Bizarre Letter From Frontier Communications?

Frontier Letter
Every year, Frontier negotiates contracts with local TV broadcasters and national cable networks to offer their programming. Some are demanding unreasonable rate increases. Frontier is working hard to negotiate a fair deal and avoid any channel disruption by the broadcasters. We understand how important your local programming is to you and we apologize for the inconvenience.

Our goal is to deliver the highest quality in TV entertainment at the best value for your money. If any stations are removed from your lineup, Frontier will work on your behalf to return those channels to your lineup as soon as possible and at a reasonable rate.

 As always, thank you for being a Frontier customer!

UPDATE: Frontier continues negotiations with local TV broadcasters who are demanding unreasonable rate increases. Channels listed below may be removed at any time. If any of your channels are impacted, Frontier will provide further details on this page.
Dear Frontier Customer,

What is Zero Rating?

internet open zero rating sign

Zero rating has become the center of the net neutrality debate. Toll free data or sponsored data is the practice of mobile network operators (MNO), mobile virtual network operators (MVNO), and Internet service providers (ISP) who do not to charge customers for data used by specific applications or internet services through their network or is limited or metered.

Zero rating plans exempt particular data from counting against a user's data cap, or from accruing any excess usage charges.  A zero rating may provide an unfair advantage to the provider of the content that is zero rated, compared to other content providers or potential new entrants. 

India recently decided to reject zero rating plans such as Facebook's Free Basics, while in the United States carriers push boundaries with zero rating experiments such as T-Mobile's Binge-On plan, as well as AT&T's Sponsored Data, Verizon's FreeBee, and Comcast's Stream TV.  Read more. 

The nation’s two largest wireless carriers have told the FCC to ease up on its probe of zero-rated mobile data policies. But the issue may soon be moot anyway under President-elect Donald Trump’s administration. The commission recently sent letters to both Verizon and AT&T warning that their policies for zero-rated content could harm competition and consumers. The model enables users to consume specific types of video and other content on mobile devices without incurring wireless data charges.  AT&T zero-rates content from its recently launched DirecTV Now for its wireless customers; Verizon does the same with its Go90 offering.  Read more.

Critics claim zero-rated data policies violate net neutrality principles because they give some content providers an advantage over others. The issue has become increasingly contentious as wireless carriers expand into media, enabling them to offer their own content to customers at no cost.

Cell Phone Coverage Map Updates


Finding the best cell phone coverage just got easier by comparing cell phone coverage reports from other customers. We have updated our Cell Phone Dead Zones Coverage Map with the following new data features and information:
  • All blanks or entries with nothing in the description have been deleted.  78,289 records were in the database as of today and approximately 28,320 were deleted because they were left blank or didn't have any description of the reception problem.  There are 49,969 active records in the database from 2008-2016 as of today.  
  • Dates have been added to all entries and you can search by year or month. 
  • Record numbers have been added to all entries from 2008-2016.  If you see a number between 1-49,696 then it has been added to the database before December 16, 2016.  If carriers or customers think reception problems have been fixed that are currently on the map.  Simply send us a list of the records that you would like to deleted. A description of why we should delete would also be helpful. 
  • Search the map by data or description for a particular problem by city, state, zip or by a keyword in the description.  (Example: "school", "hospital", "airport").  
  • Every point on the map will have some context of the problem a customer is experiencing.  We will not longer be keeping blank data entries on the map. 
  • Email us if you would like a download of a particular region.

Is Net Neutrality at Risk With Tom Wheeler's Resignation?

Tom Wheeler Net Neutrality

The Federal Communications Commission has been led by Chairman Tom Wheeler for the past three years, but Wheeler intends to end his run at the FCC on January 20, 2017. Wheeler, a former lobbyist for the telecommunications industry, was nominated by President Obama to head the FCC in 2013. His appointment initially drew the ire of consumer advocate groups, because of his background. Wheeler’s record in his position has shown that initial fears were misplaced, however, as he oversaw an FCC that enacted rules to protect net neutrality and withstood a challenge in a federal appeals court.

The writing was essentially on the wall for Wheeler, however, facing the prospect of a Donald Trump administration. As Recode pointed out, the Senate recently failed to reconfirm one of the FCC’s other leaders, Jessica Roseworcel, who has been a staunch advocate for net neutrality, a policy which Trump has opposed in public.

AT&T Customers Give $88M In Refunds


U.S. wireless carrier AT&T is set to give back more than $88 million in refunds to customers who had unauthorized third-party charges added to their mobile bills, the Federal Trade Commission said Thursday. The Commission said the award represented the most money ever returned to customers in a mobile cramming case to date. The FTC indicated the refunds are related to 2014 settlements with AT&T and the companies behind two mobile cramming schemes, Tatto and Acquinity. According to the FTC's complaint in the matter, AT&T levied third-party charges – usually amounting to around $10 per month – for ringtones and text message subscriptions on customer accounts without their knowledge. The FTC alleged AT&T kept at least 35% of the fraudulent charges. According to the FTC, the refunds will go to some 2.7 million AT&T customers across all 50 states. The Commission said 2.5 million individuals getting refunds are current AT&T customers who will receive a bill credit within the next 75 days, while an additional 300,000 plus former customers will receive a check in the mail. The average refund is expected to amount to around $31, the FTC said As part of the settlement, the FTC said AT&T has also made changes to improve its third-party billing practices. “AT&T received a high volume of complaints related to mobile cramming prior to the FTC and other federal and state agencies stepping in on consumers’ behalf,” FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said in a statement. “I am pleased that consumers are now being refunded their money and that AT&T has changed its mobile billing practices.”  Read more 

Does Your Car Have WIFI?

Connect your car with WIFI

Does your car have wifi and do you use it?@ #WiFi #twitterpoll
Having Wifi in your car is pretty cool especially when you have kids who want to surf the web and use devices that don't have data plans.  Most new cars these days have the ability to plug in a SIM card directly into the dashboard.  This allows you to connect your navigation system and entire car.  

Wi-Fi Cellphone Service Republic Wireless

Republic Wireless Data Plans

Republic Wireless will spin out from its parent company and become an independent entity, a sign that cheaper, Wi-Fi-based cellphone services are able to stand on their own in a hotly competitive wireless market.  Read this Republic Wireless Review.

David Morken, chief executive of Republic parent Bandwidth.com, said in an interview that spinning off the Wi-Fi cell unit made sense, as more of Bandwidth.com’s customers have become direct competitors to Republic, and as Republic itself became more viable.

Bandwidth.com, which sells voice and data services to businesses, provides phone numbers and telecom services to rival Wi-Fi first cellular services like Alphabet’s Project Fi, as well as to Microsoft’s Skype and Google Voice.

Raleigh, N.C.-based Republic Wireless, which began selling service in 2011, has more than 300,000 subscribers and annual revenue of more than $100 million.

Republic offers monthly mobile phone subscriptions starting at $15 a month. Republic Wireless sends most of its voice, text and data traffic over Wi-Fi hot spots. When Wi-Fi isn’t available, Republic taps into the network of a national wireless carrier, such as Sprint or T-Mobile US.

After the spin-off, Mr. Morken will pass the role of Republic CEO to co-founder and operating chief Chris Chuang while keeping his role as chairman.

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