C|Net

For all the hype and potential benefits that stem from 5G, there are few parts of the world that will actually see deployments in the next few years. Other countries are still moving to 4G, or even struggling to offer any level of internet connectivity. The Alliance for Affordable Internet's (A4AI) 2017 affordability report found that only 19 countries can say they have affordable internet. Overall, the digital divide between rich and poor was found only to be widening. A new set of advantages for the connected only look set to leave the unconnected even further behind.

Is AT&T carving out lanes on the internet and offering the speediest service to the highest bidder, while leaving all other internet traffic relegated to "slow lanes"? Not exactly. AT&T hasn't introduced a new service that explicitly prioritizes one type of traffic over another. But that doesn't mean that it isn't offering other services that might run afoul of the strict network neutrality restrictions that are set to expire soon. 

President Donald Trump's $200 billion infrastructure proposal released Feb 12 includes $50 billion in funding for rural communities, but nothing specific for broadband deployment. Even though President Trump has talked about the importance of expanding broadband in rural areas, he has not committed any funding to help build networks. Instead, his efforts have been aimed at eliminating red tape and regulation to get infrastructure built.  

Verizon said that it would begin locking the phones it sells to consumers, which will prevent them from using a SIM card from another carrier. Initially, the phones will be unlocked as soon as a customer signs up and activates the service. But later in the spring, the company will begin the practice of keeping the phone locked for a period of time after the purchase -- in line with the rest of the industry. 

On Jan 15, Democrats announced all 49 of their senators, and one Republican will vote on a bill that uses the Congressional Review Act to reinstate the regulation. What are the chances that Democrats will succeed? It seems unlikely. While it's true that Democrats only need one more Republican to side with them in the Senate to get to 51 votes, they still need a majority in the House of Representatives, where Republicans have a far greater margin -- 238 Republicans to 193 Democrats.

Comcast said it has no plans to offer fast lanes on the internet after the Federal Communications Commission eliminates Obama-era regulation, which banned the practice. The nation's biggest cable operator responded to a report from the website Ars Technica, which stated Comcast might be considering offering a service that would charge companies like Netflix and Google to deliver their services more quickly to consumers. In a statement, Comcast denied the claim. "Comcast hasn't entered into any paid prioritization agreements. Period," spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice said.

A senior adviser for the European Union's top court told an Austrian privacy activist that he can't sue Facebook on behalf of 25,000 people. The adviser said that activist Max Schrems could sue the company on his own but that a class action suit would likely fall flat in court. Schrems has accused the social network of violating European privacy laws, taking aim at what he sees as invalid privacy policies and data-sharing agreements the company has with US intelligence agencies.