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 Verizon does keep a PA construction notice (pdf) on their website, but it's quite often outdated.

If you've paid attention, you know the modern "network neutrality" debate took off in 2005, when then AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre proudly, though dumbly, proclaimed that Google got a "free ride" on his network. According to Ed, this unfairness could only be rectified by charging companies who already pay for bandwidth money to ensure their traffic reaches AT&T consumers quickly.

It's been made fairly clear that as Verizon loses the ability to lock down their phones and network (forcing consumers toward their wireless handset content), the carrier is going to make up for it by squeezing the pipe and imposing some steep per-byte charges. A recently leaked Verizon memo gave insight into the company's new wireless pricing plans for Internet-enabled handsets not quite powerful enough to be considered "smartphones": $9.99 for 25MB (50 cents each additional MB) or $19.99 for 75MB (30 cents each additional MB).

For years the baby bells have been trying to slow (or ignore) the death of the landline by forcing DSL customers to bundle one, whether they wanted it or not. That's why it's kind of refreshing to see this Verizon ad (pdf), forwarded to us by a reader, that actually encourages customers to drop their landline.

Comcast recently managed to delay Verizon's deployment of FiOS in their home town of Philadelphia by complaining to the Philly city council about issues the cable giant likely cares nothing about -- namely that Verizon's entry into the city market wouldn't lower cable TV prices, and that the telco would cherry pick the most profitable customers. In the end however, Comcast only wound up delaying approval a couple of months -- the city this week unanimously approving a Philly FioS franchise. Verizon says some people in Philly will get FiOS this year, but full citywide deployment will take seven years.

A New Yankee Group study of global fiber to the home claims that U.S. telcos are doing a number of things wrong, nursing copper instead of deploying fiber being chief among them.

If you recall, the network neutrality debate truly took off in the States back in 2005, when former SBC (now AT&T) CEO Ed Whitacre told Business Week in an article that Google wanted to use Ed's "pipes", for free. "I ain't going to let them do that because we have spent this capital and we have to have a return on it," insisted Ed at the time.

Verizon this week struck a new multi-year deal with Major League Baseball, the agreement bringing the MLB Network and the league's Extra Innings out-of-market package to all FiOS TV customers. According to the company's press release, MLB Network will be available to all Verizon FiOS TV customers as part of the Essentials and Extreme HD packages on Channel 86, when it debuts Jan. 1, 2009. Meanwhile, the MLB Extra Innings package provides up to 80 out-of-market Major League Baseball games per week.

• EU Aims For Broadband Access For All Europeans [webpronews.com]
• ISPs Eye Tiered Broadband Pricing [lightreading.com]
• Taking the Broadband Revolution to Rural America [ktre.com]
• Verizon: Put the brakes on broadband monitoring [cnet.com]
• Regulators ease path for BT's superfast broadband [ft.com]
• China reports 77.83 million broadband users [People's Daily Online]
• Mistrial declared in RIAA file-sharing lawsuit [theinquirer.net]
• 'You can't use Google' - EU Parliament [theregister.co.uk]

• iPhone 3G is named gadget of the year [yahoo.com]
• McCain invented the Blackberry [theinquirer.net]
• No pr0n surfing for Qantas A380 passengers; 'cached internet content' only [theregister.co.uk]
• We're saying bye to landlines [floridatoday.com]
• Verizon Wireless - Contract-free starting Sept. 21? [cellphones.ca]
• Bright House Flicks On Switched Video [multichannel.com]
• Google to buy Valve [theinquirer.net]
• Vodafone cleared for “Unlimited” claim [techwatch.co.uk]

• AT&T, Verizon creating bigger gap with rivals [marketwatch.com]
• Can the FCC Offer Up Some Real Reform? [gigaom.com]
• Remembering the Role of Satellite Services in Mobile Broadband [seekingalpha.com]
• Voice over IP the king of value added services [thinkbroadband.com]
• European Regulators Working To Lower Wireless Text Charges [informationweek.com]
• Microsoft's IE not good enough for web creator [theinquirer.net]
• Mobile TV Is Dicey in Europe, Too [gigaom.com]
• Browser Wars: Part 178 [cbsnews.com]

A former Verizon technician racked up $220,000 in phone-sex calls by tapping into the land lines of nearly 950 customers, according to CBS News. Joseph Vaccarelli, 45, used Verizon subscriber accounts to make 5,000 calls to 1-900 chat lines, racking up 45,000 minutes of call time over a forty week span. Vaccarelli used the accounts of 942 Verizon customers in 30 Bergen County, New Jersey markets, and is being charged with two second-degree crimes, carrying maximum prison terms of 10 years each according to the Newark Star Ledger. User Bobcat sends in a slightly more comprehensive report from the Bergen Record.

• 100Mbps for unconnected UK areas first [CNet UK]
• Why should broadband be free? [usatoday.com]
• Bluetooth will quickly become a critical feature of mobile internet devices, says research [mobileeurope.co.uk]
• Verizon and Yahoo expand web portal alliance [cbronline.com]
• Blank Screens Undermine $1.5 Billion U.S. Digital-TV Subsidy [bloomberg.com]
• How Chrome puts the skids under Nokia [theregister.co.uk]
• TiVo Shares Fall After No Decision In Dish Contempt Case [multichannel.com]
• Critcal Windows updates a-coming [theinquirer.net]

• Phorm delays internet trial [ft.com]
• Wireless Access: What Price Speed [zdnet.com]
• Plan rolling to improve vehicle-based Wi-Fi nets [networkworld.com]
• Brit Gov review set to advise against state aid for high-speed broadband network [guardian.co.uk]
• Verizon Wireless Ranks Highest in Call Quality in the Northeast Region: J.D. Power and Associates [marketwatch.com]
• Sprint Nextel's Bleak Outlook [thestreet.com]
• Femtocells & Notspots: Coverage Is King [lightreading.com]
• RFID leakage is hushed up - claim [theinquirer.net]

• FCC To Test Free Wi-Fi For T-Mobile Interference [informationweek.com]
• Why the US faces broadband price hikes [theregister.co.uk]
• Verizon Wireless Network Handles Usage Landslide [denverpost.com]
• Broadband price war brews [news.com]
• Mobile Apps: Salvation for Internet Radio? [linuxinsider.com]
• AT&T launches TV, Internet and phone service in 6 Ark. communities [businessweek.com]
• 'Net ad targeting may lose to privacy concerns [MSNBC.com]
• Don't Get Hooked on Google Chrome Hype [pcmag.com]

• Sunflower Broadband is holding back customers from optimal Internet [kansan.com]
• Operators Eye Net Management Makeovers [multichannel.com]
• Verizon FiOS tops ComputerWorld list of best broadband ISPs [computerworld.com]
• Viacom: Veoh Ruling Doesn't Change YouTube's 'Infringement' [multichannel.com]
• Cambridge Broadband Networks Spur Debate across Telecoms Industry [commsbusiness.co.uk]
• Hughes Network launches new broadband access plan for SMBs [cbronline.com]
• Multitasking Chips Point to Future Cell Phones [businessweek.com]
• Atom Demand Still Stymied by Testing Bottleneck [pcworld.com]

• UK Advertising Standards Authority bans iPhone ads over "all the parts of the internet are on the iPhone" claim [pcadvisor.co.uk]
• FiOS TV Takes On Cox In Virginia [multichannel.com]
• China Mobile to expand 3G commercial trials to 38 cities by June 2009 [afxnews.com]
• IPTV in Europe: no silver bullet for success [ovum.com]
• Researchers find Wi-Fi use in cars challenging, develop new protocol [muniwireless.com]
• iPhone passwords not worth the paper they're written on [theregister.co.uk]
• Firefox tool counters man-in-the-middle attacks [zdnet.co.uk]
• CERT: Linux servers under 'Phalanx' attack [theregister.co.uk]

• Democratic convention brings calls for broadband policy [computerworld.com]
• UK broadband penetration stands at 56% of households [nma.co.uk]
• Are broadband operators becoming credit issuers? [totaltele.com]
• Aircell Signs Up Fourth Airline For Wi-Fi Service [informationweek.com]
• Mobile broadband: What's it for? [theregister.co.uk]
• Google, Verizon, others sued over voice mail patent [news.com]
• Microsoft re-releases security patch [theinquirer.net]
• Hackintosh maker vows Apple strike back [channelregister.co.uk]

• 802.11n rate of adoption unprecedented [networkworld.com]
• Broadcom to pay $192.8M for AMD digital TV business [marketwatch.com]
• Google's wireless efforts drawing political fire [marketwatch.com]
• KT banned from signing new Internet users for 1 mth for disclosing customer info to other companies [reuters.com]
• East Coast Broadband Fastest In USA [slashdot.org]
• SureWest Wireless Converted [lightreading.com]
• Save the Planet, Rely More on Broadband [pcworld.com]
• Newegg plays chicken with New York 'Amazon Tax' [theregister.co.uk]

• FCC Grants Small Systems Dual-Carriage Exemption [multichannel.com]
• Keeping the Landline Relevant [technewsworld.com]
• More products than ever can connect to the Net [boston.com]
• Google Wins Verizon Wireless Search Deal as Verizon concludes people now "reflexively" use Google for search [seekingalpha.com]
• Free citywide Wi-Fi coming to Milpitas, California [muniwireless.com]
• FBI Asks Congress To Ignore The Whole 'Probable Cause' Part Of The 4th Amendment [techdirt.com]
• U.S. lags in video phones [cincinnati.com]
• Mozilla Unleashes TraceMonkey For Firefox [informationweek.com]