• Android and Symbian Should Unite, Analyst Says [pcworld.com]
• Airtel Broadband redirecting non-working domains to self hosted ad filled page [techwhack.com]
• Europe’s next-generation broadband [physorg.com]
• AT&T plans $400 million fiber investment in Alabama [lightreading.com]
• Proof of age system moves net ID a step closer [theregister.co.uk]
• Mobile Operators with 3G Do Not Effectively Compete with Fixed Broadband--At Least for Now [yankeegroup.com]
• TorrentSpy Appeals Lawsuit Over MPAA Getting Access To Its Emails [techdirt.com]
• Apple seeks iPhone reverse engineering expert [theregister.co.uk]

It's Friday, so take off your shoes, put up your feet, and empty your head into the comment section below.

After recently getting final approval for a New York City-wide video franchise, Verizon says they'll introduce FiOS TV to the city during a webcasted press conference on Monday, July 28 -- in Grand Central Station. Users who can't wait for glossy brochures can hit this URL on Monday to watch Verizon executives discuss pricing and other deployment specifics. The telco has promised to make FiOS available to every home in all five boroughs by 2014.

After Earthlink pulled out of the muni-fi business, the company couldn't find anyone to buy their network in Philadelphia. Just as it appeared the project would be shuttered, several local investors stepped in and purchased the network. They've since been offering free access, so not surprisingly the network's daily user base has jumped from 6,000 (while it was a pay service from Earthlink) to 17,000 now that access is free. The new owners hope to actually make something called "money" by offering higher grade wired/wireless service to local businesses, hospitals and universities.

In May of last year, Broadband Reports user Robb Topolski posted in our forums that Comcast appeared to be forging TCP packets in order to throttle upstream P2P traffic for all users, regardless of consumption. That finding ultimately led to a wave of press coverage, an FCC investigation, and forced (or will by the end of 2008) Comcast to embrace a more transparent way of managing their network (most likely 250GB caps and very targeted throttling).

Canadian cable operator Videotron says they're deploying a new "fiber deep" architecture from Aurora networks that will greatly reduce the number of homes using a single node -- from between 500 to 1,000 homes per node now, to about 125 homes per node after the upgrade. The upgrade also reduces power consumption, since the new architecture eliminates the amplifiers between the node and the home. Videotron was the first North American cable operator to deploy faster pre-cert DOCSIS 3.0 speeds last February. While they offer 30Mbps and 50Mbps tiers, they come with 30 and 50GB monthly caps respectively (plus $1.50 per additional gigabyte).

Yesterday I noted that with two working exploits in the wild for a major new DNS vulnerability, a significant number of major ISPs had yet to fully patch their systems, leaving their users vulnerable to scams and identity theft. While some security analyst tests claimed that Comcast was among the companies falling behind in the patching, Comcast tells me that isn't the case.

AT&T, a company that's no stranger to mergers and unfair competitive advantages, is taking aim at the Sprint Clearwire merger. The nation's largest broadband provider is asking the FCC to deny the merger, saying that Sprint and Clearwire are under-stating their total volume of spectrum holdings in order to get reduced federal scrutiny. "The applicants themselves have positioned their company as the single largest holder of broadband mobile spectrum in the country," complains AT&T. Verizon, who'll also be forced to compete with the company's new offerings, has not submitted any objections to the merger.

Back in September of 2006, Milledgeville, Georgia received an $862,000 grant from the Georgia Technology Authority through the Wireless Communities Georgia program. The grant was to be used to highlight the use of wireless broadband to aid economic development, educational access and governmental services. According to the Union Recorder, the city has decided to use that money to partner with Clearwire and bring a municipal WiMax network to the region. Serving the public is a major part of the plan, but bringing wireless broadband to the local police force was one of the project's first priorities.

• Comcast P2P Critic Launches Class-Action Bid [multichannel.com]
• World's biggest ISPs drag feet on critical DNS patch [theregister.co.uk]
• No, Telecom Progress Hasn't Slowed [techdirt.com]
• ISP threatens to walk out of illegal file-sharing pact [pcpro.co.uk]
• Proof of age system moves net ID a step closer [theregister.co.uk]
• Mobile Vendors Debate the 'Open' Future [internetnews.com]
• AT&T to Oppose Sprint-Clearwire Merger [cellular-news.com]
• Not So Fast, 3G [pcworld.com]

• Broadband to reach 77% of U.S. households by 2012, Gartner says [networkworld.com]
• No Free Wireless Broadband for You: Wireless Carriers [eweek.com]
• Vonage Commits to Refinance [lightreading.com]
• Broadband Code of Practice [computeractive.co.uk]
• NextWave Wireless to sell $150.1M of AWS spectrum [cnbc.com]
• US cellular still emerging market [theinquirer.net]
• XM-Sirius merger OKd in fines plus booster-dump deal [theregister.co.uk]
• European Commission backs away from data roaming caps; T-Mobile says just use Wi-Fi [muniwireless.com]

Former Sling Media employee Dave Zatz is apparently well loved by the Verizon PR folks (he's often given personal tours of new FiOS TV features at HQ). Zatz was given an early look at the beta test for the telco's FiOS set top box integrated H.264 Internet video offerings. In English, Verizon will be letting FiOS customers watch YouTube, Veoh, Blip.tv and Break.com content from their set top boxes, an idea that could really excite you or bore you stupid depending on your personal technical proclivities. It's expected the functionality won't launch until late this year or early next as part of Verizon's top-tier DVR offerings.

Security researcher Dan Kaminsky recently discovered a serious design flaw in DNS. That flaw, according to US-CERT, involves a new implementation of DNS poisoning, a trick that allows a hacker to redirect unwitting surfers to alternate addresses (that's not good news for the technically daft and easily swindled).

The latest global rankings in fiber to the home (FTTH) deployment penetration show that the United States has dropped from eighth to tenth place. While a lot of this obviously has to do with geography, it doesn't really help the U.S.

Ever since Bell Canada decided to throttle wholesale competitors without telling them last March, independent Canadian ISPs have been trying to get Bell regulators to take action. While Bell Canada insists network congestion makes such throttling necessary, data doesn't support those claims.

Earlier this week Embarq responded to a Congressional inquiry into their recent trial of NebuAD user-tracking ad technology, and the sale of user browsing data. While the letter clarified that Embarq's definition of "informing" users about the trial involved burying fine print in their privacy policy, it really didn't answer any of the specific questions put forth to them by the Congressional inquiry.

Britain's six largest Internet providers (BT, Virgin Media, Orange, Tiscali, BSkyB and Carphone Warehouse) have collectively agreed to a plan by the entertainment industry that would have them send letters to subscribers informing them that their P2P use is being monitored. The plan does not involve ISPs terminating the accounts of any users -- yet. According to Reuters UK, the plan could still evolve into a "three strikes" policy, where a user faces account termination on the third offense.

Originally slated for last year, AT&T has been working hard on testing a compression scheme that allows them to offer two HD streams, two SD streams, and 10Mbps worth of data via the average 25Mbps most U-Verse VDSL customers receive. In May, AT&T confirmed to me that they are now offering two HD and two SD streams in some markets, but wouldn't specify any solid launch dates. Yesterday in a conference call, AT&T CFO Richard Lindner stated they'd be offering dual HD streams in all markets by the end of the third quarter. The next big thing for U-Verse users to wait for? Pair bonding and faster speeds.

According to a post in this morning's Wall Street Journal, Sprint is planning to sell nearly all of their cell towers to a private-equity-backed firm called TowerCo. The deal will bring a $670 million cash infusion to the struggling company, which they'll be using to pay down some of the company's $24 billion debt load. Sprint will then lease back its own towers, expected to be around 3,300 total, from Towerco.

• Six of UK's largest ISPs announce sign up to government-backed initiative to clamp down on music piracy [pcadvisor.co.uk]
• Broadband TVs: Are We There Yet? [businessweek.com]
• WiMAX WISPs target the enterprise [networkworld.com]
• Cisco Buys Pure for a Smarter Home Network [gigaom.com]
• Canadian Carriers May Switch To GSM [Yahoo News]
• Nokia, Qualcomm End Patent Disputes [informationweek]
• Rogers Looks For New Ways To Annoy Customers, Hijacks Failed DNS Lookups [techdirt.com]
• Iphone vulnerable to hack attacks [theinquirer.net]