Since 1993, the FCC has held the ability to restrict bidders’ participation in spectrum auctions based on their current spectrum holdings, needs and dominance in the marketplace. Given that wireless spectrum is a public resource, the current law tasks the FCC with the responsibility to ensure competition in the marketplace and prevent monopolies and duopolies from forming. A new proposal contained within the JOBS Act, H.R. 3630 — a sweeping bill that primarily addresses the extension of unemployment benefits — threatens to strip the FCC of this authority and return spectrum auctions to the freewheeling wild west era. The bill is so controversial that former FCC chairman, Reed Hundt, recently called this proposal “the single worst telecom bill” he’d ever seen, and, “a repudiation of the smartest auction theorists in the world.” Today, the CEOs from many of the US’s smaller telecoms — which include Sprint, T-Mobile, Cricket, C Spire and Bluegrass Cellular (among others) — officially lodged their objections to this proposed bill based on the notion that, left unrestricted, AT&T and Verizon Wireless could start bullying smaller carriers in the race to acquire more spectrum.

While the majority of the bill deals with making additional spectrum available, Section 4105 of Title V — the controversial bit in question — is ostensibly the work of lobbying efforts on behalf of AT&T and Verizon. Are the nation’s top two carriers legitimately concerned that the FCC will limit their ability to participate in future auctions? Sprint contends that the current law has worked rather well for both top dogs, which together control approximately 73 percent of the spectrum under 1GHz. There’s no doubt that spectrum is the bread and butter of the wireless industry, but as a public resource, it deserves to be allocated in a way that promotes competition and best serves the citizens. Regardless of your gut reaction, it seems that the topic deserves some legitimate debate. If the proposed bill hits the Congressional floor and is mired down amongst discussions of unemployment benefits and flood insurance reform, just how much of this important discussion will fall on deaf ears?

[Tower photo via Shutterstock]

AT&T and Verizon lobby for less FCC spectrum control, Sprint and other carriers respond originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It once was a rumor but now it’s real: Verizon and Redbox are joining forces on what is said to be the “best of both worlds” — a service that will offer both physical media and streaming content for subscribers. Details are slim at this point but the supposed “Project Zoetrope” will offer DVD and Blu-ray media in addition to on-demand streaming plus downloadable content. The Netflix-like service is said to be launching in the second half of this year and, while support for “devices” is mentioned, it’s not stated whether any of those will be non-Verizon. We’ll have to wait a few more months to find out.

[Thanks, Kevin]

Verizon and Redbox team up to launch streaming and physical media service later this year originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Continue reading Refresh Roundup: week of January 23, 2012

Refresh Roundup: week of January 23, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Jan 2012 10:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When you think of Super Bowl Sunday, many images likely come to mind: malty beverages, nachos, high-budget commercials and — oh, yeah — football. Even amongst us mobile fanatics, however, cellular coverage rarely crosses the mind. Fortunately, that’s not how Big Red rolls. The company has brought three of its LTE cell-on-wheels rigs to Indianapolis in anticipation of the Big Game, which is expected to draw 85,000 attendees. Amongst other things, Lucas Oil Stadium is now wired to the teeth with $69 million in Verizon gear to ensure that all subscribers will be able to tweet along with each touchdown, fumble and botched call — like the Giants / Packers game, for instance. In addition to the COWs, the equipment includes 400 mobile antennas inside the stadium to carry voice and data, along with 600 WiFi stations to support a total of 28,000 simultaneous connections. The folks at GottaBeMobile have an excellent spread of how all this came together, but if you’re more of the visual type, you’ll find a quick video after the break.

[Thanks, Josh]

Continue reading Three COWs descend on Lucas Oil Stadium, courtesy of Verizon Wireless (video)

Three COWs descend on Lucas Oil Stadium, courtesy of Verizon Wireless (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Jan 2012 23:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’ve got a Samsung Galaxy Nexus. You’re eager to root and unlock it, but don’t want to acquire carpal tunnel in the process? Listen up: a one-click root and unlock tool has been posted to the forums over at AndroidCentral. Developed by WugFresh, the Galaxy Nexus Root Toolkit automatically installs the software necessary to liberate Google’s sexy new superphone and brings you one step closer to installing your favorite ROM. The tool can also unroot and restore the OEM-lock — allowing you to bring your Nexy back to its out-of-the-box state. The utility runs on Windows PCs and, for the time being, only supports Verizon’s iteration of the newest Nexus; the posting promises a GSM compatible version soon. Hit the source link if you’re interested, and happy rooting.

Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus gets one-click root and unlock originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[Image courtesy PBS]

Telecoms win immunity in wiretapping case, US court approves separate suit against the government originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon Wireless appears to be standing behind its claims of operating “the nation’s largest, most reliable 3G network and the nation’s largest 4G LTE network,” following this month’s latest nationwide data outage. A Verizon spokesperson wrote in to inform us that “the 4GLTE issue was resolved overnight. 3G operated normally; calling, texting were unaffected.” We were unable to access data on both LTE and 3G CDMA networks with our Galaxy Nexus yesterday, however. Verizon may be working furiously to add cities to its LTE coverage map, but with repeated outages and little clarification this month, it may be a very long time before the carrier can include 4G reliability in its corporate maxim.

Verizon confirms latest LTE outage restored, again claims 3G operated normally originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 09:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The fine folks at Verizon’s Innovation Labs in Waltham, Massachusetts have posted a couple of videos of their efforts that include their vision of how Verizon plans to deliver TV to all the devices in your home, over both wired and wireless networks in HD, served off of a centralized media server. In addition to tablets, game consoles and computers, the media server will also serve content to smaller, more energy efficient thin clients at the other HDTVs in your home. Besides the obvious benefits of more content in more places, a centralized approach like this also offers the promise of being more user friendly by making the experience consistent across every screen — no more walking to another room to schedule recordings. We’re told the media server is expected to roll out late next year, but sadly, FiOS TV isn’t exactly known for delivering new technologies when promised.

Verizon FiOS TV’s new media server scheduled for late 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Justice Department antitrust division probing Verizon cable spectrum deals originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 09:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

PSA: Verizon users reporting data outages across the US originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 05:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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