FCC: 21 Million VoIP Users Nationwide
Posted by Jesse Ward on Thursday, July 1, 2010 · 
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The FCC has released its biannual report on “Local Telephone Competition,” which, for the first time, included comprehensive information about VoIP subscribers. As of year-end 2008, circuit switched POTS was still the dominant form of voice communication.
In total, there were 162 million voice connections at of the end of 2008, with 141 million traditional switched access lines in service, and 21 million VoIP subscriptions serviced by a cable, traditional telco or VoIP provider. Read more
4 out of 5 Do Not Know Their Broadband Speeds
Posted by Jesse Ward on Tuesday, June 1, 2010 · ·
Approximately 80% of broadband users in the United States do not know the speed of their broadband connection, this according to an FCC survey released today on the consumer broadband experience.
When you break the question out by gender, 71% of men and 90% of women have no idea what their broadband speed is. Interestingly, 91% of respondents said they were either “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with their broadband service; the figure drops to 71% for mobile broadband users.
In related news, the agency is looking for 10,000 volunteers to participate in a scientific study designed to provide the commission with quantitative data on broadband speed. Specialized hardware will be installed in the homes of volunteers to measure the performance of the nation’s major Internet service providers across geographic regions and service tiers. Read more
FCC Approves Verizon Wireline Assets Sale to Frontier Communications
Posted by Dave Lowe on Monday, May 24, 2010 · ·
In a not so surprising move, the FCC has approved the sale of Verizon’s wireline assets in fourteen states to Frontier Communications Corp. today. This acquisition has been discussed in the trade press for some time due to review and approval processes by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and concerned individual state regulatory agencies. However, final approval rested with the FCC, which has deemed the sale to be worthwhile.
Residential and small-business access lines in Arizona, California, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia will be affected by the sale.
FCC To Help Consumers Avoid ‘Bill Shock’
Posted by Kevin McGuire on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 · ·
Today the FCC announced that they will be tackling the issue of “bill shock”, or the issue of consumers receiving unexpectedly high wireless bills. Launched by the Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau, the FCC is looking for input on methods to alert consumers before these fees add up.
FCC Looks to ‘Third Way’ to Regulate Broadband Service
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, May 10, 2010 · ·
Late last Wednesday, the FCC announced a new approach to regulating high-speed Internet whereby the commission will assert its regulation over broadband service similar to its authority over traditional telephony services. The FCC is calling this approach the “Third Way,” as it plans to impose a “lite version of Tile II” regulation on broadband service.
Under the current regulatory regime, Internet services have historically been regulated as Title I or information services. Traditional telephony and telecom services, on the other aside, are subject to stricter Title II guidelines. The FCC was forced to take action and modify its working framework after it lost a key federal appeals court decision last month involving Comcast, the nation’s largest cable company.
This new strategy will establish the commission’s authority to regulate the transmission component of broadband service, but not broadband rates or Internet content, services, applications or electronic commerce sites. Under the Title II “lite” approach, the commission will: Read more
Court Vacates FCC’s Order on Comcast and Net Neutrality
Posted by Jesse Ward on Wednesday, April 7, 2010 · ·
In a landmark decision yesterday, a federal appeals court ruled that the FCC lacks the authority to regulate network management practices, throwing into doubt the agency’s status as watchdog of the Web.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia vacated the FCC’s 2008 decision, concluding that the commission did not have the authority to order Comcast to stop throttling peer-to-peer traffic in the name of network management. The FCC lacked “any statutorily mandated responsibility” to enforce network neutrality rules, wrote Judge David Tatel. Read more
Early Results from the FCC’s Broadband Tests
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, March 22, 2010 · (2) ·
Six days after the FCC launched its broadband speed tests, the commission provided a glimpse into the data it has collected thus far. According to a blog post by the FCC’s Jordan Usdan, more than 150,000 unique users have taken over 300,000 consumer broadband tests, and submitted nearly 4,000 addresses to the Broadband Dead Zone Report – which, just like it sounds, are sites where the consumer has reported lack of broadband access.
About 87% of test takers are home users, which is the FCC’s target audience with this application. Additionally, a clear trend is visible: high bandwidth for larger businesses and community institutions, low bandwidth for mobile connections. (More data is available on the blog posting, including state-by-state information.) Read more
