Although “soft-launched” several weeks ago in many markets, Time Warner Cable has officially unveiled its holiday gift for 2012: a free 50% speed increase for Standard tier customers: 15/1Mbps service.

The speed increase is now complete across New York, New Jersey, New England, the Carolinas, Virginia and Alabama. Customers can activate the higher speed by briefly unplugging their cable modem for 10 seconds, plugging the cord back in, and in some cases rebooting their computer.

Customers outside of these areas can try this as well. Stop the Cap! has received reports from readers in the midwest, Texas, and California that the speed increase has arrived in their areas as well. All Time Warner Cable systems across the country should be providing the new speed by the end of this month.

Earthlink customers using Time Warner Cable should also see an identical speed increase.

Some Time Warner Cable customers are only now getting upgrades to DOCSIS 3 service, which open the door to 30/5 and 50/5Mbps speed tiers. The latest: Binghamton, N.Y. and surrounding southern tier communities. Customers further upstate have had that option for 1-2 years.

Although Americans are paying higher cell phone bills than ever before, some of America’s largest wireless providers have been saving a fortune, enjoying near-tax-free status thanks to an economic stimulus package that allowed companies to write off expenses associated with expanding their businesses.

Under accelerated depreciation, both AT&T and Verizon have been able to slash tax obligations by claiming deductions for capital investments most analysts believe they would have made with or without the income tax windfall. Despite this, both companies have raised prices and have cut jobs and employee benefits.

Washington lawmakers are now debating tax policies that could reduce or end corporate subsidies and raise their tax payments.

The stimulus incentives were designed to promote spending and investment by large corporations retrenching in the face of the Great Recession. Through a combination of special interest amendments guaranteed to favor certain businesses and creative accounting, the two largest wireless companies in the country wrote off investments originally planned before the stimulus package was enacted.

Without the corporate welfare package, telecom analyst Craig Moffett predicted AT&T would have paid a 35% tax rate over the past four years, amounting to $29.3 billion in taxes. Instead, it paid $13.3 billion total. Last year it paid 0% — nothing.

Verizon Wireless has skirted around its tax bill thanks to its offshore partner Vodafone. By shifting certain money overseas, and through other creative measures, Verizon ended up paying a 6% tax rate — $1.3 billion total taxes in four years. Not bad for America’s largest wireless operator. Two years ago, Verizon was estimated to have paid nothing at all.

Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy claim corporate tax subsidies effectively cost taxpayers $14.5 billion for AT&T and $12.3 billion for Verizon Wireless over the past four years. Only one company benefited more than AT&T and Verizon: mortgage underwriter Wells Fargo.

If the ability to take accelerated depreciation were to be withdrawn in current tax negotiations, AT&T and Verizon would both find themselves paying taxes at rates comparable to many upper-middle class Americans.

AT&T would see its tax rate rise from 13.3% in 2013 to 29 percent by 2016. Verizon will pay 25% in 2013 and 27% by 2016. Both companies would still continue to aggressively pursue loopholes and other write-offs, including larger contributions to both companies’ pension plans which would reduce cash liabilities.

Verizon and Redbox will launch an unlimited online video streaming service next year that will undercut Netflix’s monthly subscription price and offer discounts off movies rented from Redbox’s ubiquitous DVD kiosks.

Details emerged about Redbox Instant when GigaOm discovered the online help section intended to assist beta test customers was initially available to the public.

Some of the points GigaOM uncovered:

• Subscriptions start at $6 a month, but the number of movies and TV shows available will be considerably smaller than what Netflix offers. There will also be a considerable amount of title duplication between Netflix, Amazon Video, and Redbox Instant;
• For $8 a month, the service will also bundle four Redbox credits redeemable for kiosk rentals, with movie reservations taken online and through mobile apps. Unused credits expire at the end of the month;
• In addition to online viewing, customers can also watch on Android/iOS devices, Xbox 360 and select Samsung Smart TVs and Blu-ray players;
• Newer titles will be available on-demand starting at $0.99 each;

Redbox is accepting e-mail addresses of potential customers interested in more information about the service. It is very possible the venture will expand its beta test, inviting those pre-registered to try the service before it is formally introduced to the public.

Some investors on Wall Street have gotten increasingly jittery about Netflix’s largest competitors, because all of them operate diverse businesses that can help subsidize entertainment licensing costs and still undercut Netflix pricing. Amazon charges $79 a year for its Amazon Prime + Video service. Comcast offers its service at $4.99 per month. Netflix has already been under pressure to raise prices even before signing an exclusive streaming deal with Disney estimated at a value of $300 million per year.

“That figure is ironic to say the least because $300 million is what Starz demanded of Netflix 15 months ago as condition for renewal of that exclusive arrangement, and Netflix turned that bid down,” said Eric Savitz in Forbes. “Now, it appears Netflix is paying $300 million per year for the Disney-branded content which would have been on Starzplay in the first place.”

In spring of this year, rural Canadian access to the Inukshuk Wireless system was terminated, forcing many to usage-capped wireless plans from companies like Rogers Communications that cost a lot more.

Kevin, a Stop the Cap! reader dropped us a line this week to remind Canadians they don’t have to pay Bell, Rogers or Telus big dollars for a small wireless usage allowance.

“After a bit of shopping, I signed up for WIND Wireless and it has been a positive experience,” Kevin writes. “Their customers service is leaps and bounds better than the big three and I get 10GB of usage for $35 a month.”

Once Kevin exhausts his usage allowance, he keeps right on browsing because Wind does not charge overlimit fees — they throttle speeds downwards, but not to the punishing dial-up-like speeds of most other providers.

“I’ve streamed music and video after I’ve hit 10GB,” Kevin writes, although he admits YouTube can be a bit problematic with buffering issues at the slower speeds.

Kevin says if he stuck with Rogers he would be paying them around $195 a month for the same usage he pays $35 for with WIND.

“Who cares about the speed of Rogers’ LTE network when you pay that much,” Kevin adds.

WIND Mobile is one of a handful of upstart independent cell phone providers challenging the dominance of incumbent telecommunications companies that have set the standards for high Canadian broadband pricing and low usage caps. Kevin wishes more Canadians would consider switching away from dominant providers to send them a message they have to compete with lower prices and better service.

A source today told Broadband Reports Charter Communications plans to eliminate the company’s social media department that handles customer complaints and concerns on Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere in a broader move to cut costs.

Charter’s social media team

The insider reports company executives informed the Umatter2Charter social media team in Town and Country, Mo. they could move to new positions at Charter’s customer call center or leave the company starting Jan. 1.

The source claims Charter’s new management team of mostly ex-Cablevision executives is behind the decision.

Charter Communications’ decision to scale back on customer relations comes even though the company is regarded as one of the nation’s worst cable operators by customers who give it poor marks year after year.

Investors don’t think too highly of the company either. Charter reported a wider third-quarter loss in November, losing $87 million compared with $85 million lost during the same quarter last year. Executives tell Wall Street  the company was in chaos before new management under Tom Rutledge took over operations. Rutledge’s priorities are to invest in new set top boxes, convert more of its systems to digital, raise prices on services, cut back on promotions and retention offers, and centralize customer support operations.

That centralization process seems to be the reason behind the change.

“Charter will no longer have a customer care team tasked specifically with resolving matters raised on social media,” Charter’s social media manager Eric Ketzer told Broadband Reports. “We communicate with thousands of customers each day on the phone and in person, and that’s where we’ll focus our efforts.”