Wireless Internet

My perception of internet service providers (ISPs) and cellular advertising is that companies push the envelope more every year in trying to make claims that can give them a marketing edge over the competition. What’s funny about many ads is that carriers try to differentiate themselves from their competitors, even though their peers are delivering essentially the same product to the market. The competition between cable companies and fiber overbuilders, however, is not based on equivalence.

LinkNYC 5G kiosks are part of a citywide program to provide free high-speed internet and other services to people in the city. Stretching more than 30 feet in the air, the kiosks offer free Wi-Fi, free charging, nationwide phone service, and other digital services.

The Federal Communications Commission initiated a proceeding to address the ongoing remote learning needs of today’s students, school staff, and library patrons through the E-Rate program and to ensure the millions who have benefitted from the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) do not fall back onto the wrong side of the digital divide once the program ends. Specifically, the FCC proposes to permit eligible schools and libraries to receive E-Rate support for Wi-Fi hotspots and wireless Internet services that can be used off-premises.

The biggest cable companies have been successful in recent years in bundling cellular service with broadband and cable TV. The cable companies launched their cellular products by operating as an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator). That’s an industry acronym that means that the cable companies purchase and resell cellular minutes, texts, and data from one of the big cellular carriers. The biggest cable companies have also selectively started to install their own cell sites in their busiest neighborhoods to totally bypass the cellular carriers.

US District Judge Thomas Durkin in Chicago ruled  a lawsuit filed by customers of AT&T and Verizon over T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint may proceed because the plaintiffs “plausibly” argued that higher prices “flowed directly” from the $26 billion merger. The proposed class action was filed in 2022 and seeks a range of penalties, including undoing the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile. The class-action suit was filed by seven AT&T and Verizon subscribers on behalf of millions of customers who were affected.

Network carriers are exploring nascent technology that would allow them to better and more quickly deliver certain apps and services on their network—but this technology, known as network slicing, could potentially run afoul of net-neutrality regulations. In the current model, all data traffic from phones is typically funneled through the same network. Carriers are able to prioritize the voice calls that they handle on that network, but they rarely have visibility into what else users are doing through other apps.

T-Mobile is now the carrier with the largest number of prepaid customers, surpassing Verizon. Based on its Q3 2023 earnings reports, T-Mobile had 21,595,000 customers and Verizon had 21,420,000. Wave7 Research flagged the change in a report distributed to subscribers. Before the third quarter, Verizon was the biggest US prepaid carrier, but that title was relatively new. The operator bought TracFone Wireless from América Móvil in 2021, instantly giving it more than 20 million prepaid customers, but it’s been steadily losing customers ever since. 

At a New America Open Technology Institute event, Jonathan Campbell, legal advisor for Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, talked about spectrum sharing. In terms of the lower 3 GHz, he said, “We are ready to fulfill our obligation of moving forward with an auction for any of the spectrum that is identified through the Department of Commerce report and continuing to collaborate with our federal partners.” Of course, the FCC doesn’t even have auction authority right now.

I would wager that most of the supposed Affordable Connectivity Program fraud is coming from cellular carriers. My suggestion is that we stop using ACP to subsidize cellular service. The underlying concept of ACP is to get better broadband to folks, and I don’t care how you try to justify it—cell phone data is not a substitute for home broadband. Many people claim that they only use their cellphone as a broadband connection, but if they are more than a casual broadband user, they are probably getting most of their broadband through WiFi connections on somebody else’s broadband connection.

AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon made more money from providing wireless services in the third quarter of 2023 compared with the prior year as they added phone lines and nudged many clients toward more expensive plans. The boost in service revenue helped offset weaker equipment sales as purchases of pricey phones slowed at their stores and websites. “Customers are holding on to their phones longer,” said Tony Skiadas, finance chief for Verizon, the country’s largest wireless carrier by subscribers.