO Max, AT&T’s big bet on the future of streaming, will be excused from AT&T’s mobile data caps, while competing services like Netflix and Disney Plus will use up your data…

AT&T…confirmed to The Verge that HBO Max will be excused from the company’s traditional data caps and the soft data caps on unlimited plans.

… More

AT&T rejects California disaster response obligations

10 June 2020 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

AT&T is striking back at covid–19 emergency relief measures adopted by the California Public Utilities Commission. Flanked by Verizon and T-Mobile (via the mobile industry’s lobbying front organisation), AT&T wants the CPUC to repeal rules that require the company to waive things like installation or remote call forwarding fees when people are forced to relocate because of the covid–19 emergency. Those are CPUC mandates that also apply to any other “housing or financial crisis due to a disaster”.… More

AT&T continues 5GEvolution scam despite advertising industry’s slapdown

22 May 2020 by Steve Blum
, , ,

Att customer evolution

A self-regulating body set up by the advertising industry slapped down AT&T’s strategy of conning mobile subscribers into thinking that they’re getting 5G service when they’re really connected to a 4G network. The National Advertising Review Board (NARB), which is run by the Better Business Bureau, concluded that AT&T’s decision to slap a “5G Evolution” label or, more confusingly, a 5GE icon, on its LTE service is misleading and that “consumers may well interpret “Evolution” in the challenged claims as signifying that AT&T’s technology has already evolved into 5G”.… More

We’re doing better than Bangladesh, so give us money, telcos tell U.S. senate

India utility pole

Telephone companies don’t appear to having the same success cable companies have had with broadband promotions during the covid–19 emergency. The head of telco’s primary Washington, D.C. lobbying front organisation asked a U.S. senate committee on Wednesday to “keep providers on sound financial footing” and urged the use of existing, incumbent-friendly federal programs to distribute subsidies directly to them.

California’s two major telephone companies – AT&T and Frontier Communications – aren’t offering service at the 25 Mbps at $15 or less per month covid–19 benchmark set by California Public Utilities Commission president Marybel Batjer.… More

U.S. house democrats propose $50 monthly broadband subsidy for low income homes, AT&T and Comcast will be happy to take it

14 May 2020 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

With covid–19 pandemic lockdowns continuing in most states, albeit with gradual loosening underway, democrats in the house of representatives in Washington, D.C. want to pump $5.5 billion into broadband access subsidies to ensure that people and institutions can remain connected to the online resources they will be depending on, likely for months to come. It’s one of the opening shots in the negotiations over what might be a second stimulus bill in the trillion dollar range to keep the U.S.… More

AT&T blasts loopholes as it tries to escape $3.75 million fine in California

13 May 2020 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

As expected, AT&T appealed a 3.75 million fine levied by a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge for “wilful disregard” of its public safety obligations. The penalty followed months of wrangling with CPUC staff over what kind of information AT&T is required to provide about services, such as 911 emergency calls, that ride on voice over Internet protocol technology (VoIP).

AT&T’s appeal dives headfirst into the minutia of how 911 service is provided now, and how it will be provided once it’s completely switched over from legacy plain old telephone service (POTS) to modern digital technology.… More

Cable, satellite TV companies build business plans on fear and ignorance

30 April 2020 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

The future, if you want to call it that, of traditional, linear subscription television services will depend on customers who don’t understand, and consequently fear, online video services. Martin Peers, a reporter for The Information, looked at his mother-in-law’s Comcast bill and discovered a stack of add on fees and increasing monthly rates for services that can be had for less money via over-the-top video platforms.

The reason she’s writing unnecessarily high checks each month?… More

Telcos struggle as subscribers dump legacy video and copper subscriptions

29 April 2020 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

San benito pole route 13apr2019

It’s been a bad couple of weeks for big wireline telcos. Frontier Communications’ bankruptcy led the parade of dismal news. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission made a couple weeks ahead of going into bankruptcy, Frontier pinned the blame for its problems on its legacy copper business and the less-than-lucrative rural customers who depend on it. But that was no surprise.

AT&T’s and Verizon’s troubles weren’t exactly a shock, either. Some business lines, like video and copper-based broadband service, have been fading for some time.… More

CPUC asks ISPs to give Californians a break, but all it can do is ask

27 April 2020 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

Please sir

Broadband service is too expensive for many families, but it’s a necessity nonetheless, according to a letter sent on Friday to Californian Internet service providers by California Public Utilities Commission president Marybel Batjer. Saying “not every household could or can continue to afford $50 a month for a quality, high-speed Internet connection”, Batjer asked ISPs to…

  • Provide service sufficient for all family members to work and learn from home: Subscription in the range of $0–15 a month, offering a minimum of 25 Mbps, and eliminate or waive data caps and overage charges.
… More

CPUC whacks AT&T with $3.75 million fine for “wilful disregard” of public safety obligations

8 April 2020 by Steve Blum
, , , ,

AT&T was ordered to pay a $3.75 million fine by the California Public Utilities commission for blowing off demands for information about its 911 service in 2019. Administrative law judge Karl Bemesderfer issued a “presiding officer’s decision” in a disciplinary proceeding launched last year after AT&T refused to file reports detailing its rates and terms for “next generation” 911 services that ride on Internet protocol technology, rather than old style plain old telephone service.… More