Internet service providers many places in the world must operate disruptively, simply because they cannot afford to invest as much as has been the case in the tier one service provider business and also typically must operate at challenging levels as well. That means creating services at vastly lower costs, faster than possible in the past, and sometimes designing networks that operate very differently from networks traditionally built to provide communications services, as well as [...]

Everyone here at Broadband Reports wishes you a happy, safe and respectful long holiday weekend.

Last summer Verizon introduced their new shared data plans for contract customers, which provide users with unlimited text and voice, but imposed low caps and steep overages on data and per device connection fees to make up for it. A little less than a year later and Verizon now says that about one third of their postpaid customers now use the shared data plans — or about 30% of the company’s 93.2 million postpaid contract [...]

France was one of the first countries to impose laws that require ISPs terminate the service of users who repeatedly engage in copyright infringement. Under the rules, copyright offenders were tracked by a newly-created taxpayer-funded agency dubbed Hadopi and a hired company named Trident Media Guard (TMG). Hadopi then works with ISPs to obtain personal information and send out warning letters or kick people off the Internet. The program hasn’t really slowed piracy, and the [...]

Back in April we noted that AT&T was imposing a new $0.61 “Mobility Administrative Fee” on all postpaid wireless subscriber bills. According to AT&T’s website, the sneaky fee “helps defray certain expenses AT&T incurs,” though like AT&T’s equally nonsensical “regulatory recovery fee,” those expenses should be included in the cost of doing business, and not buried beneath the line. Few apparently read our report, and as a result only this week did the press finally [...]

Leap Wireless’ Cricket brand this week launched what they’re calling “Half is More” pricing, which the company claims offers users “unlimited plans for half the price of the competition.” According to a Leap/Cricket press release, the company’s new $45 Offering provides unlimited text, voice and data services. However, the company rather buries the fact that by “unlimited” they mean around 1 GB, after which you’re throttled back to dial-up era speeds for the remainder of [...]

Back in April we noted that AT&T was imposing a new $0.61 “Mobility Administrative Fee” on all postpaid wireless subscriber bills. According to AT&T’s website, the sneaky fee “helps defray certain expenses AT&T incurs,” though like AT&T’s equally nonsensical “regulatory recovery fee,” those expenses should be included in the cost of doing business, and not buried beneath the line. Few apparently read our report, and as a result only this week did the press finally [...]

Leap Wireless’ Cricket brand this week launched what they’re calling “Half is More” pricing, which the company claims offers users “unlimited plans for half the price of the competition.” According to a Leap/Cricket press release, the company’s new $45 Offering provides unlimited text, voice and data services. However, the company rather buries the fact that by “unlimited” they mean around 1 GB, after which you’re throttled back to dial-up era speeds for the remainder of [...]

The latest report (pdf) from the American Consumer Satisfaction Index highlights that consumer satisfaction with cable TV services remains among the worst in any industry — and broadband ISP service satisfaction is even worse. While some companies made small strides, they haven’t been enough. Pay TV and ISPs are ranked on par with or worse than most airlines (never a good thing), and well below the rankings seen by banks and government organizations like the [...]

The Wall Street Journal this week seemed rather surprised to learn that wireless carriers are now happily selling user location data for additional profit. According to the Journal, “carriers are coming to see subscribers as sources of data that can be mined for profit, a practice more common among providers of free online services like Google Inc. and Facebook Inc.” As we’ve noted for some time, this data is purchased from everyone from marketers to [...]