Verizon Wireless has settled a complaint brought by consumer group Free Press that accused the wireless carrier of violating federal rules allowing customers to use their phones as mobile hotspots or for tethering with the apps of their choosing.

The Federal Communications Commission announced Verizon had agreed to pay $1.25 million to the U.S. Treasury for violating the conditions of its 700MHz “C”-Block licenses, which carry the provision that Verizon not “deny, limit, or restrict” customers from using the applications or devices of their choosing.

Instead of abiding by those rules, Verizon Wireless reportedly pressured Google to disable and restrict tethering applications in the Google Play Store, forcing most customers to purchase Verizon’s Mobile Hotspot/Tethering service which, at the time, was priced at an additional $30 a month. Verizon Wireless’ recent plan changes now include tethering and mobile hotspot service for no additional monthly fee, although customers are subject to usage caps and overlimit fees.

“The FCC sent a strong signal to the market that companies cannot ignore their pro-consumer obligations,” said Free Press policy director Matt Wood. “Unfortunately, the fact that Verizon worked to block these apps in the first place is a clear indication that wireless providers have a strong incentive to discriminate against certain content and applications, an incentive that continues to threaten online freedom and innovation.”

Free Press notes consumers of other carriers lack the same protection Verizon’s customers have under the law. Verizon agreed to the more consumer-friendly language as part of its purchase of the frequencies where the company operates its 4G network.

Time Warner Cable and Viacom have ended their dispute over whether the cable company had the right to stream Viacom-owned cable networks over its lineup of streaming apps for portable devices and home computers.

This means the cable company will be restoring streams of Comedy Central, MTV, VH1 and other Viacom networks over the coming weeks.  In return, Time Warner Cable has agreed to carry/continue Viacom’s Country Music Television on its cable systems.

From the official statement:

Viacom and Time Warner Cable have agreed to resolve their pending litigations. All of Viacom’s programming will now be available to Time Warner Cable subscribers for in-home viewing via internet protocol-enabled devices such as iPads and Time Warner Cable will continue to carry Viacom’s Country Music Television (CMT) programming. In reaching the settlement agreement, Time Warner Cable and Viacom were also able to resolve other unrelated business matters to their mutual satisfaction. Neither side is conceding its original legal position or will have further comment.

The dispute had no effect on traditional cable carriage of these networks. Only online streaming was impacted.

Both sides agree Time Warner Cable needs to add a new music channel, one owned by MSG parent Cablevision Industries, to your cable lineup.

Some suspicious Buffalo hockey fans suspect the real reason for the sudden focus towards a weekend resolution of a nearly two month dispute that kept MSG off Time Warner Cable customers’ screens since Jan. 1 is the fact the New York (City) Knicks are winning some basketball games and player Jeremy Lin is enjoying his “15 minutes of fame” in the national media spotlight.  Both companies announced the latest round of negotiations, held in New York City, have brought an end to the dispute.

Now that MSG is back on Time Warner Cable, neither company is getting a round of applause for finally reaching a deal.  In fact, a key provision of the settlement requires that the cable company add a new network — Fuse — to the cable lineup.  That means Time Warner Cable customers will eventually pay for a music channel they never asked to receive.

The New York Daily News is just the latest newspaper to put fans’ frustrations into print:

[MSG and Time Warner Cable] don’t give a damn about you.

[…] Fans once apathetic over the blackout and the lethargic Knicks are now fired up and vocal. They are calling TWC and MSG. They are making their feelings known inside the Valley of the Stupid, too.

At this point they are having little impact. The two sides said they recently met. How long? Five minutes? The response from the suits at both companies is the same. Their propaganda never changes. They are more interested in gift-wrapping their problem.

Instead of locking itself in a room for around-the-clock negotiating, TWC is taking fans to a Knicks game in Charlotte. Or MSG, catering to the Asian market it suddenly discovered, is throwing a Knicks viewing party at a Chinatown restaurant. This is known as manipulation. These are nothing more than visuals. They don’t change a damn thing.

The song remains the same: TWC says MSG is looking for a 53% increase in subscriber fees, which now, according to industry analysts, average just over $2.63 per customer. MSG responds by saying TWC is lying. TWC says in September MSG agreed to a 6.5% increase. MSG says that’s a lie, too.

Someone is lying. Everyone is lying. That’s part of the spin. Instead of taking it out on both sides for shafting you, they want you to choose sides, identify a bad guy. Don’t. When two lying swines are fighting in the slop, only a sucker would try to intervene.

After nearly two months of cable subscribers complaining they were paying for a sports channel they were not getting, everyone –and– the governor got involved.  But perhaps nothing motivated a resolution more than the sudden media spotlight on Knicks’ player Jeremy Lin, dubbed Linsanity.

“Linsanity helped,” Chris Marangi, a portfolio manager at Gamco Investors told Bloomberg News.  The investment firm owns about 5 million MSG shares and 500,000 Time Warner Cable shares. “Time Warner Cable realistically couldn’t have dropped MSG — it’s too important to too many fans in New York to not be carried. Both sides probably gave a little.”

While state politicians thanked each other for a “job well done,” Time Warner Cable subscribers won’t be getting a refund for a channel missing from their lineup for eight weeks.  But they will likely face a higher rate increase in 2013, in part to pay for a music channel few knew existed and even fewer wanted.

[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WIVB Buffalo Fans React to MSG Deal 2-19-12.mp4[/flv]

WIVB in Buffalo explores the fallout of Time Warner Cable and MSG’s near-two-month dispute.  (2 minutes)

Some Comcast Cable customers in Montgomery County, Maryland are due refunds ranging between $19.95-39.95 for “truck trip fees” that came as a complete surprise.

Since 2007, Comcast has been quietly charging customers for service repair calls that the cable company determines are the result of inside wiring defects, customer-instigated equipment failure, or “no-cause” visits that find no problems with the customer’s service.  But after 85 Comcast customers in the county complained about service call fees that were never disclosed to them, Comcast is agreeing to return the money to affected customers.

Montgomery County, Maryland

In an agreement with the Montgomery County Office of Consumer Protection, Comcast must disclose that service call fees may be applicable under certain circumstances.  Customers must be given the option of canceling the service call with no penalty.

Service call fees are not charged when the company finds trouble in its own equipment or wiring.  In many cases, service call fees come at the discretion of the service crew dispatched to customer homes.  Customer attitude towards the cable company employees can make a big difference in getting them to waive fees, even if the problem turns out to be the customer’s responsibility.

Comcast is not alone charging fees for customer-created problems.  Verizon charges up to $110 in Maryland; RCN — a competing cable company — charges up to $49.95.

Under the terms of the settlement, Comcast does not have to admit any wrongdoing.

AT&T Mobility has agreed to refund Florida wireless customers for a $2.99 Roadside Assistance Plan many never signed up for and didn’t want.

An agreement with Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi could net full refunds for as many as 600,000 Florida customers who discovered they were enrolled in the add-on plan. The agreement requires AT&T to fully refund all charges for those who didn’t ask for the plan and never used it.

“All customers who paid for unwanted services deserve to be made whole, and we have guaranteed that AT&T Mobility will fully refund their money,” the Attorney General said. “Additionally, AT&T Mobility must notify customers via text message of added charges and service cancellation procedures.”

Specifically, AT&T will send a text message to customers five days after enrolling in the option confirming forthcoming charges.  The message will include cancellation instructions.

Customers complained AT&T automatically enrolled them in a 30-day free trial of Roadside Assistance without their knowledge or consent and began charging them for the service when the trial expired.  Some claim they were never given notification of the trial and assumed the charges were part of their cellular service.

In addition to full refunds for Florida customers, AT&T Mobility will:

• Provide prepaid telephone cards with a face value of $550,000 for donation to members of the U.S. military;
• Donate $10,000 to the Florida Law Enforcement Officer of the Year program;
• Pay $1.2 million to the Attorney General’s Office for future enforcement and attorneys’ fees and costs.

Impacted customers will be notified by postcard or letter with further details about the AT&T settlement at a future date.

[Updated 12:35pm EDT 3/21/2012: Please note Stop the Cap! is in no way affiliated with AT&T.  Readers have been leaving comments attached to this article requesting removal/refunds for the Roadside Assistance program. We are not AT&T so we cannot handle these requests.  We recommend you scrutinize your AT&T monthly bill and look for a $2.99 charge labeled “Roadside Assistance.” If you see this on your statement, you -are- being billed for this feature. If you do not see it specified, you are not being billed for it.

Those who have been charged should call AT&T customer service at the number shown on your bill. 

We recommend you follow this procedure:

1. Tell AT&T you never requested this feature.
2. If you have never used this service, ask AT&T to retroactively credit you for -ALL- charges billed to your account all the way back to the first month you were billed for them. This would appear as a credit on a future AT&T invoice.
3. Make sure AT&T removes future charges from your bill as well.

At some point in the future, you will receive a plain-text settlement postcard in the mail from the class action settlement fund. But you can pursue a full refund from AT&T yourself without waiting around for that. Just remember you cannot get your money back telling us about it. You need to contact AT&T directly.]