Time Warner Cable is convinced subscribers are confused about the enormous number of channels that occupy today’s cable dials.  With today’s rapid growth in HD channels, the cable company is introducing some dramatic channel realignments for its customers in the Carolinas.

Next month, customers in the Triangle will join Time Warner Cable’s Common Digital Lineup, a project to align channel assignments throughout the two states.  When complete, all digital channels will be located in the same place on the dial throughout the Carolinas.  The company is also switching to a theme-based channel lineup.  Each category will have its respective channels grouped together.  Among them: news, general entertainment, sports, children’s programming, music, and movies.

For those in the northeastern states, this doesn’t represent anything new for the cable company — Time Warner Cable systems in New York, for example, have grouped digital channels into categories for years.

But the Carolinas realignment does make it considerably easier to locate HD channels, which will be aligned with their standard definition counterparts.  For example, CNN will soon be found throughout the Carolinas on channel 400.  Finding CNN HD becomes effortless – just put a “1” in front of the channel number — 1400.  The Disney Channel is on channel 200.  Disney Channel HD is easy enough to find — it’s now on channel 1200.  Even local channels are easier to deal with.  In Greensboro, for example, WXII, the NBC affiliate, will be on channel 120 for standard definition viewing or channel 1120 for HD viewing.

Complete channel lineup guides for the Carolinas are available from Time Warner Cable’s website.

[flv width=”432″ height=”260″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/News 14 Carolina In Depth Melissa Buscher TWC digital lineup changes 3-2010.flv[/flv]

Time Warner Cable’s House Organ, News 14 Carolina, delivers plenty of airtime to spokeswoman Melissa Buscher, who gushes about the channel alignment changes completed in Charlotte this past March.  (3 minutes)

The new lineup will take effect for North Carolina customers on the following dates:

Raleigh Area
Fayetteville, Dunn, Fort Bragg, Wilson, Southern Pines	6/2
Farmville, Garner, Selma, Goldsboro, Seymour Johnson, Cary, Raleigh, Wake Forest, Youngsville, East Wake County	6/8
Henderson, Bunn,  Carrboro, Durham, Chapel Hill	6/16
Greensboro Area
Lexington/Davidson County	6/14
Winston-Salem, Forsyth, Bermuda, Run, Tomalex, Yadkin, Yadkinville, Surry, Stokes, Dobson, Mocksville, Mt. Airy, Elkin, King	6/16
Mebane, Alamance, Burlington, Greensboro, High Point, Archdale, Asheboro, Randolph County, Candor, Biscoe, Star, Rockingham	6/22

The new channel lineup will be grouped as follows:

• 100’s – Local Broadcasters & Local Programming
• 200’s – Kids & Family, Learning & Discovery, Faith & Inspiration
• 300’s – Entertainment, Home & Leisure, Shopping
• 400’s – News & Information, Music
• 500’s – Sports
• 600’s – Movies
• 700’s – Premiums, Pay-Per-View Events
• 800’s – International
• 900’s – Music Choice
• 1000’s – On Demand
• 1100 and above- High Definition

Meanwhile, a lot of other Time Warner customers would prefer to share their continued displeasure with Time Warner’s “new and improved” program guide and DVR configuration menus.  Mystro Navigator has mystified a large number of customers who can’t stand the software and don’t understand why Time Warner radically changed it in the first place.

One Raleigh customer complains the software upgrade turned his DVR’s fast forward and rewind buttons into mud.  The upgrade dropped the 4x fast forward option which rapidly scanned through recorded programming.  Fast forwarding through commercials has become a nightmare because the box automatically rewinds about 10-20 seconds behind the point where the customer stopped fast-forwarding.

Buffalo and Rochester, New York customers have also given the software a hostile reception.  Some customers in Buffalo have canceled Time Warner Cable over the upgrade and switched to Verizon FiOS. In Rochester, a few residents have noted it has become much more difficult to manage manual recordings or setting the DVR up to record series properly.  The most common complaints:

• No apparent “jump to end” in playback
• Fast forward and rewind are not accurate
• Finding shows by title is laborious at best
• Recording shows and series has become needlessly complex by the changed menu structure
• No apparent 4x fast forward and reverse
• Program descriptions are heavily truncated on DVR recordings
• Erasing and managing recorded shows often drops you out of the DVR menu
• DVR recording is not consistent
• Configuring Navigator to work with HD sets is confusing for the uninitiated
• Extremely sluggish channel changing, responsiveness

Dealing with Navigator and the Time Warner Cable remote control, especially in the dark, should be an Olympic event.  One Buffalo resident has thrown up his hands:

Time Warner reminds me of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Both have severe technology handicaps. I watched the governor get fired on The Apprentice because he couldn’t use a cell phone or send an email or use the simplest technology.

Time Warner can’t seem to design a clicker that works. Mine has 63 buttons and looks like part of a 767 cockpit console. Hello? All I want is channel, volume and on/off.

The Time Warner remote doesn’t have a single on/off button — it has two – a ‘system’ and a “power” button. The engineer who designed that monstrosity should be dragged through the streets by a mob of angry senior citizens who must fumble with that thing every day.

Some tips have been circulating informally among Time Warner Cable engineers about how to deal with Navigator’s temperamental behavior:

Navigator Guide Data:

1. Newly installed or downloaded guides can take up to 24 hours for all seven days of guide data to populate. In many cases, new installs may only go out by three days until a full 24 hours have completed.
2. When Setting Up Series Recording for your first week with Navigator: (and even thereafter if you can help it) DO NOT DELETE SHOWS IN THE MIDDLE OF RECORDING THEM! Let Navigator do at least one complete recording of a series. If you need to delete a series, do it through the Series Manager, but before the recording starts. If you delete a series in the middle of recording it, Navigator will think it made an error, and will keep looking out for more episodes to record of that series.
3. Navigator needs to see AT LEAST ONE instance of a series for the populated guide data to be able to record it. Remember, under Record Series With Options you can set up on what channel(s) the series should record, the number of episodes to keep, and set series priorities.

[flv width=”480″ height=”340″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Time Warner Cable Dealing with Navigator 5-2010.flv[/flv]

Time Warner Cable produced these two videos to assist Navigator customers trying to understand how to record programming or set up their televisions to properly display cable programming.  (3 minutes)

The maneuvering over Apple’s leaked iPhone prototype continues behind the scenes even after the story itself has become yesterday’s news.  Taking time out from our usual coverage, the intrigue surrounding the iPhone leak caper is worth pondering.

For the players directly involved, the legal expenses continue to mount.  On Friday, a San Mateo, California county judge ordered the release of the search warrant (and its supporting affidavit) that led to the seizure of equipment at the home of a Gizmodo reporter who broke the story of the prototype-iPhone-gone-missing.

The documents are a fascinating read into a drama ready-made for a first season episode of the forthcoming Law & Order: Los Angeles.

The Players

Apple Engineer Robert “Gray” Powell — There’s No App to Fix This

The hapless victim.  On March 25th, his life would change after leaving a prototype Apple iPhone behind at the Gourmet Haus Staudt restaurant in Redwood City, California. This would be slightly more stressful for him than if you or I left our keys or cell phone at a restaurant.  It was, after all, a product from one of the world’s most secretive tech companies — Apple.

But who hasn’t left a phone, keys, glasses, or some other personal property behind in a public place at one time or another?

Brian Hogan — The Guy You Don’t Want Finding Your Lost Cat: He’d Sell Chairman Meow on eBay

Unfortunately for Powell, the guy who found his missing phone was the less-than-honorable Brian Hogan, 21.

According to the affidavit, the story of what happened next comes from his roommate Katherine Martinson:

Martinson said [Hogan] told her he found an iPhone while visiting the restaurant.  Hogan told her that he was drinking with friends when an intoxicated male tried to give him an iPhone that was left on a stool, incorrectly believing it belonged to Hogan.  Hogan told Martinson he remained at the bar “a little longer,” but no one claimed the phone.

Let’s stop at this point at ponder what Hogan’s options were.

1. He could have told the intoxicated individual the phone did not belong to him and to give it to a restaurant employee to secure.
2. He could have turned the phone in before leaving when nobody claimed it.

Did he do either?  No.

According to the affidavit, he instead took the phone home with him and began playing with it.

But Hogan was less interested in ascertaining the ownership of the phone than he was discovering the phone’s apparent secrets, evident from a new forward-facing camera.  The following afternoon, Hogan was trying to impress Martinson with his technical knowledge — this was no ordinary iPhone he told her.  The night before, Hogan learned the phone’s true owner was Powell, whose Facebook page was on the phone.

By then, the phone had stopped working and both believed Apple had remotely wiped out the contents of the phone and disabled it.  Why would Powell have a prototype iPhone they pondered.

They both began searching for more information about who Powell was, quickly discovering from his LinkedIn page that he was an Apple engineer.

Confident that he now possessed a goldmine, the affidavit notes Hogan began a bidding war between Gizmodo, Engadget, and PC World over who would pay him the most to own what police officials would soon describe as “stolen property.”

Katherine Martinson: The Roomate That Thought Twice

The police document states that Gizmodo’s Jason Chen offered Hogan $10,000 for the phone, a fact that stunned Martinson.  As a deal appeared imminent, Martinson decided the entire affair had some real world consequences and began urging Hogan to drop the plan.

Martinson and several of Hogan’s friends urged him not to proceed because it would ultimately “ruin (Powell’s) career.”  Hogan was unimpressed with those arguments.

According to Martinson:

Hogan’s response was, “Sucks for him. He lost his phone. Shouldn’t have lost his phone.”

Martinson said Hogan later showed her a camera box stuffed with $5,000 in $100 Treasury bills.  He claimed an additional bonus would be forthcoming if and when Apple released the next iPhone.

Martinson, confronted with a roommate showing her a wad of money stuffed clandestinely into a box, decided that was the last straw.

Earlier, she had learned Hogan connected the prototype iPhone to her computer without permission.  Martinson was convinced that action would eventually allow Apple to track their missing phone back to her, based on her Internet connection’s IP address.

Martinson called Apple’s director of Information Security, Rick Orloff.  She wanted to clear the air, in part to protect herself from being considered an accomplice in the scheme.

When Hogan got wind of the investigation, the affidavit alleges, both he and his other roommate Thomas Warner are alleged to have started removing evidence from their residence, reportedly to dispose of it.  Martinson phoned the detective who was preparing to serve a search warrant on their home to inform him of the hasty retreat to remove potentially incriminating evidence.

Police would later discover evidence scattered across the area, ranging from Hogan’s computer left in front of an office door at an area church, flash memory cards thrown into bushes, and an iPhone identification sticker found at a gas station parking lot.

Gizmodo: Is Buying Stolen Property for a Story Journalism?

The story of Apple’s newest iPhone was broken by Gizmodo April 19th in a story that didn’t explain to readers they paid a hefty finder’s fee to Hogan after the bidding ended.

Even in an accompanying article explaining the “find,” only after Gizmodo’s parent company Gawker exposed the payment did they tell readers a $5,000 payment made it all possible.

Pundits and journalism experts questioned the propriety of Gawker’s methods. Denton has acknowledged that he agreed to pay US$5,000 to the person who possessed the phone after it was reportedly lost in a San Francisco Bay Area bar by an Apple employee. One publication has even noted that Gawker may have violated California laws on the buying of “stolen property.”

Denton acknowledges paying for the phone, knowing that he knew the person he was handing the money to wasn’t the owner. “That’s what the media ethicists are focused on,” Denton told CNET. “Most of the readers are either excited about the new iPhone or angry on behalf of the unfortunate Gray Powell [the Apple employee who Gizmodo said lost the phone].”

The journalism experts appear to be right.

There are some open questions about the propriety of the entire transaction, but documents released Friday also expose some additional questions about whether or not Gizmodo maintains a firewall between itself and the subjects and companies it writes about.

Included in the revealing documents were two e-mails represented as originating from Gizmodo’s own staff.

Brian Lam, editorial director, actually appears to be suggesting media strategies to Apple’s Steve Jobs about how to handle the inconvenient revelation about the prototype iPhone, a basic Journalism 101 no-no.  He even writes that Apple’s PR department had given Gizmodo the cold shoulder recently, and that hurt his ability to report on the company.  While not directly appealing for a quid-pro-quo, it absolutely raises ethical eyebrows when an editor complains about access while also negotiating the return of a stolen prototype iPhone, a product of what he calls “very aggressive” reporting.

Some excerpts:

• “Maybe Apple can say it’s a lost phone, but not one you’ve confirmed for production — that it is merely a test unit of sorts.”
• “Gizmodo lives or dies like many small companies do.  We don’t have access, or when we do, we get it taken away.”
• “Right now we have nothing to lose.  The this is, Apple PR has been cold to us lately. It affected my ability to do my job right at iPad launch.  So we had to go outside and find our stories like this one, very aggressively.”
• “I want to not hurt your sales when the products themselves deserve love.”
• “I want to work closer with Apple, too.”

Law enforcement did not consider Gizmodo’s exclusive revelations the online equivalent of 60 Minutes.  San Mateo police promptly served a search warrant on Gizmodo’s Jason Chen, indicating there was evidence to believe he possessed property gained from the commission of a felony, and that he purchased stolen property, which was subsequently damaged.

A search warrant executed April 23rd resulted in the seizure of 22 items at Chen’s home, mostly computer related.

Apple’s Legal Team Begins Adding Up the Damages

Meanwhile, Apple’s legal team commenced their strategy to suggest the premature release of information about the next generation iPhone seriously wounded Apple.

George Riley, a lawyer from the O’Melveny and Myers, which represents Apple:

By publishing details about the phone and its features, sales of current Apple products are hurt wherein people that would have otherwise purchased a currently existing Apple product would wait for the next item to be released, thereby hurting overall sales and negatively affecting Apple’s earnings.

When asked to assign a dollar figure to Apple’s losses, Riley said he couldn’t, but it “was huge.”  When asked if the stolen iPhone was worth at least $8,500, Riley told investigators it was.

Of course, the costs in lost PR from the forthcoming Steve Jobs’ media splash introducing the newest iPhone probably hurt most of all.

Apple will survive this drama.  But the affair suggests that new media needs to consider the ethical implications of paying for news and readers deserve to know the details along the way.

[flv width=”600″ height=”358″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KGO San Francisco Apple iPhone Caper April-May 2010.flv[/flv]

KGO-TV in San Francisco ran the most comprehensive coverage over the course of the entire iPhone caper.  In this video, running 18 minutes:

• Pictures of purported next-gen iPhone reach Web (4-20-2010)
• What iPhone prototype bar snafu means for Apple (4-20-2010)
• Exposing next-gen iPhone online leads to investigation (4-27-10)
• Apple IDs person who found iPhone prototype (4-28-10)
• Young man who found lost iPhone has regrets (4-30-10)
• Another iPhone prototype surfaces (5-12-10)
• Judge unseals warrant in lost iPhone investigation (5-14-10)

See more video below the jump.

… Continue Reading

Hollywood studios have a proposition to make.

How would you like to gain access to the latest Hollywood releases on your cable, satellite, or broadband connection even while those movies are still playing in area theaters?

The Motion Picture Association of America says it’s willing to let you watch first-run Hollywood blockbusters from home, but in return, they want the right to control what you can do with your television set.

Time’s up for you to make up your mind.  The Federal Communications Commission has decided you were going to say “yes” to this proposition anyway, so they went ahead and approved it on your behalf.

Specifically, the MPAA appealed to the Federal Communications Commission to get approval for its proposed Selectable Output Control technology.  You probably never heard of that, but the concept actually has been around for a few years now.  When movie studios float trial balloons about enabling the technology, public interest and consumer groups start hollering and it typically gets shelved for awhile.  Not this time.

While the public policy debate continued, chances are the manufacturer of your television set or monitor manufactured after 2004 has probably already included some support for SOC — just waiting to hand over control of your television to Hollywood studios, cable, satellite, or IPTV companies.  On May 7th, while we were debating Net Neutrality, the FCC released its order approving the Hollywood Remote Control Confiscation Act (my name sounds far better than the FCC’s — Petition for Waiver of the Commission’s Prohibition on the Use of Selectable Output Control.)

Here’s how it works:

Let’s say your cable company wants to offer you Iron Man II through pay-per-view starting today.  It’s a movie currently playing in many theaters nationwide.  The MPAA believes there is compelling demand among the elderly, the home-bound, and the too-lazy-to-haul-themselves-to-the-Movieplex to make it available in the comfort of your own home on early pay per view.  However, Hollywood and your local cable company don’t want you making copies of the movie to hand out to all your friends.  With SOC technology, that becomes less of a problem because the cable company can selectively disable the outputs on the back of your television that don’t use copy control technology.  That means old fashioned analog outputs can be disabled for up to 90 days during SOC-enabled programming, making sure you cannot record any of the content without the approval of the studio or your cable company.

Certain digital outputs will still function, as long as they support robust anti-recording/copying technology.  No more time-shifting SOC-protected content on digital video recorders to watch later, no more analog VCR taping of shows the industry doesn’t believe you have a right to record anyway.

For decades, Americans have fought for fair use rights that permit home recording and copying for personal use.  The entertainment industry has never fully accepted that, and have eroded away the ability for consumers to make legitimate personal use of content they have already purchased with digital rights management schemes, copy protection, region coding, and other limiting technologies.

SOC technology effectively forfeits all of your rights.  The only consumer protection the FCC provides is a requirement that your cable, satellite, or broadband provider warn you when they are employing SOC anti-recording technology.  At least you’ll know when your home recording rights are being trampled.

If your television set doesn’t have support for SOC built-in, the FCC just made your television set obsolete.  Write and thank them.  While initial deployment of SOC is only expected to be used for “early pay per view,” don’t believe for a moment such powerful controlling technology available to entertainment companies won’t be used in the future for other types of content they don’t want you recording.  Premium movie channels like HBO or Cinemax would be obvious examples.  TV networks that would like to sell you their network shows on DVD or through online services might find it worth their while to disable your ability to record your favorite shows.  If you don’t have an SOC-capable set, it’s likely you won’t be able to access protected programming at all.

With the ongoing convergence of broadband, television, and other forms of home entertainment distribution, SOC is a foot in the door to permit third parties to make decisions about how you can view or use content you’ve already paid to receive.  That’s a bad precedent.  The FCC approval of this gift to the entertainment industry is a travesty that needs to be reversed.

[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KCTV Kansas City FCC Ruling Could Bring New Movies Into Homes 5-16-10.flv[/flv]

KCTV-TV in Kansas City ignored the consumer’s loss of control over their own television set to focus instead on the implications for theater owners, who may become natural allies with consumers in opposition of SOC.  (1 minute)

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Public Knowledge – Selectable Output Control.flv[/flv]

Public Knowledge developed this web-ready video that takes a less formal look at SOC and its impact on your consumer rights.  (3 minutes)

West Virginia residents are assured of an indefinite future with 1-3Mbps usage-capped “broadband” as Frontier won conditional approval of its plan to assume control of the majority of the state’s landlines.

Frontier Communications, the phone company with the 5 gigabyte monthly acceptable usage allowance, won approval from West Virginia’s Public Service Commission after nearly a year of opposition from several unions and consumer advocacy groups.  The opposition, led by the Communications Workers of America, charged that Frontier’s balance sheet made it impossible for the company to fulfill promises to deliver quality phone and broadband service to the majority of the state’s residents.  Consumer groups, including Stop the Cap!, argued Frontier’s DSL broadband service is inadequate for the state’s needs, because it typically only provides 1-3Mbps speed and is usage-limited for residential customers.

Verizon’s history of bad service in the state helped drive some to believe Frontier can do better

Verizon’s West Virginia division has frequently achieved a poor rating among many West Virginians upset with the company’s service record and broadband deployment.  Last Monday, the PSC announced that Verizon’s service in the state was so poor, it ordered the company to place $72.4 million in an irrevocable escrow account to be used to improve the quality of service.  The PSC found Verizon’s disinterest in delivering service in West Virginia had resulted in the deterioration of Verizon’s essential infrastructure.

The PSC-ordered escrow account will be used to maintain and improve everything from restoring copper wiring to vegetation control and pole replacement.

With a history of complaints like that, it comes as no surprise West Virginians are ready to wave goodbye to Verizon, hoping for better times with Frontier Communications.

Bray Cary, a TV station owner in West Virginia, has hosted editorials on his network of local stations across the state promoting the transaction, believing it will bring a better future for the state’s telecommunications needs.  Just two weeks ago, he demanded the PSC make a decision on the proposed merger, claiming the state needs a “modern, cutting edge communication system that will bring high-speed Internet to every corner of this state.”  Unfortunately for Cary, there is nothing from Frontier that comes close to “cutting edge,” with the exception of the company’s brazen Internet Overcharging scheme now being tested in Minnesota that threatens to bring $250 monthly broadband bills to some residents.

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WOWK Charleston State Must Act on Verizon-Frontier Deal 5-4-10.flv[/flv]

WOWK-TV’s Bray Cary criticized the West Virginia Public Service Commission for stalling on a decision to move forward the Verizon-Frontier landline transfer in the state.  Just about ten days later, the PSC conditionally approved the deal.  [Video problems were a part of the original clip] (Aired: May 4, 2010 — 1 minute)

Frontier specializes in delivering slow-speed DSL service to most of its rural service areas, usually less than 3Mbps in speed.  Even in its largest service area, Rochester, N.Y., the company’s broadband options are an also-ran against the far faster and more reliable cable modem service from Time Warner Cable, which also beats Frontier’s out-the-door price.

Unfortunately, West Virginian media has never given important details to residents about the specific services Frontier is willing and able to offer residential customers.  It also never informed customers about the important limitations the company attaches to its “high speed Internet” Cary hopes to see available in every corner of the state.

Sometimes change for change’s sake is not an improvement.

The PSC attaches conditions to its approval

The Commission did not grant blanket approval to the transaction.  The PSC is requiring that Frontier:

• Honors all existing obligations of Verizon following the close of the sale, including the currently effective Retail Quality Service Plan approved by the Commission to continue through at least July 2, 2011.
• Makes capital investments in Verizon of $30 million during the second half of 2010, $75 million in 2011 (including $12 million targeted at service quality), $63 million in 2012 and $63 million in 2013.
• Makes additional capital investments of at least $48 million to increase broadband deployment and subscription in the Verizon service territory.
• Expands broadband availability in Verizon service areas so that by no later than the end of the fourth year following the close of the sale, access to broadband service will be available to no less than 85 percent of the households within Verizon service areas.
• Locates its Southeast regional headquarters in Charleston, WV, after closing the sale. Charleston will be Frontier’s Southeastern regional headquarters, and will be a major employment center for Frontier in the region. It will be the hub for engineering, technical, operation and executive personnel for Frontier’s operations in West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
• Adopts all of Verizon’s tariffs, price lists and contracts, including long distance, under the same terms and conditions at closing.
• Caps all regulated rates subject to jurisdiction of the Commission for one year after close of the transaction.
• Provides E-911 functionality provided by Verizon prior to close.
• Waives early termination fees for current Verizon customers participating in a Verizon bundled service package for the first 90 days after closing.

Reactions from all over

“We’re pleased the commission has approved the transaction. The record developed in this case provides comprehensive evidence and assurances that the transaction with Frontier Communications is in the public interest and will provide many benefits to West Virginia residents, including increased investment and broadband availability in the state, while protecting jobs and promoting employment.”

— Verizon-West Virginia President B. Keith Fulton

“We’re in the process of evaluating the order. After full review we’ll look at what we can do that will best serve West Virginia consumers and CWA members. Of course, we’re disappointed but we’re heartened by the fact that at least one person on the three-member commission agreed with us and more than 80 legislators, several county commissions and a broad coalition of consumer, union and first responder organizations that this deal is too risky and not in the public’s interest. The split decision shows our arguments about the deal had validity.”

— Communications Workers of America, District 2 Vice President Ron Collins

“There are many areas of West Virginia that will always be dependent on landlines, absent some sea of change in technology. Those are the people I’m most concerned about. They’re the truly captive customers of now Verizon and, in the future, Frontier.”

— West Virginia Public Service Commission’s consumer advocate Byron Harris

“We’ve seen how Wall Street’s investments can backfire. Like Frontier today, Wall Street once put its confidence in Global Crossing and that led to a disastrous bankruptcy. We’re concerned that the Rochester-area and other existing Frontier properties may be starved to fund this expansion.”

— John Pusloskie, President of CWA Local 1170 in Rochester, N.Y.

“Today’s approval is a welcome and important step. Our goal is to gain the approval of the FCC so that we can close the transaction and begin bringing its benefits to consumers and businesses.”

— Maggie Wilderotter, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Frontier

West Virginian media covers the conditional approval

A handful of television stations covered the conditional approval, most without much depth.  West Virginian newspapers covered the fight between Verizon and Frontier and the unions and consumer groups, but no paper really provided in-depth coverage into the challenges of West Virginia broadband and what precisely Frontier is capable of providing to solve it.  Consumers will discover soon enough that West Virginia has yet again gotten the short end of the online stick.  Only this time, they better not wave it around too much — it might exceed your monthly stick-waving allowance.

[flv width=”500″ height=”395″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WOWK Charleston Union – Verizon-Frontier Deal Bad for W.Va., Verizon Responds 5-14-10.flv[/flv]

WOWK-TV in Charleston delivered the most substantial report on the sale, including this brief interview with PSC spokeswoman Sarah Robertson.  (2 minutes)

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WTAP Parkersburg Verizon-Frontier Deal Approved 5-14-10.flv[/flv]

WTAP-TV in Parkersburg ran this brief in-studio report about the Verizon-Frontier approval.  (1 minute)

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WDTV Bridgeport Verizon Sells Land Lines to Frontier 5-14-10.mp4[/flv]

WDTV-TV in Bridgeport explained the requirements of the conditional approval.  This was the only report on the approval that included the opposition’s perspective.  (1 minute)

One out of every four American families has now cut the cord on their landline phone service.

With cellular bills increasing, many people are deciding the traditional phone line that has been them for decades is no longer worth the expense, especially if you spend most of your time reaching for your cell phone to make or receive calls.

But is dropping landline service such a great idea?

Here are some things to consider:

PRO

• Reduced expense for the family budget
• If you don’t use it much, why pay for it?
• Many cable companies offer less expensive “digital phone” products that can be bundled with your cable and broadband service
• Skype, Google Voice, and Voice Over IP services can often knock phone service costs down to just a few dollars a month
• Portability

CON

• 911 emergency services have a harder time identifying your location
• Call sound quality is usually lower than traditional landlines
• Your telephone directory listing will become unavailable unless you make special provisions to keep it
• The costs for cell phone service are often higher than basic landline service
• Monitored alarms and certain other services require either a landline or added-cost wireless technology
• During periods of unrest or bad weather, call volumes can increase exponentially causing disruptions to cell phone service

Telephone companies are increasingly desperate to hold on to their customers, and many remind departing customers the chance to retain their landline service at dramatically lower pricing.  Many companies offer budget, non-flat rate calling plans for less than $10 a month, but you’ll pay between 8-11 cents for every local call.  Others offer calling allowances of 250 or fewer local calls per month.  A few larger cities have calling plans that charge by the minute.

If you are considering dropping your landline, be sure to consider all of the options and alternatives before disconnecting service.

[flv width=”480″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WCPO Cincinnati Pros cons of dropping your landline phone 5-12-10.flv[/flv]

WCPO-TV in Cincinnati provides additional insight into landline disconnections and your alternatives.  (2 minutes)