Last month we noted how Verizon has increasingly been under fire from regulators in West Virginia, Florida and New York for slacking when it comes to maintenance and customer service for their aging DSL networks. With so much money to be made on getting into the TV business via FiOS TV, workers, customers and regulators say the telco is cutting corners in markets it's less interested in (when they're not busy just selling these markets outright). The result is poor customer service and long repair times for DSL and landline customers in a significant portion of the company's footprint.

Delaware is the latest to confirm something is seriously afoot when it comes to Verizon copper, an independent consultant finding that Verizon's coming up short in that state as well in terms of keeping its landline and DSL customers happy. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the consultant's report has been redacted upon request by Verizon. But the PSC's concerns are made pretty clear in comments to the News Journal concerning a Verizon settlement with the state:Every time we've asked the carrier, Verizon has vehemently denied that they're neglecting their copper-based markets, but it's becoming rather clear that those markets (and the employees who work in them) believe otherwise. In what's an additional trend we're noticing, Verizon's battling harder with each state PSC to weaken the determination of what constitutes a speedy repair, as the Charlston Gazette examines:Of course Verizon's thinking that if they weaken the standards it will look like they're doing a better job -- without actually having to do a better job -- a tactic most cable and phone companies have employed for years. Combined with Verizon's efforts to sell unwanted markets to companies using fancy financial tactics that wind up crushing the buyer underfoot, the company's decision to hang up on a significant portion of their customer base seems like a story overshadowed by the company's investment in FiOS.

The cable industry this week is busy patting itself on the back for a new initiative they've dubbed "Adoption Plus." According to the cable industry's chief lobbying and PR arm, the National Cable And Telecommunications Association, Adoption Plus has been created to "promote sustainable broadband adoption for a vitally important-but-vulnerable population" -- namely middle school-aged children in low income households without broadband. As such, the industry says they're offering discounted broadband to low income homes.

Blogger Christopher Soghoian is raising eyebrows this week with a recording of a Sprint executive at a conference exploring how Sprint has been using a new portal to give user GPS data to law enforcement agents an astounding 8 million times over a thirteen month span. The disclosure of course immediately raised questions over what kind of legal process is being followed, and who's being tracked.

Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada last week opined that within the next ten years the game console will cease to exist -- at least in its current form. We're already seeing the life-cycles of gaming consoles extended courtesy of a constant stream of GUI and functionality upgrades delivered via broadband. The next step is making the console simply a dumb terminal with the network and remote servers doing the heavy lifting -- a segment OnLive is trying to tap into (though it will still likely take half a decade or more for this to arrive). Combined with the huge rise in casual browser-based games and the success of digital distribution platforms like Valve's Steam, Xbox Live and the Playstation Network, it's pretty clear that broadband has changed everything. Just keep an eye on those looming broadband caps and overage charges.

A lawsuit filed last week in Bismark, North Dakota accuses Midcontinent Communications of burying cable on private property without getting the permission of property owners. According to the Associated Press, lawyers for the suit are looking for class action status. AT&T is currently working on a settlement that would pay locals 75 cents per foot of cable buried in roadway ditches on their land, with AT&T of course acknowledging no wrong doing. While the AT&T case involved only about twelve miles of cable or so -- the Midcontinent case involves "hundreds and hundreds of miles" of cable, according to the attorney who's working on both cases.

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) on Tuesday condemned the practice of redirecting Internet users to a third-party portal when they mistype, or enter a nonexistent URL. You'll recall that the practice gained international attention when Verisign implemented their heavily-loathed Sitefinder initiative in 2003.

It's fairly common practice for cable carriers to blame their often bi-annual TV rate increases on the high costs their incur from broadcasters. Time Warner Cable appears poised to take this traditional tactic to a new level.

Back in June, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) launched their terms of service tracker, which keeps an eye on company TOS for any changes that might be of interest to consumers. At launch the tracker didn't track any broadband ISPs, something the EFF told us they'd correct. They have, and now track 56 companies, including Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, Earthlink, T-Mobile and Sprint. The company has now announced that they've launched a new blog specifically dedicated to tracking company abuse of their customers through mouse print. The new resource tracks ongoing litigation and developments regarding AUP and TOS changes, and will provide white papers aimed at giving the average Internet user "a general background on many of the legal issues that surround Terms of Service agreements."

Glenn Fleishman directs our attention to the fact that despite the constant calls for in-flight broadband service, Portfolio notes that people just aren't interested in paying for it. Or at least that's the conclusion author Joe Brancatelli comes to, despite admitting in the piece that hard user numbers "are nearly impossible to come by." Neither the airlines or the major in-flight Wi-Fi players (Aircell and Row44) are willing to talk real numbers, though insiders are apparently willing to talk anonymously about a few things: story continues..

Earlier this month, the FCC, who's in the middle of designing a national broadband plan, issued a report (pdf) identifying seven major factors that are considered "critical gaps" preventing broader broadband deployment. Among the gaps identified are some correct and rather obvious ones, including the fact the USF doesn't fund broadband expansion, broadband may be unavailable or too expensive, spectrum is limited, or broadband is expensive to deploy.

Earlier this month we noted that Verizon had started offering a trio of new prepaid wireless broadband options for those of you who couldn't find an open Wi-Fi hotspot, simply hate contracts, and don't mind paying a steep premium for bandwidth. Verizon now offers a $15, 75MB "day pass" plan, a $30, 250MB "week pass" plan, or a $50, 500MB "month pass" plan.

Comcast's dream of acquiring NBC Universal can't come to fruition until Vivendi executives sell their 20% stake in the company, according to the Los Angeles Times. Obviously the value of that 20% differs greatly depending on how much the company is deemed to be worth -- and according to the Times, Vivendi wants that number to be at least $500-$900 million greater than what's currently on the table. GE has placed a value on NBC Universal of $27 billion to $30 billion. While Vivendi and GE hash out the numbers, consumer advocates continue to lambast the deal as only really being good for industry executives, giving the companies yet more market power, and the authority to restrict competition from Hulu (which Comcast would gain control over after the deal).

While Comcast lobbyists tried their best to slow the encroachment of Verizon FiOS into their hometown of Philadelphia, the Philly city council authorized a citywide franchise back in February (you can read the agreement here (pdf) if you're into that kind of thing). As per the deal, Verizon has around seven years to wire the whole city, though these agreements (as with NYC and DC) often have loopholes that let Verizon extend deadlines or wiggle out of obligations should certain adoption numbers not be met. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, service this week went live in Chestnut Hill, South Philadelphia and North Philadelphia, near Girard College. Additional neighborhoods should come online this year, but Verizon isn't saying which ones. Verizon does keep a PA construction notice (pdf) on their website, but it's quite often outdated.

After his company won approval of its bankruptcy plan this week, Charter Communications CEO Neil Smit tells Bloomberg that upon exiting from bankruptcy, the company will raise prices and consider consumption-based billing. Charter Communications hasn't been profitable since the company went public in 1999, posted a $2.45 billion loss last year, constantly ranks at the bottom of most customer satisfaction surveys, is swimming in debt, and was just forced into bankruptcy and reorganization.

Back in September we noted how it seems like only a matter of time before Verizon engaged in metered broadband billing. After Time Warner Cable's PR implosion, most ISPs are in a holding pattern on the idea until they can sell consumers on it, something they haven't done a good job of so far.

Given the high costs of deploying fiber to the home, we're starting to see new models emerge whereby if customers really want it, they can share the cost of having it installed (one Norwegian ISP gives a $400 rebate if you dig your own fiber trench). Now Utopia, the nation's largest municipal fiber deployment, is testing a new model whereby communities who want the fiber deployed can share the cost of installation. As more Utah cities look to connect to Utopia but debate how they should pay for it, Brigham City has decided that if users want fiber they can pay for it themselves. 1,600 local residents have already ponied up $3,000 a piece, helping the city install a $5.5 million network while the city itself only puts up about $700,000 of the required cost.

For many years now companies (including some of the biggest broadband ISPs) have been issuing gift cards instead of cash as rebates. Why? Companies can impose a number of restrictions on the cards that statistically reduce the amount of actual cash companies have to pay out.

Consumer advocates, unions and state regulators are worried that Verizon's plan to sell a massive chunk of their DSL and landline networks to Frontier Communications won't go very well. The $8.5 billion deal, if approved, would infuse Frontier with 4.8 million new residential and small-business phone lines across 14 states, 1 million broadband connections, and 11,000 former Verizon employees.

With the cable company he founded currently struggling through bankruptcy, Charter Communications founder and Chairman now finds himself facing a much more serious and difficult task: beating back cancer a second time. Allen, who already fought and beat cancer some twenty five years ago, is now facing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, according to The Seattle Times. "For those who know Paul's story, you know he beat Hodgkin's a little more than 25 years ago and he is optimistic he can beat this, too," says Allen's sister Jody Allen. Allen spent much of the summer battling with creditors, who didn't like Allen's efforts to retain control of the company after restructuring. The restructuring is supposed to eliminate about $8 billion of the company's $21.7 billion in debt.

Verizon suffered from quite a bloody third quarter when it came to DSL numbers, the company losing 135,000 DSL customers -- and only a portion of those having upgraded to the company's FiOS service. To help counter these DSL losses Verizon keeps tinkering with their DSL promotions, and yesterday rolled out a new one. According to a Verizon press release, new Verizon 1 Mbps, 3 Mbps or 7 Mbps DSL customers can get service free for six months if they're willing to sign a one year contract with the company. FiOS customers should note the company has also slightly tweaked their FiOS promotions depending on where you live.