Cellular carriers have earned many negative impressions over the years for poor billing practices, unfair contracts, and some dubious attempts to insert themselves where they might not belong; but there's no denying that they have a good track record for giving a little back in times of crisis. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, carriers in the U.S. have committed to not terminate customers' lines and provide more data and cheaper plans to those who need them.
Read More
The nation's big four carriers felt free to broker their customers' cellphone location data to third parties for years in order to make an easy secondhand buck off of the people who already pay them to deliver expensive wireless internet to their expensive devices. Turns out that the FCC isn't happy with their behavior and, according to Reuters's sources, may be prepared to levy an eight-digit fine against the networks.
Read More
Late last year, the FCC said that it was going to open up access to a whole chunk of valuable but poorly utilized spectrum in the so-called "C-band" for 5G use, repurposing frequencies currently used (read: mostly wasted) by American satellite service providers. Today the FCC has announced the details behind that plan. Though the particulars are subject to change, the move would free up a sizable 280MHz for a future auction, and the FCC says satellite providers are even on board with the decision.
Read More
The FCC has just authorized the commercial deployment of the 3.5GHz CBRS bands, approving its use by four companies from the CBRS alliance, including Google, and paving the way a whole new chunk of cellular frequencies here in the states. The new spectrum will be commercialized by OnGo, a cellular service/interoperability standard championed by CBRS Alliance. In short, this means some of us here in the 'states will soon have access to a whole new band of data.
Read More
Today US President Donald J. Trump has signed into effect the TRACED (or Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence) Act, aimed to prevent unwanted spam/robocalls, authorizing fines up to $10,000 per illegal call with no advance warning, extending the statute of limitations for violations to four years, and imposing a requirement that carriers implement call authentication solutions, like the existing SHAKEN/STIR verification tech.
Read More
One of the most vital services the government offers is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. It runs around the clock every day of the year and is intended to help ease people from the critical distress they may be facing in a moment of need. But if you weren't able to use its web-based chat line, would you be able to dial its number (1-800-273-8255 or 1-800-273-TALK) by memory if you ever needed it? Chances being what they are, maybe not. That's part of why the FCC is proposing to use a new number, 988, as a redirect to the lifeline.
Read More
Over the last few years, robocalls have quickly grown into one of the most universally despised issues among mobile phone users in the US. The seemingly exponential growth of spam calls has us heading toward a time where a majority of the phone calls made are spam. Today, T-Mobile, Comcast, and telecommunications company Intelliquent are announcing a technical milestone in the war on robocalls — the first call routed across three networks using an end-to-end implementation of the FCC recommended STIR/SHAKEN cryptographic security framework.
Read MoreU.S. FCC chairman Ajit Pai took to Twitter today, outlining a plan to auction a portion of the valuable so-called "C band" frequencies for 5G use. There's one potential hiccup: parts of that C-band spectrum are currently used by some satellite service providers to deliver media to ~120 million American subscribers, but Pai believes that a portion of the frequencies can be auctioned and repurposed to satisfy American thirst for data, while still preserving a solid chunk for satellite programming.
Read More
Motorola is set to unveil the long-rumored foldable Razr phone later today, but the FCC beat Moto to the punch. Thanks to a bungled confidentiality request, the FCC has posted numerous images of the phone's exterior, along with some of the innards. The device looks very much like the leaks suggested.
Read More
The FCC has voted to approve the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile, an agency official told The Verge, with commissioners voting down party lines by a margin of 3 to 2. The two Democratic members have expressed their dissent to the $26 billion transaction announced April of last year in FCC filings and, in one particular member's case, an op-ed.
Read More
Loading ...
