Are You Ready For Digital TV?

February 17, 2009 might be known as the day the airwaves died, at least for people unprepared for the switch to digital TV. Britain has already leaded ahead in this respect with the first analog signal going down for a dirt nap last Tuesday. Now Best Buy starts blazing a trail by eliminating its entire stock of analog TVs that won't be able to pick up over-the-air signals when the switch occurs. Stores still carrying older sets have been under intense FCC scrutiny lately for failing to comply with labeling requirements that have been in place since May. If you're still hanging onto that old analog set (like I am), don't fret. Uncle Sam will give you some coupons for converter boxes and cable systems will be required to support analog sets through 2012.

Comcast Filtering BitTorrent, Gnutella… and Lotus Notes?! (And They Profit From Wiretaps Too!)

It broke earlier this week that a reporter from the Associated Press had confirmed what we all knew, that Comcast has been blocking people from seeding torrent files. How do they do it? By illegally impersonating your computer to reset the connection, that's how. It's the same method used in China to block websites the government doesn't want you to see.

It gets worse, though. Further testing shows that Comcast is also blocking Gnutella traffic as well as interrupting connections to Lotus Notes. What? How does an e-mail groupware package constitute a threat to the network? The consequences of this have been felt far and wide as telecommuters have become unable to send large attachments, World of Warcraft players can't get necessary software patches and Linux junkies everywhere have to resort to slower methods of getting their ISO files.

Meanwhile, they continue to be Really Evil™  by charging upwards of $1,000 for government wiretaps. Is it any wonder that some folks are so upset that Comcast complain sites (like ComcastMustDie.com) are popping up all over the place?

Reminder: Government Competition and Privatization Subcommittee to Meet Thursday October 25 at 9AM

Just a reminder that the Government Competition and Privatization Subcommittee will be meeting this Thursday, October 25, at 9AM to discuss possible legislation in the upcoming session of the legislature. Proposals include creating a standing commission to oversee potential government competition with private entities, up the reporting requirements for local governments and potentially limit UTOPIA membership yet again. This is probably going to be the last meeting of this subcommittee for the year so it will be critically important that as many of us as possible attend this meeting to head off bad legislation before it gets to the general session.

Hope to see a bunch of you there! 

AT&T Plans Ambitious Expansions

As I've said before, it's sometimes a Good Thing™ to let news age for a bit before writing about it. Not only does it let the story develop a bit more fully, but you also get a much better idea of the big picture. Take for example the plans that AT&T has for expanding their reach within and beyond former SBC and BellSouth territories.

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AT&T Imitates Sprint and Verizon by Suing Vonage

I'm thinking I might need to change my home phone provider in the not too distant future. Following up on the expensive litigation brought by Sprint and Verizon, Vonage now has to go to court to defend itself against AT&T for alleged patent infringement. It's too early to tell if AT&T's patents are along the lines of Verizon's "we own the Interweb" patent, but my bets are that the prior art defense would play well if Vonage actually has to stones to defend itself instead of rolling over. Then again, history has shown us that Vonage just wants to cough up its lunch money so that the bullies leave it alone.

FCC Delays 700MHz Auction Admidst Much Weeping, Wailing, Gnashing of Teeth

With how ugly the fight for the 700MHz auction has gotten, the FCC has decided to delay the auction by eight days. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin also announced that there will be a limit of $10B on bidding, a move designed to keep big companies from outspending all of their smaller rivals. This comes as Frontline Wireless asks that Verizon be barred from the auction over their pending lawsuit against open access requirements, smaller carriers complain that they don't have a chance and AT&T (among others) voices that the rules are unfair. I could see why some of the potential bidders would be upset. After all, it's come out that the FCC allows some well-connected lobbyists to skirt rules and get information ahead of rivals.

Meanwhile, AT&T has decided to side-step some of the furor and snap up some 700MHz bands from Aloha Partners that won't be up for auction. They'll also not be subject to the same open access rules that the upcoming auction will be encumbered with. That might not matter as the FCC considers the so-called "cellular Carterphone" rule for all cellular phone carriers that would allow any device to be used on any network.

Comcast to Customers: All Your Dollars Are Belong To Us

Seems like Comcast is bumping up rates all over the nation. Chicago, Houston, Seattle, San Francisco and Lancaster, PA have all seen big bumps in pricing from 6.9% to as high as 12.5%. This is on top of a 4.1% increase foisted upon us in January. The company is blaming increased customer service costs; they've hired about 400 more techs and customer service staff. I call it a shameless attempt to use TV revenues to further subsidize their other offerings. How long until the Wasatch Front sees yet another pricing jump?

(Hat tip: The Consumerist)

Report: Woods Cross City Council Meeting, October 16 2007

Last night, I dropped in on the Woods Cross city council meeting to see what would happen during the "workshop" they had planned with UTOPIA, Qwest and Comcast. I think it went well, though the reps from UTOPIA could have done a better job explaining how the system works. Comcast disclosed a few details of planned upgrades (i.e. their "PowerBoost" system now bursts downloads to 12-16Mbps) though it became very obvious to the council that their system was not nearly as good as UTOPIA.

Qwest, as usual, took a different tack. Instead of sending a live person to "answer" questions, they should have just sent a voice recording that said "sorry, we can't say anything in public. We're happy to meet with you privately to skirt open meeting laws discuss our future plans." Nothing against the rep (he seemed like a nice guy when I talked to him after the meeting), but good grief is it suspicious when you do that kind of thing. Neither of the reps from Qwest or Comcast seemed to be particularly prepared, somewhat amazing considering that they had the questions to be answered in advance of the meeting.

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Heartland Institute Posts Bizarre Account of Subcommittee Events

This is just… I don't know. Go read the Heartland Institute's latest assault on municipal fiber projects to see for yourself. As someone who was at the same meeting that Mr. Titch attended, I find myself wondering how the two of us walked away with such different versions of the same story. It's time to set the record straight since truth is not on Mr. Titch's side.

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