In early 2011 MetroPCS joined Verizon in suing the FCC to overturn the agency's already fairly-flimsy network neutrality rules. With MetroPCS and T-Mobile now merged, T-Mobile announced late last week that it would be withdrawing the lawsuit against the FCC they acquired as part of the deal. Groups like Public Knowledge quickly issued statements applauding the move, and urging Verizon to do the same (not likely). "While they're not perfect, they reassure Internet companies that they will be able to reach users, they give ISPs a framework under which they can manage their networks, and they provide a mechanism for working out disputes," said the group. Disputes like, oh, when T-Mobile blocks Google Wallet to the benefit of their own, Isis mobile payment platform -- and the FCC does nothing about it.

Verizon's attempt to hang up on their copper networks in Sandy-impacted areas has gotten more complicated after the NY Public Service Commission last week indicated hesitation at letting Verizon disconnect users state wide without first understanding the repercussions. According to regional Long Island news reports, the PSC has granted Verizon temporary approval to pull DSL on Fire Island, NY, replacing it with Verizon's Voice Link wireless service.

For much of the last year, Verizon Wireless has been blocking Google Wallet, claiming that its use of a device's "secure element" is what has prohibited them from letting consumers use the app. Numerous people have explained in great detail (including the lawyer that filed the original complaint with the FCC) that this excuse is simply being used to keep Google Wallet permanently stuck in approval purgatory, while the wireless industry's own, competing Isis platform sees no such restrictions.

As part of many announcements at Google's I/O Conference this week, Google announced that they would now be integrating video chat within Google Hangouts across platforms and devices. Well, unless you use AT&T.

As I've been discussing a lot lately (because it's the most important issue facing the broadband sector right now), both AT&T and Verizon are in the process of gutting regulations that require they continue offering copper landlines -- and by proxy DSL -- to tens of millions of Americans. Both companies insist that they're simply interested in "modernizing regulations" and ushering us into an "all IP age." In reality, both companies simply want to exit the fixed-line market in areas they're unwilling to upgrade.

According to a company insider, additional Verizon customers impacted by Sandy will soon be informed -- some seven months after the fact -- that they too will never have their DSL lines repaired. As we've seen in New York and New Jersey, the telco is foisting a service upon those customers called "Voice Link," which connects user home phones to the Verizon wireless network.

The FCC this week announced that they're targeting 500 MHz of additional airwaves that could be opened up to help improve in-flight broadband services. Currently, most in-flight broadband either rely on congested satellite broadband bandwidth, or skyward-pointed ground to air EVDO antenna arrays.

The Obama administration last week picked a former cable and wireless lobbyist to run the FCC. While the Wheeler pick is being applauded by some consumer groups and folks like Susan Crawford (who has spent the last year selling books that complain about revolving door politics and regulatory capture), most people are highly skeptical that a man with thirty years of lobbying under his belt is going to seriously represent the public interest.

Verizon has slowly been expanding the number of Sandy victims they're informing will never see their DSL lines repaired. Fire Island, New York residents who lost service during Sandy haven't had broadband service since last October, and only recently were told that these lines simply won't be repaired.

As noted yesterday, the FCC has selected former cable and wireless industry lobbyist Tom Wheeler to replace Julius Genachowski as the head of the FCC. Wheeler has been a top fundraiser for the Obama campaign during the last two election cycles, and it appears he's now getting his political reward for being a loyal foot soldier.

As noted earlier this month, venture capitalist and former cable and wireless industry lobbyist Tom Wheeler appears to have the new FCC boss position locked up. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the FCC should announce Wheeler as the new FCC chairman today or tomorrow, with Current FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn acting as interim chairman until Wheeler is in place.

Since last fall Verizon has been trying to justify their blocking of Google Wallet on Verizon phones, insisting the app is blocked because Google Wallet uses the "secure element" on devices to store a user's Google ID. In response to complaints filed with the FCC by lawyer Jay Klimek, Verizon insists the unending blockade has nothing to do with the fact Verizon (in conjunction with AT&T and T-Mobile) is working on their own competing mobile payment platform named Isis.

One of several things ignored by outgoing FCC boss Julius Genachowski (aside from high prices, predatory below-the-line fees, and a lack of competition) was the anti-competitive use of usage caps and unreliable meters. Genachowski had a knack for telling a particular audience what they wanted to hear about the issue, before contradicting himself a week later.

At the tail end of 2011 carriers and the FCC agreed to new voluntary bill shock guidelines, the agency driven by repeated stories of users facing wireless bills for thousands of dollars (or more). The bills are usually the result of customers who failed to read and understand roaming data rates, and carriers not exactly motivated to make understanding such rates easy.

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.

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]

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