Like T-Mobile, Sprint beat both AT&T and Verizon last quarter in terms of wireless subscriber growth, thanks in part to the company's unlimited data plans. Sprint's latest earnings indicate that Sprint added 368,000 net postpaid subscribers last quarter, the most valuable and highly-prized customers in the wireless space. And while those additions were nowhere near T-Mobile's 933,000 postpaid subscriber additions last quarter, they easily bested the 167,000 subscriber net gain seen by Verizon, and the 67,000 net loss in postpaid users seen by AT&T.

That said, Sprint still isn't out of the woods financially. Sprint still lost $479 million last quarter, though that's notably less than the $836 million Sprint lost during the same period one year earlier. The company reported revenues of $8.55 billion, below analysts' average forecast of $8.69 billion. Sprint has been on a cost-savings tear of late -- attempting to trim around $2.5 billion annually from the company's budget via staff reductions and other measures.

"Sprint is turning the corner," Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said in a statement. "Even with all the aggressive promotional offers from our competitors, we were still able to add more postpaid phone customers than both Verizon and AT&T while continuing to grow revenues, take costs out of the business, and improve the network."

Karl Bode and commentators are right there's enormous hype at the moment in wireless, especially on 5G millimeter wave. However, there are remarkable improvements coming out of the labs as well, many arriving this year.

Verizon continues to insist that it knows what wireless broadband customers want and need, and it isn't unlimited data plans. Verizon of course joined AT&T back in 2011 in killing off unlimited data entirely, instead shoving users toward shared data plans with caps and overage fees up to $15 per gigabyte.

• FCC Rule Change: Small Carriers Now Exempt From Truth-In-Billing Requirements [ibtimes.com]

• Trump’s Travel Ban Disrupts Meeting of ICANN, the Internet's Governing Body [motherboard @ vice.com]

• Tennessee governor wants to let electric co-ops offer broadband [arstechnica.com]

• New study from Nokia and Machina Research explores real-life experiences regarding three different strategies in 22 smart cities around the world [telecompetitor.com]

• Does Verizon Want to Buy Charter or Block AT&T-Time Warner? [foxbusiness.com]

• T-Mobile's latest deal will pay the tax on your new smartphone [bgr.com]

• NCTA, ACA join ISP groups to ask for stay on FCC privacy rules [fiercecable.com]

• Super Bowl blacked out in at least 6 markets due to retrans disputes [fiercecable.com]

• India’s government to bring free Wi-Fi to 1,050 villages [thenextweb.com]

AT&T says that while not everybody seems to want gigabit speeds, a significant number of users are signing up for the ultra-fast service in areas where AT&T sells it. AT&T CFO John Stevens says that around 30% of AT&T customers sign up for gigabit service.

IP stands for Internet Protocol, and an IP Address is a numerical label that denotes each and every device on a TCP/IP network. It is a binary number that identifies the computer or other device on the network.

The controversial "six strikes" anti-piracy system is no more. The Center for Copyright Information (CCI) has shuttered its Copyright Alert System, a four-year-old joint program between the entertainment industry and major ISPs that was supposed to take a major bite out of piracy.

China is beefing up its internet censorship efforts by waging a renewed crackdown on VPN providers. A new notice from the country’s Ministry of Information and Technology says that all virtual private networks (VPNs) must now be registered with the government or they won't be allowed to do business in the country.