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Last Friday, Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps appeared on PBS’ Bill Moyers’ Journal.  He discussed the current state of America’s broadband industry, the implications of not having Net Neutrality protections, and how the Internet is transforming public debate and citizen-powered democracy across the country.  (4/23/2010 — 23 minutes)

BILL MOYERS: The industry wrote a letter to the commission and said that advocates of an open Net who are coming to the FCC and asking you to reclassify what you do as telecommunications want to steer the debate, and I’m quoting from the letter, “in a radical new way.” I mean, they’re calling you extremists and they’re calling you radical.

MICHAEL COPPS: Because I want to call telecommunications, “telecommunications” and go back to the openness that has characterized the net since it was first invented in the laboratories of the Department of Defense. That’s not extreme. That’s not radical. That’s called going back to basics. That’s called consumer protection 101.

BILL MOYERS: How threatened is the whole idea of an open Net?

MICHAEL COPPS: Oh, I think very. I think very. I think there are powerful players that are opposed to it. Are in a position to make their influence felt. None of these things are going to come easy. We’ve just been through the health insurance debate. We’ve got the financial debacle. None of this stuff gets solved without taking on taking on a fight. The government doesn’t work that way. You’ve studied this history, I’ve studied this history. It’s painful, it needs movements, it needs grassroots support, it needs the people.

AT&T Customers in southeastern Tennessee continue to get bill shock from company mistakes

AT&T continues to bill some of its customers across Tennessee for long distance calls that were supposed to be free under the unlimited long distance calling plans.  Stop the Cap! first reported this story back on April 12th, with company officials apologizing for what they called a “computer glitch.”  But the bills just keep on coming.

One Clarksville woman has been forced to call AT&T almost daily to address overcharges now exceeding $3,o00 for an AT&T Unlimited Nationwide Calling plan that is supposed to cost her $25 a month.

Although AT&T keeps crediting the overcharges on her account, Belinda Horton is exasperated having to first confront an inaccurate bill and then deal with AT&T customer service to credit back the charges.  That has been part of her routine for at least four months, with no resolution in sight.

“I’m not trying to get anything off of then and I don’t except charity, I just want them to fix my bill and fix it correctly,” she told WKRN News 2 in Nashville.  A reporter sat in on a typical call Horton makes to AT&T’s customer service to cope with the routine overcharging.  At the end of the call, the customer service agent tells Horton she’s sorry she can’t completely resolve the matter to her satisfaction.

Company officials continue to blame the billing error on computer problems.  Although Horton’s calling plan is supposed to let her make unlimited long distance calls for a flat monthly rate, the company keeps billing her calls by the minute at standard long distance rates.  The result has been staggering bills in the hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Belinda Horton from Clarksville, Tenn. is exasperated to learn she has been overbilled yet again while she speaks with AT&T customer service (Photo: WKRN News - Nashville)

WKRN News talked with Tom Jarkovitch at AT&T, who admitted the glitch has impacted 15,000 Tennessee residents.

“There were a few folks, those are the ones were working on manually and again, as a sub set of people that were not captured for whatever reason we think that’s going to be corrected in a matter of days,” he said.

Unfortunately for AT&T, there are indications the problem is impacting a larger number of customers than Jarkovitch admits.

Another customer in the Nashville area also being overbilled every month since last October said they had enough — they disconnected their AT&T service and went with a competitor:

“I have had the same problem since October of 2009. Every month, I have to call AT&T and ask why the problem has not been fixed. Again and again I am told that it should be fixed before the next billing cycle.  It is now nearly May and I still have to call them on a monthly basis. As a matter of fact, I just received my bill yesterday, and again, same thing. Well, that is my last bill because as of last month, I changed my home phone service carrier. I will no longer use AT&T services.”

With complaints like these still rolling in, the Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA) Monday compelled AT&T to appear to discuss the ongoing billing problems and AT&T’s plans to resolve them once and for all.

AT&T’s legal counsel, Guy Hicks, apologized for AT&T.

“It has already gone on too long, and for that AT&T apologizes,” Hicks told the Authority.

Month after month, many AT&T Unlimited long distance customers in Tennessee are billed by the minute for every long distance call, leading to staggering bills like this.

But Hicks also claimed the problem only impacted customers from periods ranging from August 18 to September 8 and October 31 to December 2, a claim that doesn’t ring true in light of Belinda Horton’s ongoing billing issues.

When asked specifically whether every dime unjustly charged to Tennessee customers had been refunded, Hicks did not say yes, instead claiming that “the vast majority of credits or refunds have been made and are continuing to be made.”

“As late as Friday, we were called and charges were still on their bill,” said TRA’s Tevin Thompson. “She didn’t have a paper bill yet, but she was quoted a total, and there were still errors on the bill.”

Our Take

It was disappointing to see the TRA praising AT&T at the end of Monday’s meeting.  This is an ongoing nightmare for some customers, and TRA officials seemed all too ready to applaud the company for its promises to fix the problem while Tennessee residents continue to be overbilled.  The time for praise comes after the company resolves the issue and every customer has been credited for every error.  AT&T has promised it would resolve these billing problems for nearly a month, with complaints still arriving even as the Authority met.

The Leaf Chronicle, the daily newspaper serving Clarksville, notes TRA officials seemed satisfied with AT&T’s Apologypoloza:

State regulatory directors appear to be satisfied AT&T has made an effort to correct a billing glitch that could have affected as many as 15,000 customers.

AT&T officials were called before the Tennessee Regulatory Agency on Monday to explain why some customers have been incorrectly billed for services since the fall.

“From what I gathered, the response they received (from AT&T) was satisfactory,” said Shirley Frierson, senior policy adviser to the TRA chairman. “That is as long as in a month or so, we don’t get more complaints about the same problem.”

At this point, appropriate compensation for impacted customers that have coped with overcharges for months on end should be more than simply crediting back their mistakes.  For folks like Belinda Horton, a year of free long distance calling would go a lot farther to demonstrate AT&T’s goodwill.  After all, she had to spend countless hours trying to fix a problem that wasn’t her fault.  Take it out of AT&T’s massive lobbying budget and do the right thing by your customers.

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WKRN-TV in Nashville spoke at length with Clarksville resident Belinda Horton who faced months of staggering phone bills.  The reporter even sat in on a call Horton made to AT&T customer service.  (2 minutes)

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WSMV-TV in Nashville also spoke with Horton and covered Monday’s meeting with the Tennessee Regulatory Authority, a public utility commission, over ongoing AT&T billing problems.  (2 minutes)

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Finally, WTVF-TV in Nashville also ran a report showcasing Horton’s billing problems and interviewed an AT&T representative about what will be done about it.  (2 minutes)

I had the pleasure of attending the SouthEast Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (SEATOA) conference this past weekend in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina.  I was surrounded by some of the leading visionaries in the fields of next-generation broadband deployment, broadband policy and important Public, Educational, and Government (PEG) access networks.

Among those in attendance:

• Kyle Hollifield, representing Bristol Virginia Utilities/BVU OptiNet, a municipally-owned fiber optic broadband provider in Bristol, Virginia;
• Colman Keane, from municipal utility EPB Telecom in Chattanooga, Tennessee;
• Tommy Jacobson from MCNC;
• Ken Fellman from the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA);
• Hunter Goosman from ERC Broadband, which operates a regional fiber optic network in the western Carolinas;
• Brian Bowman, Public Affairs & Marketing Manager of Wilson, North Carolina, home of municipal fiber network Greenlight, and
• Michael Crowell, Broadband Services Director of Salisbury, North Carolina’s forthcoming fiber to the home network Fibrant.

The conference included several informational sessions for those working on broadband projects.

Tom Power, chief of staff for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and Jessica Zufolo from the Rural Utilities Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture discussed rounds one and two of the broadband stimulus grant program and lessons learned along the way.

Thomas Koutsky, representing the FCC Broadband Opportunities Initiative, the legendary Jim Baller and FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn also spoke about the importance of developing better broadband networks across the country.

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn delivered the keynote address at the SEATOA conference held in Asheville, N.C.

Thomas Koutsky, speaking about the National Broadband Plan said, “The National Broadband Plan is just a plan.  It doesn’t do anything by itself, it requires action.”  I couldn’t agree more.  The National Broadband Plan could culminate in a giant missed opportunity if we do not reach out and demand that our representatives in Washington get on board with a definitive plan to deliver better broadband across the country.  Washington is full of studies and recommendations that are little more than words on paper, sitting on a shelf because Americans didn’t demand action to implement them.

I could go on all day about Jim Baller and his inspiration that drives us all to fight for better broadband in America, but I will highlight this quote: “It is a disgrace that every American does not have affordable access.”  Baller rallied the crowd with a video clip from Al Pacino’s speech in Any Given Sunday.  It’s not difficult to carry Pacino’s message about football to our fight in the broadband arena, and the enthusiasm Baller brings can only be a positive.

Perhaps the most newsworthy event from the conference was a speech from the newest FCC Commissioner, Mignon Clyburn.  She gets it.  In an amazing 20-minute speech, Clyburn succinctly delivered a message we wish some of our state lawmakers would understand and support:

“Thus, the Plan recommends that Congress clarify that state and local governments should not be restricted from building their own broadband networks. I firmly believe that we need to leverage every resource at our disposal to deploy broadband to all Americans. If local officials have decided that a publicly-owned broadband network is the best way to meet their citizens’ needs, then my view is to help make that happen.

When cities and local governments are prohibited from investing directly in their own broadband networks, citizens may be denied the opportunity to connect with their nation and improve their lives. As a result, local economies likely will suffer. But broadband is not simply about dollars and cents, it is about the educational, health, and social welfare of our communities. Preventing governments from investing in broadband, is counterproductive, and may impede the nation from accomplishing the Plan’s goal of providing broadband access to every American and every community anchor institution.”

Clyburn’s speech clearly illustrates she’s an advocate for consumers and is interested in knocking down barriers that block Americans from enjoying world class broadband service.  Clyburn considers the National Broadband Plan a group effort developed by and for the American people, not just a policy document from the FCC.  It was truly an uplifting speech that gave me hope positive change in broadband and broadband policies are possible with her presence on the Commission.

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FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn delivers the keynote speech at the SEATOA conference.  Clyburn goes on record advocating municipally-run broadband projects where communities deem them appropriate.  This clip comes courtesy of Communities United For Broadband and you saw it first here on Stop the Cap! (April 27, 2010 — 20 minutes)

(This video is large in size.  If playback stops, please pause the video to allow more of the clip to load into the player’s buffer to reduce the chance of stalled playback.  If you still experience problems, please Contact Us.)

Turner

Paralleling the debate for better broadband is the fight for renewable, domestically-produced energy, and outspoken former CNN founder Ted Turner has run into the same kind of corporate-backed opposition strategies broadband advocates face in a quest to deliver improved service to Americans.  As part of an event with T. Boone Pickens to promote the cause of renewable energy, Turner launched into an all-out assault on his former colleagues at Time Warner, who he characterized as inept.

“This is what I said at the Time Warner board room. I’m not on the board anymore because they didn’t get it, but I said ‘we’ve got to stop doing the dumb things and start doing the smart things.  We had 5 percent of Google in a music merger and I said to [former CEO] Dick Parsons, ‘Dick, I think we ought to hang onto that Google stock.’ This was about 10 years ago. He said, ‘That company’s a bunch of bullshit.’

Then, listen to this one. We had CNNfn, which was in 50 million homes, as Fox [Business] is in now. And they made the decision to close it down. It was breaking even, a cable network that was breaking even. We should have been in there competing with CNBC and Bloomberg.

They closed it down without even calling Rupert up, who said publicly he was looking really hard at getting into the financial news business. We could have gotten $100 million or $200 million from him just for the name and the 50 million subscribers. They didn’t even call him — they closed it down without even doing that, and he was sitting there with the money wanting to give it to ‘em. I mean, you know, how dumb can you be?”

Whenever incumbent interests are threatened with new innovations that challenge conventional business models, look out.  The well-financed opposition will do everything possible to stop new sources of competition, something a befuddled Pickens noted when he encountered a representative from oil and gas interests opposing his domestic production ideas.  He likened the guy to “Baghdad Bob.”  Turner also confronted corporate-friendly Fox Business News who interviewed both about their joint effort, leading Turner to drop the “BS-bomb” at one point on live television.

It’s just more evidence that the fight for better broadband with fiber-based networks, Net Neutrality, competition, and more affordable access will be resisted in much the same way entrenched incumbents always fight to preserve their profitable positions in the marketplace.  Your interests come second.

As for characterizations of Time Warner management’s ability to predict trends and make smart business decisions, Turner has the credentials to back up his beliefs as a vice-chairman of Time Warner from 1996-2006.

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Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles, Ted Turner had choice words for his former partner, Time Warner.  (2 minutes)

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T. Boone Pickens and Ted Turner sit for an interview with Fox Business News about renewable energy.  We’re into the weeds with this clip, but it’s useful to see the same kinds of astroturf campaigns drive other causes crazy as well.  Also fun to watch Turner drop the “BS-Bomb” on live television, causing some consternation for Fox Business News, which also challenged Turner’s notions of how to pay for smart grids.  (7 minutes)

Back in 2006, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens emphatically declared that the Internet was not a truck, but rather a series of tubes.  That’s why Net Neutrality was such a bad idea, get it?

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Senator Ted Stevens Infamous “Series of Tubes” Speech from 2006.  (11 minutes)

Fundamentally misunderstanding technology and the Internet is not exclusively the domain of an ex-senator from the State of Palin, however.

North Carolina State Senator David Hoyle (D-Gaston County) managed to illustrate he didn’t know what he was talking about either.

Hoyle’s pretzel-like logic, in opposing municipal fiber broadband projects in the state, is that fiber optics could be obsolete within five years, so we shouldn’t even bother with them:

“You know the technology’s changing daily. Five years, ten years from now … wireless could replace most of fiber optics of coaxial cable or, or copper even. Might become not totally obsolete, but their ability to, uh, you know, to fund the debt service from the hard assets they had to put into the ground.”

If one extends that reasoning to his good friends in the cable and telephone industry — if fiber is potentially obsolete in five years, what about the phone company’s copper wires and the cable company’s coax?  Copper wiring was used for telegraphy starting in the 1830s and is still the backbone of today’s telephone networks.  Coaxial cable was invented in 1880 and still runs into virtually every cable subscriber’s home.  The first commercial application for a fiber optic communications system came in 1977.  In fact, most experts believe fiber optics will be the platform for America’s telecommunications network for at least the next quarter century.  The cable industry promotes its own use of fiber, and forward thinking phone companies like Verizon are relying on fiber to the home networks to stay relevant for the future.

Sen. David Hoyle (D-NC)

Fiber optic has all of the advantages:

• SPEED: Fiber optic networks operate at high speeds – up into the gigabits and still rising
• BANDWIDTH: large carrying capacity, and growing larger as advances continue
• DISTANCE: Signals can be transmitted further without needing to be “refreshed” or strengthened.
• RESISTANCE: Greater resistance to electromagnetic noise such as radios, motors or other nearby cables.
• MAINTENANCE: Fiber optic cables costs much less to maintain, and upgrades can occur without disturbing existing cable — just switch the laser technology used.

The costs to construct fiber networks, which used to be in the thousands of dollars per household, is now well under $1,000 for companies like Verizon.  Keeping happy customers and having the ability to market phone, broadband, and television services across an all-fiber network open new revenue streams which help defray initial expenses.  Fiber is an investment in the future.

Why isn’t wireless going to make fiber networks obsolete?

Allocating sufficient spectrum to support today’s high bandwidth applications is a practical impossibility, especially considering the politics and in-fighting from current spectrum holders to keep their allocations.  Spectrum is a limited resource, which guarantees limited competition, limited bandwidth, and higher prices.  While wireless applications will continue to be an important part of our communications future, it is unlikely they’ll be the favored method to support high bandwidth content in the near term.  Considering the implications of all of the new cell sites required to provide blanket coverage, it may never survive the inevitable howls of protest from neighborhoods who have to live with the eyesores.

Senator Hoyle opened his mouth and stupid fell out.  He’s not just wrong — his comments also carry implications for his constituents.

The City of Gastonia, along with Gaston County jointly filed an application alongside 35 others here in North Carolina seeking to get Google’s 1 Gigabit Fiber Optic to the Home Network.

How do city officials feel about their representative in the state legislature actively trashing fiber networks?  I will have that answer for you soon.

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Senator David Hoyle (foreground, with back to camera) tells meeting fiber could be obsolete within five years.  (25 seconds)