Kyle Brady: Blog » Broadband

The Upcoming Regulation of American Telcos [OpEd]

Kyle Brady — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:05:40 +0000

Look out, telecommunications industry – you’re about to be regulated.

Perhaps better phrased as “reregulated” or “further regulated in an industry previously left to regulate itself”, but the sentiment is the same. Phone, cable, and other telcos are not happy with what appears to be Federal regulation of broadband services coming in the near future, as the FCC, FTC, and even Congress itself take an interest in the practices of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Net Neutrality. The next few years may do for broadband in America what the early years of the millennium did for the cell phone market: expand and encourage competition, enforce customer rights and protections, and establish a baseline of acceptable/expected practices.

As the use of and dependence on the Internet has increased, so too have the problems associated: sporadic availability, variable connection speeds, filtered traffic, misleading sales packages, and overall corporate lies about services. The customers that have noticed the shady practices of these companies are a growing, very vocal minority that experiments with bleeding-edge uses of their broadband connection for rich media content delivery, high resolution multiplayer global gaming, remote data archiving, and as a replacement for many applications that have previously been limited to the local machine.

Both the Department of Agriculture and the Commerce Department recently announced the availability of $4 billion in stimulus funds to interested parties for broadband-related projects such as infrastructure growth, marketing, and rural expansion. There is, however, a catch: there are Net Neutrality restrictions. These requirements don’t equate to anything groundbreaking, since they merely reference a duty to follow predetermined regulations and guidelines set by the FCC, but it is a promising first step, if only because the industry fought so hard against it. Even more promising, however, is the newly approved Chairman of the FCC and his comments on the future of broadband in America.

Julius Genachowski was sworn in as Chairman of the FCC on June 29, 2009, and within three days set the tone for how strong he intends the organization to be in the coming years. In a July 1st speech at a Pennsylvania high school, Genachowski notes that the broadband infrastructure of America is sorely lacking and that he wants to have an overall plan to accomplish many goals, not the least of which is to “spur innovation”. On July 2nd, an FCC meeting was held, that included comments to “provide a detailed strategy for maximum utilization of broadband infrastructure and service by the public” – essentially stating that the public needs not only access to broadband, but the ability to actually utilize the services they pay for, ostensibly by the providers appropriately provisioning their networks.

These initial statements coincided with the launch of Broadband.gov, an FCC-sponsored website tasked with handling details in the public eye on the “FCC National Broadband Plan”. Most interestingly, Genachowski made comments in a July 2nd speech about the need for “universal broadband that’s fast, affordable, and open” while recognizing that other countries have eclipsed our network capabilities. The FCC’s plan is, according to him, going to “complement” those announced by the Departments of Agriculture and Commerce. Futhermore, Michael Copps, FCC Commissioner, made remarks on July 2nd on the need for “value-laden broadband” – combine this with the Chairman’s comments and the newly released outline for the Broadband Plan, and a picture begins to emerge: enforced Net Neutrality and service delivery.

The telecom industry has long fought against the need for internet services regulation because they profit best from overselling networks, underproviding to customers, and filtering out traffic they deem unwanted – in addition to the usual practices of large corporations such as customer service incompetency. The last year has seen discussions, and test implementations, of tiered broadband access, bandwidth caps, and traffic-type restrictions by ISPs, all of which are likely to be deemed unfair practices by even the weakest of Net Neutrality legislation. The FCC has already committed to distributing stimulus money, in the near future, tied to restrictions on network operations – if the next year and a half goes smoothly, and intelligently, companies like AT&T, Comcast, and Time-Warner will have no choice but to provide viable broadband services without unnecessary limitations.

America is potentially on the cusp of a new and glorious era of unfettered broadband, where everyone has access to the global network and customers actually receive they services they pay for. As the FCC is aware, there is only one chance to proceed correctly, and that requires looking to the future of the American people than to the modern profit margins of large corporations. The upcoming regulations of telcos in the United States is necessary to ensure a solid, free digital future, and the new Chairman seems to understand this – the growing vocal minority will be cheering the Federal Government on as this battle of wills begins.

Amazon’s “PonyExpress” – Stop Laughing, Idiots [Old Content]

Kyle Brady — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:20:43 +0000

This is a response to the criticisms [1] [2] of Amazon's new "mail your HDD of data to us for an AWS import" service.

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This really isn't that ludicrous. If you've ever unzipped a base install of Wordpress, and uploaded the files uncompressed to the server... you've seen that typically takes a few minutes.

And that's just Wordpress.

Now try uploading a DVD's worth of family holiday pictures - if the connection doesn't timeout, it will take hours. Maybe you try compressing the files into 6 or so segments, but it will still take hours... just a few less than before.

Let's expand that out to corporate scale. As much as I hate Twitter, imagine the data it stores on a single user: all the profile information, login information, access information (login dates, IPs, etc.), not to mention the endless stream of Socrates-like insights posted to the web.

If a user downloaded all of their data after using Twitter the way most people seem to for a few months, and wanted to upload to AWS to implement their own service... you'd get your own personal Failwhale.

I personally wouldn't mind shipping an HDD to Amazon for processing, especially if you're a small company. Using 80% of the network's bandwidth for two days is going to pull almost all other activity to a screeching halt, which is going to result in time/work/money lost for the company.

Maybe the assorted internet commentators should do a little more data-processing before publicly stating opinions... even GigaOm approached this condescendingly, when Amazon should be praised for trying to help their customers achieve the highest possible rate of efficiency.

Even if that means circumventing the black-market highseas robbery that are American ISPs.

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Update (5/21/2009 10:00pm PST): Finally. TechDirt gets it right.

U.S. Broadband – A Call to Arms [Expose]

Kyle Brady — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:08:29 +0000

Broadband providers seem to be in the news every week for one reason or another, but an important issue is arising in New York: companies are finding they have to compete with each other for customers, which really just means they can't sell "we're going to screw you over" packages anymore, and they actually are being forced to deliver on their promises.

Despite the many hopefuls out there, I'm skeptical. I've had problems with AT&T and them lying before, and the situation isn't getting any better.

I'd love to have a blindingly-fast internet connection that's not filtered, shaped, or anything else... just a raw pipeline. Some people seem to think this is coming. I would willingly pay $99/mth for consistent 50Mbps download speeds, and I would jump on Verizon's FiOS bandwagon the minute it's available in my area (if ever). But keep in mind that lots of small and random countries, like Estonia or Japan, have much better connectivity than we (the U.S.) do - and they continue to stay one step ahead of the game.

There is really only one hurdle to achieving high connectivity: corporate reluctance and profit margins.

Until a few years ago, American ISPs were relatively normal companies- they provided a service that customers paid for, end of story. But wave after wave of corporate lies and greed [1] [2], copyright abuse [1] [2], and traffic filtering/shaping [1] [2] are quickly proving that these companies don't have the best interest of the customers in mind - they're interested in obtaining maximum profit for minimal work, usually via overloading their networks or blocking/filtering/slowing certain kinds of traffic.

Where are the regulators in all of this? Where is the heavy-hand of the government that is supposed to defend our freedoms and liberties? They spend huge amounts of time, money, and effort defending our physical freedoms, but what about our intellectual and digital freedoms?

The RIAA is breathing down the neck of copyright law, trying to use it in ever more creative ways for destruction, all while looking to have the terms of copyright (and punishment for violation) extended to new heights. Lobbyists in Washington, in tandem with their corporate sponsors, are in a frenzy to prevent any sort of telco regulation related to their activities - even if the point is to protect their customers. Large portions of Congress are even in the telco companies' pockets, and are defending them voraciously - which includes the takedown of competition via government friends.

If the Internet is going to survive in any freedom-having format, then a few key events need to occur: Net Neutrality needs to be established in the U.S., setting a standard for other countries to follow; the FCC needs to heavily regulate what telcos can and cannot do regarding their broadband services/customers; and inquiries into the delivery of said services (connectivity, downstream, upstream, persistence, filtering, etc.) need to begin within the highest levels of government possible.

We already have countries clearly violating their citizens' rights (like Sweden), but the problems in America stem from corporations, not the government - do you really imagine Time Warner or Comcast would refuse to collect data on their users for the government? They already participate in shady activities, what's one more?

America could be turned into a highly-dense checkerboard of fiber, creating massive pipes to every home, and it wouldn't matter. What good is a fast connection when you can't use it? Or when you do, it gets downgraded, blocked, filtered, or otherwise interfered with?

American citizens need to stop sitting quietly in the background, and make it widely known such practices are not only despicable, but need to be flat-out illegal. For far too long these companies have operated on a policy of "screw the customer, they have no control" and the situation continues to quickly degrade in the absence of action from a slow-to-care government.

When the Internet becomes only a small conglomeration of sites you're allowed to visit, then will you (both the American people and the Federal government) care? That day is fast approaching - but don't depend on the Internet to find out about it.

It's probably blocked.

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Update (5/9/2009 11:55pm PST): It appears the EU has beaten us to the punch. While I applaud this and wholeheartedly endorse the movement, it's embarrassing that we didn't approach the issue with legislation first.

AT&T and Their ADSL Package- Continuing to Screw Me [Expose]

Kyle Brady — Mon, 04 May 2009 19:51:42 +0000

For a quick history, see my post regarding AT&T and .torrent files. It's from a year ago, but not a whole lot has changed since then... Also, you can skip to the takeaway points of this, rather than reading the entire, rather lengthy, piece.

I changed apartments a few months ago, and in doing so I had to transfer my AT&T ADSL service from the old location to the new one... I haven't written about it until now, because I didn't have good enough reason to, but they screwed it up. Big time. And as of writing this, months later, the issues aren't fully resolved.

Oh, and they still filter my traffic too.

The Great Escape

To make a long story short, I requested them to transfer my service from Location A (old and then-current apartment) to Location B (new apartment) by Date C (about a week and a half from when I called). Within 24 hours, my modem mysteriously broke (killswitch?), and after calling in again to receive a new modem (free only by agreeing to a verbal contract of a year of service), I discovered that my transfer request has "disappeared" from their system. We created a new account request for Location B, active once again on Date C, with the modem to be received within 48 hours at Location B.

The modem didn't show at the new apartment, and it still wasn't there a week later. Having been without service for at least a week (in either location), I called after I received a bill. As it turns out, they misspelled my address and didn't include an apartment number, so it had been sitting in the closest UPS facility for the last 7 days. UPS had told AT&T to contact me to pick it up, so they sent a note to my address (not calling me once) - which I never received, because they didn't address it properly. The people at UPS said this is a regular event from AT&T.

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Now having a modem, and managing to avoid any other idiotic issues when connecting to my service at the new apartment, I was content. However, a month and a half later (two weeks ago) I received two bills: each for a different account, totaling $130.

I spent two hours on the phone with the Billing Department, listening in as they spoke to different departments for my benefit. Apparently what had happened was that I had two accounts for the same service, in the same location, one of which was the "missing" account from the original transfer request.

While on the phone, they asked for one account to be closed, but not physically disconnected, via the Disconnect Dept., since I still had an active and valid account at the same address. They credited a payment from the false account to the true account, and placed a "billing changes pending" marker on the account - supposedly filing a bunch of notes for future reference along the way. I spoke to a supervisor, non-outsourced, who promised to call back within 48hrs. with an update on how much was being deducted from my account balance based on false accounts, lack of service, etc.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Less than 24hrs. later, I had no service, and had instead a blinking red status light on my month-old DSL modem - at 10am. Someone had come out from the Disconnect Dept., and disconnected me, despite being told not to.

Before doing any normal-life things like eating breakfast, making coffee, or showering, I called AT&T and spoke to the Line Dept., bypassing Tech Support completely, briefly explaining the situation. After asking the agent to look at the notes on my account, he enlightened me to the fact that no notes existed whatsoever.

Despite AT&T causing my problems, by being absolutely retarded, the earliest they could come out was the following Monday... I was calling on a Thursday morning. My request for escalation was processed, and I received a robot-call telling me it was denied 5 minutes later, no explanation.

Fight Club

My internet was reconnected by a very helpful field contractor, who gave me his cellphone so I "don't have to wait for AT&T to schedule a call whenever they feel like it", and I was again content. But further consultation with the Billing Dept. has shown that they also have no notes on my account, nor any reference to a supervisor callback that I never received - and they won't discuss my billing issues with me since I have an account change pending.

The very change that was placed on my account to prevent late fees being assessed while things were straightened out.

Romeo and Juliet

In the last 3 months, I've been without service a minimum of 2.5 weeks, none of which has been credited to me, and they claim that I actually had service during these periods. My connection is highly spotty, sometimes reconnecting multiple times within the span of a minute, but my hardware is all brand new, so it's not a local issue.

I pay $45/mth for "ADSL Pro Elite", purporting to have 6.0Mbps downstream - which I demonstrably don't have anything close to. They still filter my traffic in terms of torrent files and other file downloads, taking over an hour to download a single standard-definition TV episode (of, say, South Park) or needing to wait a few minutes to build a buffer when watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Hulu. I still get penalized if they feel I used enough bandwidth for an arbitrary time period, such as slowing my connection to a crawl if I even dare to watch a streaming Netflix movie, resulting in picture quality that I could produce in my bathtub with a handful of crayons - with similar audio.

Count Dracula

At this point, I don't have many options: AT&T refuses to acknowledge that most of these events that have even occurred, they "lose" account notes that may have not existed in the first place, and generally screw me over in the use of their service. Comcast, being the only local cable provider, is not an acceptable replacement, for obvious reasons. Verizon doesn't provide service in my area, let alone FiOS, and none of the other major telcos don't either. I can't even use a Verizon satellite-card connection, because it wouldn't support having a home network like I do.

I'm painted into a corner. Paying too much for a service that doesn't deliver, to a company that lies, without options to go elsewhere.

What I really need is someone like Covad to provide solid, dependable, and quality service, downgraded in both specifications and price to a consumer level. If there ever was a reason for the Federal government to be involved in net neutrality and the internal network operations of the telcos, and not just "let the free market sort it out" (because total free reign has worked so well elsewhere!), this is one.

Maybe the real question is: who wants to form a telco startup?

p.s. Yes, it was worth the time it took to write this epic saga of lies, deceit, and backstabbing by AT&T. I feel slightly better now.

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Update (5/11/2009 9:30pm PST): I received a notice/bill/warning from a bill collecting agency today for part of the payment that is disputed and AT&T was supposed to be looking into... even though I've kept my account current monthly, while the other fees are "investigated" (or not... who knows, maybe they lost those records too). The saga continues.