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Feds cap rural cell phone subsidies

The Federal Communications Commission capped a subsidy program that helps fund cell phone coverage in rural areas.

In a 3-2 vote on Thursday, the FCC said it would limit payments to wireless carriers seeking funds from the Universal Service Fund to help subsidize the cost of providing cell phone service in rural areas. The USF, which is supported by a tax on long-distance and regular subscriber line charges paid by wireless, Internet, and traditional phone customers, has been temporarily capped after the program paid nearly $1.12 billion last year to phone companies operating in rural areas. In 2001, the … Read more

Democrats to FCC: Restrict XM-Sirius deal

The proposed merger of XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio may have sailed through a U.S. Department of Justice review without conditions, but key congressional Democrats are urging the Federal Communications Commission to impose limits designed to protect consumers.

In a letter on Thursday (PDF), Reps. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) said they're not taking a position on whether the FCC should clear the deal, but they believe the regulators should consider certain steps as they weigh whether the union of the only two U.S. satellite radio operators satisfies the "public interest." … Read more

FCC dealt setback in broadband-over-power-lines push

Updated at 10:58 a.m. PDT to add comment from the broadband-over-power lines industry.

Updated at 5:22 p.m. PDT to correct the number of broadband-over-power lines subscribers.

In a potential setback for fans of broadband over power lines, a federal appeals court has sided in part with amateur radio operators who challenged rules designed to speed the nascent Internet service's rollout.

When setting rules for BPL operators nearly two years ago, the Federal Communications Commission said it was trying to encourage deployment of a "third pipe" to compete with cable and DSL services, while … Read more

This week in cell phones at the FCC

Only the most passionate cell phone geeks know that the Federal Communications Commission holds a treasure trove of information on upcoming handsets. Because the FCC has to certify every phone sold in the United States, not to mention test its SAR rating, the agency's online database offers a lot of sneak peeks to those who dig. And to save you the trouble, Crave has combed through the database for you. Here are a selection of filings from the past week on new and upcoming cell phones. Click through to read the full report.

Asus P320 Casio G'zOne Boulder … Read more

AT&T: We don't throttle P2P traffic

AT&T on Friday denied using forged reset packets to interfere with network connections of Vuze file-sharing platform users, as Comcast has been accused of doing with BitTorrent traffic.

The statement came in response to a report released earlier this week (PDF) by Vuze, which offers a BitTorrent-based client primarily used for distributing video. The start-up has asked the Federal Communications Commission to impose regulations prohibiting broadband operators from blocking or degrading peer-to-peer traffic.

Vuze's report claimed to document the median reset rates experienced by more than 1,200 "autonomous system numbers," which are unique identifiers … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 708: Meat Parade

Mii parades, Sony Home, and growing new limbs. Slow news days make for the best shows of all. Oh, and FCC Chairman Kevin Martin says evidence points to widespread Internet blocking, Netflix's CEO says the company will charge a slight premium for Blu-Ray Discs, and Stephen Hawking says primitive alien life is either likely, or rampant on Earth. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 708

FCC’s Martin: Comcast blocking was widespread http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/ 144942/fccs_martin_comcast_blocking_was_widespread.html

Microsoft XP SP 3 coming April 29 http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9924500-56.html http://www.news.com/8301-10789_3-9924689-57.html… Read more

Net neutrality battle returns to the U.S. Senate

WASHINGTON--Net neutrality has returned to Capitol Hill.

The saga of Comcast's throttling of BitTorrent file-sharing traffic--and intense interest from the Federal Communications Commission, including a hearing at Stanford University last week--has appended the topic onto at least some politicians' to-do list.

At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing entitled "The Future of the Internet" on Tuesday, Democratic politicians argued for passage of a law designed to prohibit broadband operators from creating a "fast lane" for certain Internet content and applications. Their stance drew familiar criticism from the cable industry, their Republican counterparts, and FCC Chairman … Read more

This week in cell phones at the FCC

Only the most passionate cell phone geeks know that the Federal Communications Commission holds a treasure trove of information on upcoming handsets. Because the FCC has to certify every phone sold in the United States, not to mention test its SAR rating, the agency's online database offers a lot of sneak peeks to those who dig though it. To save you the trouble, Crave has combed through the database for you. Here are a selection of filings from the past week on new and upcoming cell phones. Click through to read the full report.

LG KF390 LG LX280 Nokia … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 706: 'U can't haz Internet,' sez AT&T

AT&T threatens that the Internet is going to run out by 2010, and apparently, it's because everyone's watching Gossip Girl online. Luckily, The CW has caught on to the danger and is pulling Gossip Girl offline so the hordes won't keep watching it on their Web site. Because that would be just plain dangerous. Also, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony are all number one! Just ask them! Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 706

PayPal plans to ban unsafe browsers http://www.eweek.com/index2.php?option=content&task=view& amp;id=47667&pop=1&hide_ads=1&page=0&hide_js=1… Read more

Comcast, AT&T absent at FCC hearing on Net neutrality

PALO ALTO, Calif.--Comcast and the Internet service providers largely at the center of federal hearings on Net neutrality pulled a no-show Thursday.

Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, and Time Warner declined an invitation by the Federal Communications Commission to attend an en banc hearing here at Stanford University on the subject of broadband network management practices, according to the FCC commissioners in attendance.

The hearing, the FCC's second in three months, was organized in the wake of findings that Comcast had disrupted network file-sharing traffic on the peer-to-peer network BitTorrent. But since the FCC's first hearing in … Read more