The FCC still has around $185 million out of the $300 million broadband funds available from phase one of their Connect America Fund, dedicated to shoring up broadband coverage gaps. While companies like Frontier took $71.9 million to wire some 92,000 homes, other companies like Windstream balked at taking full funding, saying that getting $775 per install wasn't enough for their liking. In the hopes of getting more takers, the FCC wants to change the threshold for what constitutes an "unserved" region from 3 Mbps / 768 kbps to 6 Mbps / 1.5 Mbps.

The American Cable Association (ACA), which primarily represents smaller cable operators, is apparently mad about this potential change because it would mean that more of their struggling telco competitors would be getting subsidies:With AT&T and Verizon walking away from DSL entirely and most smaller telcos either too cash-strapped, unmotivated or incompetent to upgrade their networks, cable operators have fairly sweet sailing the next decade or so given the relatively inexpensive cost of DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades and the feeble state of competition. In short, they have the phone companies over a barrel -- and they certainly don't want taxpayer cash changing that equation.

All of that said, it's unfortunate that while industry press and overall rhetoric focuses on our quest to hit speeds of 1 Gbps -- the unsexy reality on the ground is that we're struggling to offer even 3-6 Mbps to millions of Americans.

The FCC's sixteenth annual report on the wireless industry (pdf) provides a myriad of data (as required by Congress), but once again refuses to directly state whether or not the wireless industry is actually competitive. That's becoming a sort of annual tradition, as the FCC tries not to offend the wireless industry.

Anonymous sources have been telling outlets like the Wall Street Journal and Politico that FCC boss Julius Genachowski will be announcing his departure from the FCC sometime today. His exit comes during a busy week for departures at the agency, which also saw the exits of chief counsel Sherrese Smith and Commissioner Robert McDowell.

Republican FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell today announced that he'll be leaving the FCC for an unspecified job elsewhere. McDowell was the likely front-runner to lead the FCC if Romney had won the election.

Back in March of last year you might recall that the FCC announced they had cooked up a new voluntary "cybersecurity" program designed to shore up and unify ISP responses to botnets and other security threats. The plan essentially just urged ISPs to voluntary follow a code of practice for shoring up security measures versus botnets, attacks on the Domain Name System (DNS), and Internet route hijacking.

• Google Fiber could bring superfast Internet to every town in America, but for now the company is thinking small [slate.com]
• 4G Smartphone Usage Up 70% Among Small Businesses [cellphonedigest.net]
• Apple proposes 'on-the-go' wireless charging via iPad Smart Cover with built-in battery [appleinsider.com]
• Google Pulls Several Prominent Ad-Blocking Apps From Play Store For Violating Developer Distribution Agreement [techcrunch.com]
• FinSpy Software Used To Surveil Activists Around The World [huffingtonpost.com]
• With User Profiles Still In Testing, Netflix’s Social Sharing Feature Makes No Sense [techcrunch.com]
• Blue Coat, Skype and QQ named despots' best friends - Reporters Without Borders slams "enemies of the internet" [theregister.co.uk]
• What's most important? Bandwidth over kilo-miles, or milli-watts? IBM, AT&T brainboxes beg to differ [theregister.co.uk]
• Rumor Mill: T-Mobile to launch handset trade-in program in shift to Value plans [fiercewireless.com]
• Networking Battles to Run the World [nytimes.com]
• Google Hastens to Show Its Concern for Privacy [nytimes.com]

*For more interesting links to broadband and related tech news from DSLReports.com & other sites throughout the day, follow me on Twitter @ChrisBBReports!*

Speculation has been heated over the last month as to who'll replace Julius Genachowski as the new FCC boss, even though he has yet to officially announce his departure. Washington speculation has previously tagged Tom Wheeler, a former cable industry and wireless industry lobbyist, as the most likely candidate. The Washington Post this week stated that some within the FCC are nervous about Wheeler's lobbying ties (or they're worried about the political appearance of his lobbying ties), but the paper confirmed that he, Obama staffer Karen Kornbluh, and NTIA boss Lawrence Strickling are indeed the top three candidates for the job. Once again absent from speculation is Susan Crawford, who has seen grass roots support for her criticism of the industry's competitive and price failures.

With a petition to make cell phone unlocking legal again awaiting White House response, the FCC now says they'll be launching an investigation into the issue. It's not entirely clear what good that will do since this is an issue with the Librarian of Congress and the quite-silly DMCA exception list process.

Though the FCC boss hasn't announced plans to go anywhere, there's continued speculation and gossip in DC that Julius Genachowski is on his way out after a contentious five-year stretch at the agency. Genachowski's broadband failures have been well illustrated here, from his decision to completely ignore competition issues entirely to his refusal to crack down on the predatory pricing, caps and sneaky fees that have sprung up thanks to limited competition and napping regulators.

In addition to new rules requiring that signal booster owners get carrier approval to use those devices, the FCC this week also claimed to have made some rule changes that will tackle what the agency insists is an emergency congestion epidemic facing Wi-Fi networks. The press quickly became awash in stories about how the FCC was saving us from a Wi-Fi congestion apocalypse nobody was actually worried about.

I've been writing about the dysfunction of the FCC's E-Rate program for a very long time. The system, which you pay into via Universal Service Fund (USF) fees, is designed to deliver broadband and technology services to the nation's schools and libraries.

Back in 2011 the FCC began collecting real-world user broadband data from customized routers, then issuing reports on which ISPs were failing to deliver advertised speeds. It's one of the few FCC policies in recent years that has truly paid dividends for consumers.

I recently noted how FCC boss Julius Genachowski issued a challenge for numerous states to embrace 1 Gbps initiatives, though I discussed at the same time how the challenge was rather hollow -- since most of the heavy lifting has already taken place without the FCC's help. I also pointed how the FCC's dedication is a little thin, since the agency has been historically absent as giant corporations like AT&T, Time Warner Cable, Windstream and CenturyLink bribe state lawmakers to pass laws banning cities from being able to wire themselves -- even when nobody else will.

While investing some money into broadband infrastructure (especially given the amount we spend on war) is not a bad idea, implementation in many states has been problematic. West Virginia has probably been the poster child for corruption and incompetence when it comes to broadband stimulus funds, the state (with Verizon's help) spending millions on over-power, unused routers and expensive consultants who apparently don't actually do anything.

High prices, limited competition, inaccurate meters, below the line predatory fees, inaccurate government broadband mapping data -- there's a long laundry list of things that could use fixing in the current U.S. broadband and television landscape.

Monday morning the Washington Post created some confusion by insisting that the FCC was cooking up a new "Super Wi-Fi" initiative that would bring free Wi-Fi and delicious sandwiches to everyone, everywhere. As I mentioned at the time (with NPR calling me a "killjoy" for it) the reality is less glamorous: the initiative known as white space broadband has been trying to get off the ground for the better part of a decade.

The FCC met with representatives from ISPs and carriers, city governments and power utilities to see what, if anything, could have prevented some of the outages seen during superstorm Sandy last fall. As I noted at the time, the response from fixed-line broadband providers was fairly stellar, with most ISPs providing quick refunds.

The Washington Post's Cecilia Kang is exciting numerous people this morning by noting the FCC is pushing for a new, free "Super Wi-Fi" initiative that would deploy wireless service "so powerful and broad in reach that consumers could use them to make calls or surf the Internet without paying a cellphone bill every month." I've had about a dozen people write in excited about this "new" FCC effort, but what Kang's talking about is White Space broadband, which the industry has been battling over for the majority of the last decade.

White Space broadband rides on the unlicensed spectrum freed by the migration to digital television.

A new FCC initiative promises to accelerate the delivery of 1 Gbps connections to all fifty states by 2015, though the plan upon closer inspection appears to be another hollow agency puppet show. FCC boss Julius Genachowski received ample press attention last week by proclaiming that the FCC was spearheading a new agency program that would bring 1 Gbps connections to all fifty states in just two years.

As we discussed back in 2010, AT&T's "Microcell" service essentially acts as a miniature cell tower in a user's home -- routing cell calls over the user's broadband. While these femtocell services are useful for users with poor reception, telco business models have often crippled the devices.