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Comcast Sues Sprint Over Network Patents - Companies No Longer BFFs After Verizon Deal - Wed, 22 Feb 2012
Last December, right after the cable industry struck their massive spectrum and marketing arrangement with Verizon, Sprint filed suit against Comcast, Time Warner Cable, CableOne, and Cox for supposedly violating Sprint VoIP patents. Comcast this week returned the favor, suing Sprint for violating numerous patents related to core network services, SMS/MMS, and 3G modem technology. The lawsuits come as Comcast phases out their wireless bundle offerings from Clearwire and Sprint. Comcast is seeking an injunction, attorney fees and undisclosed damages.
Verizon Suffers Yet Another Nationwide LTE Outage - Company Says Voice, SMS and 3G Data All Work Normally - Wed, 22 Feb 2012
Numerous users have written in to note that Verizon is having yet another nationwide LTE outage. "I've been unable to get a 4G connection from Saint Paul through Minneapolis (MN) since I turned on my device this morning," writes in user uid://1331129, something mirrored by other users in other cities.
While no explanation has been provided, Verizon's Twitter account says they're looking into the matter, and that 3G data, voice and text services should all be working normally. Some users e-mail us to note that this isn't to case, and that they're also having connectivity problems with Verizon 3G (EVDO) service.
Verizon hasn't had particularly good luck on this front, suffering at least four outages last year as they rushed to deploy LTE service. Several of the outages were due to software glitches in Verizon's IMS core, something that usually only takes only a few hours to remedy.
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Is AT&T Easing Off Throttling? - Throttled Users Claim Slightly Faster Speeds - Wed, 22 Feb 2012
Earlier this month we noted how AT&T's waging a quiet war on those "unlimited" data users it had agreed to grandfather when it eliminated unlimited data back in 2010. One, those that legally jailbreak and use unofficial tethering options are automatically being moved to metered service as punishment for refusing to pay AT&T a fee for doing nothing. Two, users on "unlimited" plans say they are being throttled after 2 GB so that they'll voluntarily make the shift to AT&T's metered plans (3GB is now offered for the same price).
Complaints about the AT&T practice recently reached a fevered pitch in the mainstream media, with thousands of news outlets picking up on the story. The news may have resulted in AT&T adjusting their practice a little. User uid://1792675 directs our attention to the fact that several users over at Howard Forums claim their "throttled state" is slightly less throttled, with users now seeing speeds of between 240 to 300 kbps, up from 100 to 150 kbps. Says one user:
Speeds have gone up to 280kbps here in SoCal. Sad thing was that I set my iPhone to 2g, and was getting better speeds than 3G. I might as well use 2g for streaming out here... It actually works decently.
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AT&T CEO Got Paycut For Failed T-Mobile Bid - Managed to Scrape By With $22 Million in 2011 - Wed, 22 Feb 2012
According to newly released federal filings, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson got a $2 million pay cut because of the T-Mobile deal collapse. The filing notes that "named officers" at AT&T all took a slight bonus pay cut related to the T-Mobile deal s collapse. AT&T did some executive shuffling back in January that included the "retirement" of Forrest Miller, AT&T's head of corporate strategy and mergers and acquisitions. Despite the pay cut, Stephenson still hauled in $22 million in 2011 compensation. AT&T took roughly a $4 billion hit in spectrum, cash and network sharing arrangements with T-Mobile that the telco acknowledged would be closer to $1.4 billion after tax write off. The executive cuts as some investors grumble about the money AT&T pours into politics and their astroturfing efforts, the ridiculousness of which were partially to blame for FCC opposition to the T-Mobile bid.
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T-Mobile Wary of Verizon Cable Deal - Warns FCC of 'Excessive Consolidation' of Airwaves - Wed, 22 Feb 2012
It's almost adorable how quickly T-Mobile reverted back to playing the pesky upstart after the failed AT&T deal. In a filing with the FCC, T-Mobile is warning the agency that Verizon's new spectrum and marketing deal with the cable industry would create an "excessive concentration of mobile service spectrum holdings that is contrary to the public interest." T-Mobile argues that Verizon already sits in a comfortable spectrum position with a lot of unused AWS spectrum, and the consolidation of AT&T and Verizon spectrum has limited options for smaller carriers to the higher frequency ranges "which are more difficult to deploy due to their propagation and building penetration characteristics." Like consumer advocates, T-Mobile also says they're worried the deal involves a gentlemen's agreement to limit competition between Verizon and cable.
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Ericsson Reports 60 Percent Growth in Mobile Broadband Subscriptions - Wed, 22 Feb 2012
The latest statistics from Ericsson's interim 'Traffic and Market Data Report' state that global Mobile Broadband subscriptions are close to reaching the 1 Billion mark. The traffic generated by mobile PC users is also said to average around 2GB (GigaBytes) a month.
Skylogic Offers FREE Satellite Broadband for the Hardest to Reach UK Notspots - Wed, 22 Feb 2012
Skylogic (Eutelsat), a major European supplier of satellite internet services, has pledge to deliver a free 'up to' 10Mbps capable broadband satellite service to 20 of the toughest to reach locations (i.e. remote rural areas) across the UK.
ISP Orange UK Plugs Home Broadband Subscriber Bleed at 713000 - Wed, 22 Feb 2012
Mobile operator and ISP Orange UK (Everything Everywhere) has stopped bleeding fixed line Home Broadband subscribers, with their customer base holding static between Q3-2011 and Q4-2011 on a total of 713,000.
EU suspends copyright treaty ratification
(AP)
- Wed, 22 Feb 2012
AP - The European Commission, facing opposition in city streets, on the Internet and in the halls of parliament, has suspended efforts to ratify a new international anti-counterfeiting agreement, and instead will refer it to Europe's highest court to see whether it violates any fundamental EU rights.
Microsoft hits Motorola, Google with EU complaint
(AP)
- Wed, 22 Feb 2012
AP - Microsoft on Wednesday lodged a formal complaint with the European Union's competition regulator against Motorola Mobility and its soon-to-be owner Google, saying Motorola's aggressive enforcement of patent rights against rivals breaks competition rules.
Colorado woman must turn over computer hard drive
(AP)
- Wed, 22 Feb 2012
AP - Readily available, easy-to-use software can encrypt a computer hard drive so thoroughly it would take years for a hacker to break in. But that seems to be no impediment for government prosecutors, who have obtained an order compelling the disclosure of a computer's contents in one Colorado case.
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