Table of contents:

* 1 - NY checking if Verizon is up to speed - Bill Horne
  <bill@horneQRM.net>
* 2 - AT&T and Verizon both working on sponsored data offers - Bill
  Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
* 3 - County is considering cell tower proposal by Verizon - Bill
  Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
* 4 - RE: Verizon's Sponsored Data Shouldn't Hurt Net Neutrality -
  "Bob Goudreau" <BobGoudreau@nc.rr.com>

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Message-ID: <n4o1vh$8kh$1@dont-email.me>
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2015 22:40:54 -0500
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
Subject: NY checking if Verizon is up to speed

The NY attorney general is crowdsourcing speed tests to see if Verizon
is scamming customers

(By Sarah N. Lynch, Reuters) -- New York Attorney General Eric
Schneiderman invited the public on Sunday to test the speed of their
Internet and submit the results online as part of an ongoing probe into
whether large providers may be short-changing customers with
slower-than-advertised speeds.

The office launched an investigation into Verizon Communications Inc,
Cablevision Systems Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc in October over the
issue.

http://venturebeat.com

--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)


------------------------------
Message-ID: <n4o0h7$3t7$1@dont-email.me>
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2015 22:16:10 -0500
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
Subject: AT&T and Verizon both working on sponsored data offers

Data Perks gives AT&T users up to 1GB of free data a month

by Matt Hamblen
Computerworld

The nation's two biggest wireless carriers, AT&T and Verizon Wireless,
have entered another competitive arena, this time over so-called
"sponsored data," which gives customers access to low-cost or toll-free
data.

In such programs, third-party vendors generally work with the carriers
to offer apps or other content to customers without eating into the
users' own data plans. The third parties, which can be as diverse as
hotel chains or app makers, usually pay for the data that is required to
use their app or service.

http://www.computerworld.com


--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)


------------------------------
Message-ID: <n4o12n$6b4$1@dont-email.me>
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2015 22:25:32 -0500
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
Subject: County is considering cell tower proposal by Verizon

By Claudia Boyd-Barrett
Ventura County Star

The Ventura County Planning Division is considering a request by Verizon
Wireless to install a wireless communications tower in the Mira Monte
area of the Ojai Valley.

The proposed tower would be near the intersection of Highway 33 and
Baldwin Road, next to the Ventura Hay Co., about a mile south of Ojai.

A public hearing before county Planning Director Kimberly Prillhart has
not yet been scheduled but likely will happen in January, said Brian
Baca, manager of the division's commercial and industrial permit section.

http://www.vcstar.com

--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)


------------------------------
Message-ID: <001901d136db$c74a0630$55de1290$@nc.rr.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2015 20:56:13 -0500
From: "Bob Goudreau" <BobGoudreau@nc.rr.com>
Subject: RE: Verizon's Sponsored Data Shouldn't Hurt Net Neutrality

A confusing excerpt from Fortune magazine notes:

> Verizon is planning to follow in AT&T's footsteps with its own plan to
> let advertisers pay the carrier for the mobile data consumers use when
> watching certain content. This plan, which AT&T introduced back in
> 2014, might let a company like Hershey's pay to let a consumer watch a
> mobile video ad for the chocolate without having that ad count against
> the consumer's mobile data cap.
> ...
> In general, the media and open Internet fans hate this plan. The idea
> that consumers already pay Verizon for mobile data, and that Verizon
> might also get to charge advertisers another fee for the same bits
> infuriates them. Some hate the idea of this because carriers are
> double-dipping on revenue.

This part about double-dipping seems to contradict the first part of the
article, which says that the advertiser-paid content would not count against
the consumer's mobile data cap. So which is it, Fortune? Would this plan
allow Verizon to charge both the consumer and the advertiser for the same
bits (as second paragraph states), or would only the advertiser pay the
freight for such content (as the first paragraph claims)?

A later posting in the Digest quotes the Christian Science Monitor, which
seems to come down firmly on the "single-dipping" interpretation:

> Verizon's 'sponsored data' program would allow wireless customers to
> access some services without counting against their monthly data caps,
> so long as those companies pay Verizon. But net neutrality advocates
> say this gives deep-pocketed companies an unfair advantage.

If there is not actually any double-dipping involved, I can't get too worked
up about this idea. Imagine if there had been "telephone neutrality"
advocates half a century ago. They would presumably have been outraged at
the prospect that "deep-pocketed" companies could pay to set up
called-party-pays toll-free numbers, giving such companies an "unfair
advantage" over their smaller competitors, since consumers would have to pay
the usual call charges for the privilege of reaching the latter, but would
be able to call the former for free. The notion of the 800 number would have
been stillborn.

Bob Goudreau
Cary, NC


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End of telecom Digest Tue, 15 Dec 2015