Tag: FCC

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President Obama Would Like the FCC to Reclassify the Internet as a Utility

president_official_portrait_hiresOn the campaign trail, then candidate Obama campaigned on keeping the Internet free and fair. As President, he’s been quiet on the recent plans laid out by the FCC to allow for paid fast lane access to web services.

In a two minute video uploaded to Youtube this morning, President Obama laid out his plan for what a free Internet should look like. He submitted his proposed plan to the FCC, encouraging them to prevent gatekeepers from arbitrarily degrading services like Netflix, and that rules should be drafted which protect service regardless of how someone connects to the internet. That last point would also mark a large shift in how data access is managed as cell networks operate under different rules than traditional wired networks.

While it’s encouraging to finally see the White House comment publicly on the continuing battles over Net Neutrality, the FCC’s response threw some cold water on those happy feelings.

“As an independent regulatory agency we will incorporate the President’s submission into the record of the Open Internet proceeding,” chairman Wheeler says. “We welcome comment on it and how it proposes to use Title II of the Communications Act.”

Essentially saying that the President’s recommendation would largely end up on the same pile of comments that the public has been submitting.

You can see President Obama’s statement below.

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FCC Puts Comcast + Time Warner Merger Review on Hold

Comcast-LogoIn a public open letter to Comcast and Time Warner, the FCC announced they will be hitting pause on their 180 day review of proposed merger between the two largest cable companies in the United States.

Only 85 days into the review process, both Comcast and TWC failed to meet deadlines on information requests in September. The FCC also responds to claims that the Comcast NBC Universal merger did not affect pricing, and that there was a substantial amount of data contradicting that claim needing examination. The FCC will resume their review process October 29th, allowing more time for the public to file comments and responses to the merger.

FCCPublic reaction to the merger has largely been negative, with many fearing the affects of what one super-large cable company will do to pricing and competition for services. It’s also become a cornerstone talking point in the ongoing net neutrality debate, as companies like Netflix have been forced to engage in negotiations and paying higher data transfer fees to prevent their services being throttled. It’s also given rise to a cottage industry of people recording poor customer service experiences with Comcast, and posting those recordings online.

You can read the FCC’s public letter here: Letter to Comcast, TW, and Charter regarding stopping clock

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PSA: ‘Battle for Net Neutrality’ Internet Slowdown Protest Planned for Sept. 10th.

sept 10th internet slowdown net neutralityThe fight over Net Neutrality and the FCC’s proposed “Fast Lane” rules is heating up again.

Tomorrow, a number of sites around the internet will be intentionally slowing their traffic to demonstrate what a tiered internet might feel like for consumers. The Fast Lane rules have come under a lot of scrutiny, as many fear they will slow innovation online by creating more expensive barriers for companies wanting to create the next generation of data services.

The list of sites includes the ACLU, Imgur, Daily Kos, Etsy, Foursquare, Kickstarter, Vimeo, and adult sites YouPorn, RedTube, and Pornhub will be joining in as well.

For more info on the slowdown head over to https://www.battleforthenet.com/sept10th/

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Mayor of Chattanooga Does Reddit AMA on Providing Community Funded Fiber Broadband

It’s been an ongoing debate, now focused on State vs Federal rights. Should the FCC have the right to circumvent state law, to help smaller communities provide broadband data to their residents.

Chattanooga TN has become a poster child for how to rollout gigabit fiber paid with public funds, beating Google Fiber to gigabit speeds in 2010, but state law prevents the project from expanding into other communities. Four years after Chattanooga reached gigabit, most large cable broadband markets still struggle to reach one tenth the network speed of “Gig City”, and most consumers pay significantly more for slower broadband.

The city could also become the first piece of a new smart energy grid for the country.

chattanooga speed test gigabit fiber broadbandChattanooga Mayor Andy Berke and Harold DePriest, CEO of EPB (Chattanooga’s electric company which manages the broadband project) took to Reddit to answer questions about how the project has impacted their residents.  It’s an interesting discussion, delving into the politics of dealing with the FCC and State governments, but if your data is slow in your area, seeing speedtests like the one linked from the AMA might break your heart a little bit.

You can see a video detailing Chatanooga’s efforts to build a smarter energy grid below.

EPB SmarterGrid HD from EPB Fiber Optics on Vimeo.

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Major League Baseball Latest to Join Net Neutrality Efforts Against FCC Fast Lane Proposal

mlb_tv app screenshotIf any group should be nervous about the implications of an internet “Fast Lane”, major league sports should be at the top of that list.

As more and more consumers are diversifying their media consumption, one of the few areas you can count on to get viewers watching in real-time, with ads, are sports games. ESPN Scored a hit this summer streaming the World Cup over their mobile app, and Major League Baseball has been improving their MLB.tv service.

Of course streaming live HD video takes some bandwidth, and that means MLB would also need to negotiate a separate deal with ISP’s to “guarantee” a fast enough service for their subscribers. It’s entirely likely those additional costs would eventually be passed down to consumers.

Continue reading “Major League Baseball Latest to Join Net Neutrality Efforts Against FCC Fast Lane Proposal”

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House GOP Attack FCC and Local Tax Payer Funded Internet Access

GOP rep marsha blackburnIf a community of people vote to approve tax payer funded internet access, should they be allowed to build their own network?

House Conservatives say “no”, that people at the state and local level should not be allowed the right to decide for themselves how to improve their internet access. Why? Because free market, competition, taxes, reasons.

In a frustrating example of political double-speak, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced an amendment to the 2015 Financial Services Appropriations Bill which would “prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from trampling on the rights of states when it comes to municipal broadband“. How does it protect states rights? By making it illegal for states and municipalities to petition the FCC for permission to build tax payer funded data networks. This amendment was of course approved by a vote of 223-200.

Continue reading “House GOP Attack FCC and Local Tax Payer Funded Internet Access”

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Netflix to End “Network Congestion” Warnings Following Verizon Cease and Desist

netflix-logoNo company has been working harder to illustrate streaming performance on different ISP’s networks than Netflix, and they’ve collected years worth of data on which companies are actually living up to their “high speed” claims.

This month’s speed report from the video service is chock full of all kinds of inside baseball info on what the relationship is like between companies like Netflix and ISP’s like Verizon. Following a controversial deal in which Netflix agreed to pay Verizon for more stable streaming service, we’ve actually seen speeds on Verizon’s networks dip, with their FiOS service now slotting in behind two DSL carriers. What exactly is Netflix getting here for their “Fastlane” money?

netflix congestion warning

Starting out as a test platform, Netflix started broadcasting “congestion” warnings, alerting customers that Verizon’s network was having difficulty streaming high quality video. This prompted a cease and desist from Verizon, and Netflix countered with this letter.

To ensure that these customers get the level of service they pay you for, it is your responsibility to make sure your network, including your interconnection points, have sufficient capacity to accommodate the data requests made by those customers. To try to shift the blame to us for performance issues arising from interconnection congestion is like blaming drivers on a bridge for traffic jams when you’re the one who decided to leave three lanes closed during rush hour.

Continue reading “Netflix to End “Network Congestion” Warnings Following Verizon Cease and Desist”

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FCC Votes through “Fastlane” Rules for Public Comment

FCCIn a three to two vote today, the rules proposed by Chairman Tom Wheeler have been passed forward for a public comment and review period.

Amid a vocal backlash from the public and a number of large internet based companies, the original proposal which grants carriers and ISP’s the ability to negotiate in private individual and different rates for every company wanting to do business online, was altered slightly. However the core “Fastlane” propsal remained in place, effectively ending Net Neutrality.

Tom_Wheeler_FCC“There is one internet. It must be fast. It must be robust. It must be open.” said Wheeler prior to the vote.

The ultimate irony considering these new rules would allow carriers to fragment how traffic is sent to their customers, forcing companies like Google, Netflix, Amazon, and others to pay extra to reach people who themselves are  already paying the highest rates for broadband access in any developed nation.

Today’s vote does not mean the rules will be implemented, but that we now enter a four month session of public review and comment. Considering the public’s recent attitude towards this rule change, we can imagine that the comment’s will largely be negative. That didn’t seem to prevent the FCC from moving forward with these Fastlane rules however, where even Congressional Republicans were against the policy. If it appears Fastlane starts to become a reality, it’ll become a singular talking point in reclassifying the internet as “Common Carrier” utility, something businesses and conservatives absolutely don’t want to see happen.

The public can comment on the proposed rule changes on the FCC site here.

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