Back in June, Sprint, Covad, T-Mobile, Clearwire and several other smaller carriers and consumer groups joined forces to create something known as the No Choke Points Coalition. Collectively, the group has been arguing that AT&T and Verizon have abused their dominant position as gatekeepers of massive backhaul and core networks, imposing unreasonable special access charges on smaller operators requiring cross connectivity. The age-old debate over these charges has heated up lately with discussions over whether special access reform should be included in the broadband stimulus plan. In a win for the group, the FCC yesterday announced they'd be taking a look at special access pricing.

Qwest's in the process of spending roughly $300 million to upgrade 1.8 million of their customers to ADSL2+ technology, offering users 12Mbps/896kbps tiers for slightly less than $50, and 20Mbps/896kbps tiers for around $100. Those are introductory rates, change depending on whether you bundle local phone, and those prices increase after a year -- though can be locked down with a long term contract.

User tater_gunz writes in: "Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that Toledo-based Buckeye Cablesystem has just announced a new 20Mbps/1.5 Mbps Buckeye Express ("BEX") tier." The addition would come just seven months after the carrier announced their $80 (unbundled) 12Mbps tier. According to the Buckeye website, the new tier is arriving December 8 . The tier is only being offered to "VIP" (video, internet and phone) bundle customers for an additional $10 to whatever they're paying now (see VIP pdf). Buckeye has also been hinting to the press that DOCSIS 3.0 upgrade announcements should be coming shortly.

California-based ISP Sonic.net continues its growth as a CLEC, and just last week started offering ADSL2+ speeds to residential users on their own network, an unfamiliar tale of CLEC growth in an industry dominated by larger players. Sonic CEO and regular reader Dane Jasper blogs about the new service, saying the first customer to go live is in Santa Rosa, California.

A struggling VoIP company everyone thought would be dead by now partners with a CLEC everyone thought would be dead by now to resell broadband. Sound like a good idea to you? Vonage, still trying to dig out of their financial hole, has announced they've partnered with Covad to resell DSL service.

California-based ISP Sonic.net continues its growth as a CLEC, and will soon offer ADSL2+ speeds to residential users on their own network. Sonic CEO Dane Jasper tells us they've launched in their home market of Santa Rosa and are now offering business customers Ethernet, T1, Dual-T1 and ADSL2+ services.

Welcome to the Product Spotlight -- a continuing series of articles highlighting individual products commonly used by our members.

In The Spotlight: The magicJack VoIP Device
Previously:
• Verizon FiOS Spotlight
• HughesNet Satellite Spotlight
• Optimum Online Spotlight
• Comcast HSI Spotlight
• Clearwire Wireless Internet Spotlight
• EV-DO Showdown - Sprint Vs.

The Wall Street Journal insists that Google will in fact be bidding in the upcoming 700Mhz auction. That spectrum, considered the last great batch of "waterfront property," could be used to offer a national wireless broadband network that could challenge incumbent interests.

Earlier this month, a Covad insider tipped us off to the fact that the CLEC was shopping itself around to potential sugar daddies, with names like AT&T, Sprint and even Best Buy being tossed around as acquisition partners. In the end, however, it appears that Covad got the best deal from Platinum Equity, who will pay $304 million (or $1.02 per share) for the CLEC. Covad CEO Charles Hoffman waxes optimistic in the company press release:The deal, barring regulatory approval, should close in the second quarter of next year.

Covad is cutting 8% of their staff in an effort to reduce costs, the company announced today in a press release. "We continue to pursue opportunities to manage our business more efficiently," says CEO Charles Hoffman.

The Supreme Court this morning threw out an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T, Verizon and Qwest. The suit accused the companies of illegally agreeing not to compete against one another in order to protect their interests while simultaneously driving CLECs from the market. The justices voted 7-2 in favor of the baby bells, stating the lawyers for the plaintiffs failed to provide evidence of collusion. Verizon applauds the deal, saying the high court has established that providers "will not be challenged under antitrust [laws] for making independent choices that benefit consumers."

A Covad rep has let us know that the new business class ADSL2+ services an insider tipped us to last week have now been made available, with prices and speeds available here. The 8Mbps/1Mbps, 10Mbps/1Mbps and 15Mbps/1Mbps speeds are $149.95, $174.95 and $194.95, respectively. They're available in 758 central offices across 11 markets (listed below the break).

The new ADSL2+ speeds are available in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC. As previously stated, you need to be within 4,000 feet of your CO to get the fastest 15Mbps service. Users in our Covad forum discuss Covad ADSL2+ being less expensive for residential users if/when sold via resellers (no SLA, best effort, etc.).

Sonic.net CEO Dane Jasper gives us a heads-up that the Santa Rosa-based ISP has formed a new CLEC, Sonic Telecom, to deploy ADSL2+ and VDSL2 DSLAMs. The company will be selling the services with speeds up to 24Mbps to various providers (today Sonic.net offers wholesale DSL to 75 ISPs).

An industry insider insists to us that Covad will be directly selling standalone ADSL2+ service starting June 1. The insider says the business class dedicated loop ADSL2+ service will be sold in 8Mbps/1Mbps, 10Mbps/1Mbps and 15Mbps/1Mbps flavors (no prices yet; tip us if you have info or corrections), with the prequal loop length for the 15Mbps service being 4,000 feet from the CO.

Covad today announced that the company has completed the build out of their ADSL2+ network -- now the nation's largest, according to the CLEC. The network passes some 14 million homes in twelve major markets.

According to the Chicago Tribune and a company press release, Covad has shelled out $1.4 million to buy DataFlo Communications, in order to eventually offer Wimax wireless broadband service in the Chicago area. Back in February, Covad completed its purchase of NextWeb, California’s largest fixed-wireless broadband provider for businesses.

While Covad is pushing into wireless alternatives and expanding their ADSL2+ network, the company has been losing traditional landline DSL customers each quarter, and investors remain unimpressed with the CLEC's prospects, as evident by their consistently static stock price.

The Chicago Tribune offers a short profile of Royce Holland, co-founder and former head of both Metropolitan Fiber Systems and Allegiance. Holland recently took the helm of McLeodUSA after they re-emerged from Chapter 11 in January of this year.

Covad today issued a press release claiming that once their latest network upgrades are complete, the company will operate the largest ADSL2+ network in the nation. The latest buildout, predicted to be completed before the end of the year, covers Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Philadelphia, San Diego and Washington, DC. The company says they've pegged Samsung as their latest build-out partner.

Covad and Earthlink have been offering 8Mbps ADSL2+ to in-range (closer than 5,000 feet to the CO) customers in San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Dallas.

CLEC Cavalier Telephone has traditionally ranked rather poorly in our customer reviews, but the company claims to be the first telephone provider in the states to be offering MPEG-4 based IPTV. Cavalier's new "Triple Play" will offer local and long distance telephone service, 9Mbps DSL, and over 150 digital channels for $95 per month. The service went live today in the Richmond, Virginia area.

Covad's "line powered voice" technology has won product of the year honors from Telephony Magazine, the company states in a press release. The service, which is being bundled by Earthlink with 8Mbps ADSL2+ in a handful of cities, eliminates consumer-side voice hardware, is usable through any jack in the home, and via a Nokia DSLAM avoids bell networks by running voice traffic over Covad's national UNE-L network. Added reading on Earthlink's re-branded launch of the product via Red Herring or CNET.