Recent Headlines
October 2, 2009
Be Sure to Read Part One: Astroturf Overload — Broadband for America = One Giant Industry Front Group for an important introduction to what this super-sized industry front group is all about. Members of Broadband for America Red: A company or group actively engaging in anti-consumer lobbying, opposes Net Neutrality, supports Internet Overcharging, belongs to […]
October 2, 2009
Astroturf: One of the underhanded tactics increasingly being used by telecom companies is “Astroturf lobbying” – creating front groups that try to mimic true grassroots, but that are all about corporate money, not citizen power. Astroturf lobbying is hardly a new approach. Senator Lloyd Bentsen is credited with coining the term in the 1980s to […]
September 27, 2009
Hong Kong remains bullish on broadband. Despite the economic downturn, City Telecom continues to invest millions in constructing one of Hong Kong’s largest fiber optic broadband networks, providing fiber to the home connections to residents. City Telecom’s HK Broadband service relies on an all-fiber optic network, and has been dubbed “the Verizon FiOS of Hong […]
September 23, 2009
BendBroadband, a small provider serving central Oregon, breathlessly announced the imminent launch of new higher speed broadband service for its customers after completing an upgrade to DOCSIS 3. Along with the launch announcement came a new logo of a sprinting dog the company attaches its new tagline to: “We’re the local dog. We better be […]
September 23, 2009
Stop the Cap! reader Rick has been educating me about some of the new-found aggression by Shaw Communications, one of western Canada’s largest telecommunications companies, in expanding its business reach across Canada. Woe to those who get in the way. Novus Entertainment is already familiar with this story. As Stop the Cap! reported previously, Shaw […]
September 22, 2009
The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission, the Canadian equivalent of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, may be forced to consider American broadband policy before defining Net Neutrality and its role in Canadian broadband, according to an article published today in The Globe & Mail. [FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s] proposal – to codify and enforce some […]
September 21, 2009
In March 2000, two cable magnates sat down for the cable industry equivalent of My Dinner With Andre. Fine wine, beautiful table linens, an exquisite meal, and a Monopoly board with pieces swapped back and forth representing hundreds of thousands of Canadian consumers. Ted Rogers and Jim Shaw drew a line on the western Ontario […]
September 11, 2009
Just like FairPoint Communications, the Towering Inferno of phone companies haunting New England, Frontier Communications is making a whole lot of promises to state regulators and consumers, if they’ll only support the deal to transfer ownership of phone service from Verizon to them. This time, Frontier is issuing a self-serving press release touting their investment […]
September 7, 2009
I see it took all of five minutes for George Ou and his friends at Digital Society to be swayed by the tunnel vision myopia of last week’s latest effort to justify Internet Overcharging schemes. Until recently, I’ve always rationalized my distain for smaller usage caps by ignoring the fact that I’m being subsidized by […]
September 1, 2009
In 2007, we took our first major trip away from western New York in 20 years and spent two weeks an hour away from Calgary, Alberta. After two weeks in Kananaskis Country, Banff, Calgary, and other spots all over southern Alberta, we came away with the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The Good Alberta […]
August 31, 2009
A federal appeals court in Washington has struck down, for a second time, a rulemaking by the Federal Communications Commission to limit the size of the nation’s largest cable operators to 30% of the nation’s pay television marketplace, calling the rule “arbitrary and capricious.” The 30% rule, designed to keep no single company from controlling […]
August 27, 2009
Less than half of Americans surveyed by PC Magazine report they are very satisfied with the broadband speed delivered by their Internet service provider. PC Magazine released a comprehensive study this month on speed, provider satisfaction, and consumer opinions about the state of broadband in their community. The publisher sampled more than 17,000 participants, checking […]
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———————————————————- The ATT Ten Commandments of Usage Caps ———————————————————- Thou shall take my cap onto your heart so that you may benefit. Thou shall not have any other content provider before me. Thou shall not have any right to Internet access that is not apportioned to you by me. Thou shall not covet thy neighbors Internet nor covet Internet access in more advanced societies. Thou shall show steadfast love for me and render onto me all that thine possess in reverence thereof. Thou shall not turn to false prophets that preach a free Internet. Thou shall kneel to my power… Read more »
Great video! Thank-you!!!!! LOVED IT!!!
Beautiful!
I agree Jane, especially because it is far less long-winded than some of my articles are. It’s a great way to introduce someone to this issue without having to dig too deep, although most customers despise usage caps and UBB the moment they hear about them. Tomorrow, we begin a greater pushback against AT&T for theirs, starting with challenging some of the shallow reporting we’ve seen about this issue. Too many reporters are willing to recite provider talking points unchallenged. As we’ve taught consumers since day one, the moment you concede UBB is about “fairness,” you are your wallet have… Read more »
Okay, can we go to Congress and just play this video in front of everyone on a big screen? I think even those guy can completely understand the scam now just from watching that.
What I really dislike about these caps is that AT&T wants its customers tethered to 200 channels stuffed full of aggravating, demoralizing, and completely unwanted commercials. Trying listening to a FM radio channel and you will spend most of your time listening to advertising. Unfortunately, most of AT&T’s 200 hundred channels have the same problem – an obnoxiously high advertising content such that nothing is really worth watching anymore unless it’s seen from a recorded show that can be fast forwarded during the commercial breaks. This is what AT&T is protecting and this is the true end result that we… Read more »