Clearwire this week changed their terms and conditions governing the use of their service.  The changes are sufficiently materially adverse that subscribers under contract should be able to cancel service, if they wish, without incurring any early termination fee.

The most prominent change is Clearwire’s ability to crack down on whatever they define “excessive usage” to be, and the redefining of ‘unlimited service’ as ‘limited and speed throttled service.’

All-New to the Clearwire Terms & Conditions:

Nature of the Service.The Service provided to you is intended for reasonable, periodic, non-continuous use by a person using a computing device, consistent with the type of use made by a typical individual consumer of our Internet services. Examples of allowed uses of our Service include web surfing, sending and receiving email, sending and receiving photographs, occasional on-line gaming, and the occasional non-continuous streaming of videos and downloading of files. Examples of uses that are not permitted include the continuous unattended streaming, downloading or uploading of videos or other files, maintaining an unattended or continuous uninterrupted connection to the Internet such as through a web camera or machine to machine connections that do not involve active participation by a person, or operating an Internet hosting service such as web hosting or gaming hosting. You may not use the Service in a manner that impairs the user experience of other users, or that otherwise impairs network performance. Both fixed wire-line Internet service and wireless Internet service have limited bandwidth capacity. Like fixed wire-line service, CLEAR’s Service can suffer from congestion and reduced performance when usage by some individuals exceeds the usage of typical individual consumers, thus having a negative impact on the entire network. This AUP is intended to ensure that the activities of a few users do not unfairly impair the activities of all users of the Service.

Clearwire’s unlimited use plans have always carried a clause giving the company the right to terminate or suspend service for exceptionally excessive usage, after several contacts with customers.  The old language:

Unlimited Use Plans. (Effective January 9, 2009)

While the determination of what constitutes excessive use depends on the amountspecific state of data you may download or upload during a monththe network at any given time, you shouldexcessive use will bethat such unlimited” plans are nevertheless subject todetermined by resource consumption and not by the provisionsuse of this AUPany particular application. What this means is that allWhen feasible, upon observation of the provisions described in this AUPan excessive use pattern, including those that describe how Clearwire may perform reasonable network management such as reducingwill attempt to contact you by e-mail at the data ratee-mail address on file or otherwise to alert you to your excessive use of bandwidth intensive users during periodsand to help determine the cause. Clearwire representatives also are available to explain the parameters of congestion, will applythis AUP and to yourhelp you avoid another excessive use incident or to upgrade you to a different class of the Service that comports with your usage. The term unlimited” means that we willIf you are unavailable or do not place a limit on how much datarespond to Clearwire’s attempt to contact you uploadregarding excessive use, or download during a monthif excessive use is ongoing or other particular periodrecurring, howeverClearwire reserves the right, it does not mean that we will not take stepsset forth in the “AUP Enforcement and Notice” provisions below, to reduce your data rate during periods of congestionact immediately and without further notice to restrict, suspend or take other actions described in this AUP whenterminate your usage is negatively impacting other subscribers to our Service.

The new language now permits the company to use “network management” techniques such as reducing your speed if they feel you are excessively using Clearwire’s “unlimited” service.  Although the new language sounds friendlier — deleting references to suspending or terminating your service — Clearwire’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) maintains those rights in another section.  When all is said and done, Clearwire still gets to limit your usage -and- can now also reduce your speed:

Unlimited Use Plans. (Effective November 22, 2009)

If you subscribe to a service plan that does not impose limitsWhile the determination of what constitutes excessive use depends on the amountspecific state of data you may download or upload during a monththe network at any given time, you shouldexcessive use will be aware that such “unlimited” plans are nevertheless subject todetermined by resource consumption and not by the provisionsuse of this AUPany particular application. What this means is that allWhen feasible, upon observation of the provisions described in this AUPan excessive use pattern, including those that describe how Clearwire may perform reasonable network management such as reducingwill attempt to contact you by e-mail at the data ratee-mail address on file or otherwise to alert you to your excessive use of bandwidth intensive users during periodsand to help determine the cause. Clearwire representatives also are available to explain the parameters of congestion, will applythis AUP and to yourhelp you avoid another excessive useincident or to upgrade you to a different class of the Servicethat comports with your usage. The term “unlimited” means that we willIf you are unavailable or do not place a limit on how much datarespond to Clearwire’s attempt to contact you uploadregarding excessive use, or download during a monthif excessive use is ongoing or other particular periodrecurring, howeverClearwire reserves the right, it does not mean that we will not take stepsset forth in the “AUP Enforcement and Notice” provisions below, to reduce your data rate during periods of congestionact immediately and without further notice to restrict, suspend or take other actions described in this AUP whenterminate your usage is negatively impacting other subscribers to our Service.

Clearwire (and the soon-to-be-launched Road Runner Mobile from Time Warner Cable and Comcast’s mobile broadband option) share the same Clearwire WiMax network.  As investors in Clearwire, the cable operators have won the right to rebrand the service to provide a mobile option for their broadband customers.

Customers considering signing up for service should carefully verify the terms and conditions of their contract, as well as the quality of service provided where you expect to use the service the most.  Several websites highly critical of Clearwire have been established with hundreds of upset customers who were promised broadband speeds and barely managed much more than dial-up speeds using the service.

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“Clearwireblows” ran a speed test illustrating serious speed problems using Clearwire in Texas this past April.  (2 minutes)

Customers who wish to end their contract without incurring a cancellation fee can do so following this procedure:

1. Contact Clearwire in writing and inform them you are exercising your right to terminate service without charge or penalty because of materially disadvantageous changes to the Clearwire Terms and Conditions effective November 22, 2009.  Under their terms, you have a right to discontinue service in accordance with the section “Revisions: Reservation of Rights.”  Namely, “…if you do not wish to continue Service after a change that is materially disadvantageous to you, you may terminate this Agreement by providing written notice to Clearwire within twenty (20) days of the effective date of the modification.”  The link above contains contact addresses you may use.
2. Contact customer service by telephone and inform them you have followed the written cancellation procedure outlined above.
3. Be certain to insist Clearwire not charge any termination fees, and that you do not agree to pay any such fees.
4. Should you experience any difficulties, contact the Better Business Bureau as this customer did.  The BBB helped facilitate an immediate cancellation with no termination fees.

Phillip "But I Don't Even Want The Golf Channel" Dampier

Time Warner Cable unveiled a new website this afternoon, RollOverOrGetTough, asking customers whether they want the company to “roll over” and pay the prices cable programmers demand or “get tough” and threaten to drop channels that demand too much.

This, of course, is rich coming from the company that loves to raise your rates every year, overcharge you for your broadband service with experimental usage caps and “consumption billing,” and has had a long history of owning and/or controlling many of those ‘greedy cable networks.’  Oh, and they won’t give you the choice of paying for just the channels you want to watch, either.

Want to send a message to the cable network bad-boys that demand too much?  Give your customers the right to opt out.

The cable industry has fought a long-running battle with cable programming networks over the fees they pay on a per-subscriber basis to carry those channels.  The revenue earned by those networks helps them acquire programming that is attractive to potential viewers, and the advertisers that follow.  Back in the 1970s and 1980s, most cable subscribers spent their time watching local broadcasters, “superstations” — imported TV stations from cities like New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, and premium movie channels.  The basic cable networks back then didn’t run off-network TV shows.  Most ran cheaply produced documentaries, talk shows, imported shows from overseas, limited interest cultural programming, or music videos.  Sports programming rarely involved major teams, or major sporting events for that matter.

By the early 1990s, virtually every basic cable network was either owned outright or in part by one of the major national cable or broadcasting companies.  NBC and ABC dabbled in cable themselves, while CBS steered clear after being burned by a terrible experience with CBS Cable in the early 80s.  Launched as a cultural network devoted to opera, theater, and dance, it shut down a year after launching, having attracted minuscule audiences.

The lesson learned — create or buy programming viewers will actually want to watch.  That takes money, and the fees charged to cable operators for cable networks began rising rapidly.  Suddenly, off-network TV shows viewers used to watch on WPIX, WGN, WWOR, KTLA, or WTBS suddenly started showing up on basic cable instead.  The biggest turning point came when sports networks like ESPN started bidding for, and winning the rights to televise major league sporting events.  Nothing costs more than sports, and broadcast and cable networks have been bidding up prices ever since.

As basic cable networks became popular with viewers, their ability to make demands on cable operators grew exponentially.  Suddenly, certain cable networks demanded they be given low channel numbers, that cable companies had to also carry affiliated spin-off cable networks if they wanted access to their primary service, and that programming must always be carried on basic cable — not on some digital cable tier or other similar extra-cost tier.

For years, cable operators didn’t care too much as they just passed the increases on to customers.  Where could viewers go except to the cable company?  I recall the sticker shock customers had when basic cable first exceeded $20 a month, then $30.  Today it’s headed for $60 a month in many areas.  Cable companies attempted to placate angry customers by adding several new channels to the lineup just prior to the rate hike letter, telling them they were now receiving greater value than ever from their cable company.  The following year, those new channels wanted more money, too.

The “500 channel universe” that sounded promising a decade ago is now a nuisance for many subscribers, irritated they are paying for hundreds of channels they never watch.

[flv width=”480″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WIVB Buffalo Report on TWC Campaign 11-25-09.flv[/flv]

WIVB-TV Buffalo reported on Time Warner Cable’s fight against programming prices, but itself (along with sister station WNLO-TV) was thrown off Time Warner Cable’s cable lineup over a contract dispute for most of October, 2008.  LIN TV Corporation, owner of both stations, had reportedly demanded 25 cents per month per subscriber for permission to carry the stations on cable. (1 minute)

In a difficult economy, justifying a $150-200 cable bill for television, broadband, and phone service is harder than ever.  Consumers want new options.  Satellite television provided limited competition, and a few large phone companies are set to deliver a bit more.  But some subscribers have decided paying this kind of money for television every month is outrageous, and they have finally jumped off the merry-go-round.  Some younger people are never getting on, relying entirely on their broadband service to watch television programs and movies on demand.

Time Warner Cable’s attempt to enlist customers in their sudden war on programming rate increases is likely to be seen by many as a classic pot to kettle cable quandary.  The company that still wants to force Internet Overcharging schemes on their broadband subscribers and is now raising rates in many areas has some chutzpah asking customers to fight for them:

Telus' goats jump for joy as the company wins a favorable ruling in the B.C. courts over Rogers' "misleading" claims about network reliability

Ad wars over wireless data don’t just happen in the States.  Canadian providers have also been at each other over ad claims that just don’t tell consumers the whole story.  That’s the conclusion of a judge in British Columbia, who ruled that Rogers Communications’ wireless ads touting the provider as Canada’s “most reliable” are misleading.

In a court ruling Tuesday, the judge ruled in favor of a complaint lodged by Telus Communications that argued their wireless network was just as good as what Rogers had to offer.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Rogers Stick Internet Fastest Network Ad.flv[/flv]

Rogers “Prove It – Foot Print” Ad touts “Canada’s fastest mobile network.” (30 seconds)

What is really at issue, once again, is the differences between two different wireless network standards.  Rogers beat Telus and Bell in upgrading its network to “High Speed Packet Access” technology, which has been marketed with more familiarity to consumers as “3G.”  Once Rogers launched the service, up went advertising promoting Rogers as the “fastest” and “most reliable” Canadian mobile provider.  Last month, Rogers was forced to drop the “fastest” claim, but has maintained it runs the most “reliable” network in the country.

Now that Telus upgraded their network, they wanted to know what justification Rogers had to claim that.  Telus eventually sued.

Justice Christopher Grauer found Telus had cause.

“The only basis Rogers ever had for making that representation was the comparison between its HSPA network and its competitors’ first-generation EVDO networks,” Grauer wrote in his decision. “Rogers’ representation nevertheless continues to be made. In these circumstances, I conclude that is misleading.”

“What is clear from the evidence before me is that the present network technology is at least equivalent between Rogers and Telus,” the judge wrote.

“The technological advantage that allowed Rogers to represent that it has Canada’s most reliable network has disappeared.”

“I conclude … that the balance of convenience favors the granting of an order restraining Rogers from continuing to represent, without appropriate qualification, that it provides ‘Canada’s most reliable network’.”

The case has some slight similarities to the Verizon-AT&T spat, if you took AT&T’s position in the case.  Rogers, in this case, promoted its 3G network before the others had networks of their own, and used language that suggested that 3G access provided enhanced reliability.  Once the competition also upgraded, Rogers simply added new fine print in their advertising touting that 3G was better than the older network standards their competitors had relied on up until earlier this month.

Rogers claims they are “perplexed” by the decision because they still believe they have the most reliable network.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Rogers Most Reliable Dropped Call Ad.flv[/flv]

Rogers, “Canada’s most reliable network” doesn’t drop calls in elevators, according to this ad. (30 seconds)

There is no “good guy” in this story, however.  Once Bell upgraded their network on November 4th, they promptly began running commercials claiming they have Canada’s best network themselves.

Telus has the cutest… ads that is.  Nobody does cute quite like Telus.  Since 2001, the company has relied mostly on critters to sell their goods.  Among them: pot-bellied pigs, bunnies, tree frogs, monkeys, lizards, ducks, fish, hedgehogs, parrots, meerkats, and perhaps to celebrate their western Canadian roots, lots and lots of goats.

Watch the petting zoo, and some other Canadian wireless ads below:

… Continue Reading

Joost, the troubled online video site launched by the founders of Kazaa and Skype has been quietly sold for an undisclosed sum to an online advertising firm.

Adconion Media Group said Tuesday it acquired both the distribution technology that makes Joost function and the Joost trademark.  The dozen or so remaining employees Joost kept on will become Adconion employees and help the site continue some of its entertainment focus.

Joost’s business plan was based on ad-supported programming, but with the 2008 economic crisis causing the bottom to drop out of online advertising, the company couldn’t sustain itself.  Efforts to refocus on online video delivery for businesses also proved challenging.  Joost has been on the sales block for months, with cable operators Comcast and Time Warner Cable approached about a possible deal.  But both cable operators signed on to the TV Everywhere concept instead.

About 12 Joost employees — the majority — were given jobs at Adconion, which plans to continue operating Joost.com as an entertainment site.  Presumably most of the online advertising that remains will be managed by Adconion itself.

Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, the founders, initially envisioned Joost as a peer to peer sharing site for video, but didn’t fare well at a time when many online video sites had left the peer to peer model behind for direct delivery of video.

Rogers Communications wants you to watch television on your broadband service, but not too much.  The Canadian cable company’s On Demand Online service was previewed Monday at a media event with plans for a public launch on November 30.

On Demand Online will showcase specific television shows as well as the entire lineup of certain channels.  The service has more than a dozen partner networks providing programming, among them TVOntario, Treehouse, Citytv, SuperChannel, and Sportsnet.

Premium programming will be available to Rogers subscribers who also receive those networks as part of their cable television package.  No cable TV package?  No access for you.  (Update: Rogers says it will offer the service to customers of any Rogers service.)  For now, company officials say the service will be available for no additional charge, but will be ad-supported.  Using On Demand Online will count against your usage cap/consumption billing allowance.  The service offers two speeds for viewing – a low resolution 480kbps feed and a higher resolution 1Mbps feed.  Rogers intends to increase the quality of the high resolution service to 2-2.5Mbps in the near future.

Rogers rations your online TV experience with usage allowances that make sure you don't spend too much time online watching shows you should be viewing on your Rogers cable TV service.

Rogers’ usage allowances, a part of their well-established Internet Overcharging scheme, will make it difficult for those already spending a lot of time online to enjoy the service.  Watching the current high speed, higher resolution feed could exceed 1GB of usage in just over two hours according to Digital Home.  That drops in half when Rogers upgrades the quality of the feed.

Customers who blow through their allowance face overlimit penalties and fees on their next bill.

Qualified subscribers will access the service through Rogers’ broadband web portal using established account names and passwords.  While the service will work “on-the-go,” Rogers says it will be keeping an eye out for password sharing and will also impose any viewing limitations required by content producers.  That could mean what is okay to watch in Ontario is not okay in Alberta, due to licensing issues.

Stop the Cap! reader Ibrahim in Toronto wonders how Rogers expects to get a lot of customers excited about a service that will help erode their monthly usage allowance.

“Isn’t is fascinating that Rogers wants to effectively charge you for every hour you watch online when you’ve already paid for the channel on your monthly cable bill?  What’s next, a meter on top of the television set demanding a quarter for every 15 minutes of viewing?” he asks.

Susan in North York wonders why she’ll have to pay for every ad.

“When I read about this service, I thought we were finally going to get something like Hulu here in Canada, but with usage-based billing, who is going to use up their allowance watching shows with ads all over them — ads I am now going to pay to watch,” she wonders.  “I guess it’s newsgroups for me — I can download my shows without ads and pay less.”

While the program content can be fast-forwarded or rewound, commercial advertisements on the service cannot be skipped or hurried through.  Initially, the service is expected to show just one ad per program, but Rogers intends to eventually run the same number of ads consumers would find if watching the program live on television.  With up to 12 minutes of advertising per hour, that also helps slowly eat away your monthly allowance.

What are the monthly usage allowances for Rogers Hi-Speed Internet service?

Ultra Lite – 2 GB
Lite – 25 GB
Express – 60 GB
Extreme  – 95 GB
Extreme Plus – 125 GB

Please note: The grandfathered Ultra Lite and Lite monthly usage allowance is 60 GB. Also, Rogers Portable Internet and dial-up services do not have usage allowances at this time.

Will I be charged if I go beyond my monthly usage allowance?

Yes. If you exceed your monthly usage allowance, you will be charged as follows:

Ultra Lite – $5.00/GB to a maximum of $25.00
Lite – $2.50/GB to a maximum of $25.00
Express – $2.00/GB to a maximum of $25.00
Extreme – $1.50/GB to a maximum of $25.00
Extreme Plus – $1.25/GB to a maximum of $25.00

Please note: the grandfathered Ultra Lite over-allowance fee is $5.00/GB with no maximum, and the grandfathered Lite over-allowance fee is $3.00/GB with no maximum.