Consumers can’t seem to get enough of low-cost tablets (CP: Tablet market takes another ‘flyer’ on $99 price tag), but how about low-cost over-the-top TV streaming boxes? Roku today cut the price tag on its streaming media box to $49.99(Briefing Room: Roku Introduces New $49 Streaming Player), trying to target the same type of user that is getting jazzed over cheap tablets: connected, media-consuming and open to alternative devices and services. (more…)
Unfiltered
Frank discussion with telecom's most experienced editors
Archive for the ‘Residential Services’ Category
Will Roku price cut finally drive over-the-top to the TV over the top?
VoIP providers offer lukewarm endorsement of USF reform plans
VoIP providers, along with Google and Sprint Nextel, weighed in on proposed Universal Service fund (USF) and intercarrier compensation reforms, offering a partial endorsement of what FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined in a speech on Thursday (CP: Genachowski outlines USF reform plans: “Status quo is no longer an option”). (more…)
Critiquing Genachowski’s USF reform speech: What he did well–and what he overlooked
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski did a good job yesterday of delivering a speech about Universal Service reform that spoke to both a telecom industry and a mainstream consumer audience. No doubt some of the mainstream press tuned out when he started talking about price cap and rate of return, but that’s when the telecom industry’s ears perked up. (more…)
CenturyLink to offer discounted Internet service to low-income consumers
UPDATE
This post was edited from its original version. CenturyLink’s low-income Internet access offering wasn’t as altruistic as we first characterized it. The program apparently was launched to meet a condition of the company’s acquisition of Qwest.
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Increasing broadband adoption rates aren’t just about bringing Internet connectivity to unserved areas—it’s also about getting more people who don’t sign up for Internet service to do so. And one of the biggest reasons people don’t sign up for Internet service when it is available is cost. (more…)
Sezmi’s shuttering of video service could dampen prospects for partnerships with U.S. telcos
As the FCC seeks to repurpose broadcast spectrum for mobile broadband use, one company that was doing something innovative with over-the-air television had a major setback last week. (more…)
The Free Press beats Verizon to Net Neutrality appeal
The first formal challenge to the FCC’s recently published Net Neutrality rules came not from those who want to negate the rules but instead from those who believe the rules—at least on the wireless side– are not strong enough.
Consumer group The Free Press yesterday filed an appeal arguing that the FCC’s decision to apply different sets of rules for mobile and landline broadband is “arbitrary and capricious.”
The Free Press requests that the court “hold unlawful and set aside, vacate or enjoin such aspects of the Open Internet Order as necessary, remand the petition to the FCC for further proceedings and order any such other relief as the court may find proper.”
Shortly after the Net Neutrality order was made in late 2010, Net Neutrality opponent Verizon attempted to challenge it in the District of Columbia Circuit Court, but was told it could not file until the Net Neutrality rules were published in the Federal Register, an event that occurred two weeks ago (unfiltered: Net Neutrality debate set to re-heat). A Verizon spokesman told Connected Planet earlier this week that the company planned another challenge, (CP: Verizon confirms it will appeal newly published Net Neutrality rules soon) but The Free Press has beaten them to it.
The Free Press filing was made in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Verizon on its first try filed in the D.C. court, a court that struck down a previous attempt to impose Net Neutrality—and the carrier will likely file in that court again.
Back in April, when the court said Verizon’s original appeal was too early, researchers from Stifel Nicolaus noted that if multiple challenges were filed in multiple circuit courts, the court venue would be chosen by a judicial lottery, with each circuit having the same chance (unfiltered: Court (for the moment) dismisses anti-Net Neutrality challenges).
Verizon’s original challenge argued, however, that the only appropriate venue for its case was the D.C. Circuit Court because the challenge was made on the grounds that the Net Neutrality rules violated Verizon’s rights as a wireless license holder (CP: Verizon’s Net Neutrality legal challenge not as ‘bizarre’ as it might seem).
If the carrier uses that argument again, perhaps it will not matter that The Free Press filing came first—if, that is, the D.C. Court accepts Verizon’s argument.
Fiber shortages, broadband stimulus deployment delays dampen Calix revenue expectations
Calix has been chalking up stimulus win after stimulus win. (CP: Stimulus winners stick with current gear vendors) and (CP: Calix bags two more broadband stimulus projects) But revenues associated with those wins are not flowing in as quickly as the company had expected. (more…)
Attention MagicJack: FCC to take action on rural call completion problems
MagicJack and other voice service providers that allegedly have blocked calls to certain rural areas could have some explaining to do on October 18 when the FCC plans to host a rural call completion workshop. The workshop, announced yesterday, aims to help determine the extent of the call termination problem in rural areas and the causes of the problems, including whether carriers are violating the law by blocking or restricting calls to other carriers. In addition, the workshop will explore actions that the commission can take to address the problem. (more…)
LightSquared tidies up GPS mess, ready to be the network ‘all Americans deserve’
Whether or not AT&T is allowed to buy T-Mobile — equipping Americans with much-needed spectrum or deteriorating any semblance of industry competition, depending on your view — LightSquared, red cape in place, is ready to swoop in with its planned LTE network, saving Americans from the “impending reality” of stalled innovation, dead zones and weak signals. (more…)
Comcast study: Broadband boosts real estate metrics
Broadband is the most important selling point in the commercial real estate market behind price, parking and location, according to 90% of building owners and property managers in a survey conducted by Comcast Business Class. (more…)