Hasta La Gadget!

You might think you’re hot stuff for carrying around a new Vertu Constellation Ayxta, but this is America, bub — and your blinged-up Nokia has to kick it at the FCC just like everyone else. Of course, without that fancy always-on-call Concierge service and Vertu Select, all you’re really looking at here is a pretty anonymous featurephone wrapped up in high-end garb, but you’re not spending your $10,500 on features here — you’re spending it because you’re too lazy and rich to buy something good.

Filed under: Cellphones

Vertu Constellation Ayxta luxo-flip slums it at the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon and AT&T, the States’ number one and number two wireless carriers by subscriber count respectively, share a common bond in that they both have deep ties to the Bell System of old and have ended up running huge wireline broadband and legacy telephone businesses. That means they’re liable to end up sharing a lot of common interests like candlelit dinners, walks on the beach, and a general agreement with the FCC’s Julius Genachowski on new net neutrality legislation — for wired broadband, anyhow. Both companies’ wireless divisions are expressing concern that the proposed rules would apply to ISPs regardless of medium, and the argument is that while landlines (and the accompanying bandwidth) are a theoretically limitless resource, wireless bandwidth is ultimately limited by available spectrum no matter how advanced the underlying technology may be — and if the carriers don’t have authority to clamp down on certain types of heavy use, everyone loses. Though every bone in our body is telling us to vehemently disagree with the argument, they’re right on the point that wireless capacity doesn’t flow from an everlasting font of spectrum, and it’s got to be managed. Thing is, “managed” doesn’t necessarily mean “restrict.” Here are the options we see at a quick glance:

• Lobby the FCC to aggressively search for and free up additional spectrum that can be safely re-purposed. The CTIA’s already pursuing this angle, so it’ll be interesting to see what becomes of it.
• Before raising hell, AT&T and Verizon should both consider completing their moves to LTE and coming within a stone’s throw of tapping out their current spectrum allocations. Both carriers own swaths of 700MHz bandwidth that they haven’t yet capitalized on, and AT&T is actively freeing up 1900MHz by moving a number of markets to 850 for 3G.
• As with everything else in a free economy, the market should decide wireless data pricing. It’s a limited resource and it’s in demand — as long as the appropriate regulatory bodies are keeping a close eye on anti-competitive practices (which it seems they’re looking to do a better job of), simply charge a fair market rate for usage rather than discriminating by application. We’ve got a long way to go from the virtually identical pricing structures and limited options that national carriers offer today.

See, guys? Lots of options here without waging a fight that goes against the popular (and largely correct) side of a hot-button topic.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Wireless

AT&T, Verizon poised to fight FCC’s net neutrality stance on the wireless front originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We knew it was going to happen, but we’re still stoked to report that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski formally proposed a set of net neutrality rules this morning, calling them “the fair rules of the road for companies that control access to the internet.” There are two big new rules, which say broadband providers of any kind can’t discriminate against content or applications, and must be transparent about their network management policies — a big change for wireless carriers like Verizon and AT&T, who would have to open their networks to scrutiny, and a direct response to Comcast’s secretive packet-filtering techniques. What’s more, Genachowski also proposed that four existing agency policies be granted formal rule status, meaning network operators would be required to allow users to access the content, apps, and services of their choice, and they would also be required to allow any “non-harmful” devices to connect to their networks. We knew all that open-access hullabaloo was leading up to something good.

All told, these are some big policy changes, and while we’re excited that the FCC is this gung-ho about net neutrality — seriously, Genachowski comes off as the best kind of fanboy in his followup HuffPo editorial, it’s kind of awesome — we’re still only cautiously optimistic, since the rulemaking process has only just begun and there are some potentially huge loopholes for network management and prevention of copyright infringement. But those are details to be worked out — for now, the real news is that net neutrality is on its way to becoming the law of the land, and that’s enough to warm even our darkened robot hearts. Check a video of Jules after the break.

Read – Genachowski’s speech proposing net neutrality rules
Read – Genachowski’s Huffington Post followup editorial
Read – The FCC’s new openinternet.gov website
Read – WSJ piece with industry reactions

Continue reading FCC chairman formally proposes net neutrality rules

Filed under: Networking

FCC chairman formally proposes net neutrality rules originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Based on what we’re hearing, a slate of soon-to-be-proposed FCC rules may stop the likes of Comcast from discriminating against P2P applications on their networks, and AT&T sure will have a tougher time justifying why it won’t let the iPhone’s version of SlingPlayer run on 3G while giving WinMo and BlackBerry users all the bandwidth they can handle. Julius Genachowski, the new chairman of the entity, is slated to discuss the new rules on Monday, though he isn’t expected to dig too deep into the minutiae. Essentially, the guidelines will “prevent wireless companies from blocking internet applications and prevent them from discriminating (or acting as gatekeepers) [against] web content and services.” We know what you’re thinking: “Huzzah!” And in general, that’s probably the right reaction to have as a consumer, but one has to wonder how network quality for all will be affected if everyone is cut loose to, well, cut loose. Oh, and if this forces telecoms to deploy more cell sites to handle the influx in traffic, you can rest assured that the bill will be passed on to you. Ain’t nuthin’ free, kids.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Wireless, Networking

FCC to propose new net neutrality rules disallowing data discrimination originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The juicy stuff in Google’s response to the FCC about the Google Voice iPhone app that we couldn’t read? Apple’s a lying liarface, because they did reject the app. UPDATE: Apple responds, denies.

If you remember Apple gave the FCC this gem of a response: “Contrary to published reports, Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application, and continues to study it. The application has not been approved…” They didn’t reject it, they simply hadn’t approved it. Right.

Google’s pulled the confidentiality request off its response to the FCC’s inquiry, and they say it was rejected. There are some other noteworthy morsels in the full doc (PDF), like that Phil Schiller himself broke the news on July 7 they were rejecting GV to Google’s VP of Engineering and Research Alan Eustace, and that part of the reason Apple rejected Google Latitude is that they were actually afraid it might replace the core Maps application, since it offered new features Maps didn’t have.

It’s absolutley amazing to see this kind of fear on Apple’s part, given the position they’re in with the iPhone. Because that’s what these two rejections boil down to: fear. Still, things could get way more interesting, so stay tuned. [Google, WSJ via Loop Insight]